Absolute Newb Web Site Tutorial
Written by rmcgoo


If you already know how to do this, don’t read it. It’ll probably make you dumber.

How to make a website! woopdie doo

Step 1- HTML
HTML is the language used to build .html files, which are viewed in browsers(IE, Netscape, Mozilla). Understanding what the important HTML tags mean will help you understand later what some functions in web development programs do.
Links- http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/,<a rel="no....com.com/</a>, http://www.htmlprimer.com/

Step 2- WYSIWYG Editors
HTML coding can be slow, and unless you are very good with it, pages can really look outdated and unattractive. A WYSIWYG editor (what you see is what you get) is a GUI interface way to develop web sites. They keep all your files organized, and allow you to see what your page looks like while you work on it, without having to write HTML much, if at all. Plus- its easier for multiple people to work on the same project. They also come with tools that work with your site to speed things up, like ftp and spellcheckers.
Programs-Adobe Golive, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage
Links- www.adobe.com, www.adobexchange.com, www.macromedia.com, http://www.trainingtools.com/online/dreamweaver4/

Step 3- Graphics
Visual presentation can make up for content, seriously. A site with bad content can still look credible just because it looks professional. A sites graphics present the site just as much as clothes present a person. A lot of times, you can judge a book by its cover in terms of web sites. These programs make, and more importantly, compress graphics for quicker page loads.
Programs- Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Imageready. (cheaper->) Macromedia Fireworks, Freehand. 3d (pretty tough stuff) Alias Wavefront Maya, Newtek Lightwave, Discreet 3dsMax

Step 4- Server stuff

To get your site attached to a domain name, (whatever.com, org, net) there’s webhosting. Free webhosting is awesome for a beginner site, because you don’t need a lot of extras anyways. There are a ton of free web hosts, just google for free web hosting. They all suck, but they all have their own special benefits. Then there are web host providers that you pay for. Cheaper ones go for 5-10 bucks a month, and they go up from there. They all have their different options, but look for bandwith and disk space, most importantly. Once you learn more about web development, you’ll know what to look for after that. If you already know how to host your OWN server, then you probably knew how to do all this stuff anyway.

Step 5- Advanced stuff

Once your site is up, you’ll want better stuff for it. Here are some links to some sites offering advanced web development software, or languages. Google for flash, server side programming, databases, but by now, you’ll probably know what you want to look for.
www.adobe.com, www.macromedia.com, www.php.net

I know the AO community is pretty intelligent, but this was to give web dev newbs something to start off of. If you want to learn about security, you gotta know something about what you're securing.