beginner help needed

[gckid74]

I am new to website design, html etc. I am an English Bulldog Breeder that is trying to get my website up and running. The WYSIWYG editors just don't cut the mustard for me as everything looks to bland. I understand copying and pasting from other pages, but still to difficult to figure through the html. Some have said templates may be the way to go, but I am having trouble finding one to use that doesnt want me to sign up and use their webhosting...I have godaddy, but am afraid of not being able to update my page as often as I like. This stuff seems so easy on the surface, but very hard and time consuming underneath, especially to a newbie trying to understand html. Any advice would be appreciated, or someone getting me pointed in the right direction

[Andilinks]

I have never built a website for anyone but myself but I'm very happy with the one that I've built over the past seven years. It has taken time and effort but I do have absolute control and when I want to do something new for the site I must look it up and learn it. People on this forum are usually very helpful.

If I were you and had the time and motivation to learn I would begin with something extremely simple, such as a plain page with just the text "hello world" and then gradually add elements until the site finally meets expectations. I would use an UltraEdit (http://www.ultraedit.com/) text editor because I've found it to be the best but I'm sure there are other good editors out there. When I began I used 1st Page 2000 (http://www.evrsoft.com/). It is very good for a beginner, includes lots of templates, scripts and tools and is free.

If you need something sophisticated quickly you should hire someone to build it and teach you. I hope that helps, if you need any more help just ask here.

Andi :)

[Kevin]

I am a big fan of writing raw HTML using a text editor too. Of course part of that is because I started on it before there was much of an alternative. Also, my editor of choice is vim because I come from the UNIX world not the fancy GUI world.

It is ancient and ugly but take a look at Amaya (http://www.w3.org/Amaya/). It is a good tool for learning basic HTML. The tree view it has can help a lot. Of course I am sure the newer GUIs have similar capabilities but I haven't bothered looking ;)

[mromero]

I am new to website design, html etc. I am an English Bulldog Breeder that is trying to get my website up and running. The WYSIWYG editors just don't cut the mustard for me as everything looks to bland. I understand copying and pasting from other pages, but still to difficult to figure through the html. Some have said templates may be the way to go, but I am having trouble finding one to use that doesnt want me to sign up and use their webhosting...I have godaddy, but am afraid of not being able to update my page as often as I like. This stuff seems so easy on the surface, but very hard and time consuming underneath, especially to a newbie trying to understand html. Any advice would be appreciated, or someone getting me pointed in the right direction
It is not an easy road my friend. I suggest you try Dreamweaver if you need to have complete control over your design. As a beginner trying to write html in a text editor it will not wash unless you want to become a professional website designer

Today more than ever CONTENT IS KING. And you cannot afford to be wasting time to learn the intricacies of writing code etc.

Blogging platforms such as Blogger and Movable Type make it easy (especially the former) to get your website up and running and concentrate on your passion or business. These products are increasingly becoming sophisticated Content Management Systems.

With Blogger you can host your domain at Fquest for e.g. and use most of the nifty features and templates at Blogger to run your site.

Movable Type in my opinion is best run on a host that has the hardware and folks who know what they are doing. I recommend Pair Networks as they are an MT Partner.

If you want to go with Dreamweaver or some html editor and have lots of freedom in your journey, Futurequest is where you need to be. The company has, and continues to have, lots of challenges, but for integrity and customer support - not to mention the ultimate guru Terra - you will be hard pressed to find better.