Website Component Overview

GoDiggingGalleries · #1 (**permalink**) 09-24-2008, 04:59 PM

hi everyone. new to the site.
and at the risk of exposing how ignorant I am regarding web design and running an ecommerce site, I wanted to get input on what knowledge is necessary to begin running my own site.

HTML
CSS
Dreamweaver
PHP
My SQL
Norton Security

and I am using dot5 hosting

Anyone got any other suggesstions on what I might need to know??
My site will include, member logins, discussion forums, shopping carts, customizable items, favorites, etc.
Basically a site as advanced as ofoto.com (kodak)

nickyoung · #2 (**permalink**) 10-02-2008, 10:55 PM

Welcome to WPW!

A site like Kodaks is rather advanced, as simple as it may look. Are you brand new to web design? Any experience with graphic editing? Personally I started by first learning some basic graphic design, since it helped me to design layouts and banners. Dreamweaver + Photoshop are a great place to get started with making your own stuff. Also check out popular open source CMS, wordpress, joomla, oscommerce, etc.. See how those systems handle functionality.

After that, learn about databases and how to make dynamic content. Learn how to write PHP JavaScript and work with XML and other forms of code. This is where things get challenging a bit... From there you can begin to see what it means to make advanced websites that solve unique problems. Design, Prototyping, Marketing, Maintenance, Security, Growth. It may take years of experience, but once you're up to par with many of these things you can make anything or solve any problem. Well at least this is the ambitious route.

Check out Sitepoint.com for some great learning material, beginner to really advanced.

GoDiggingGalleries · #3 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008, 12:11 AM

nickyoung,

thanks for the reply. I have experience in graphics and layouts on indesign photoshop and illustrator. Next is a dreamweaver and html class. difference between xml and html?

nickyoung · #4 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008, 03:29 AM

They both share similar mark-up/formatting - are opened and closed by <> </>.

HTML is a markup language primarily used for displaying web pages. XHTML (more modern) is based on HTML but follows the stricter XML format. Eg:

<html>

<head>
<title>Test</title>

</head>
<body>
<div class="wrapper">weee</div>

</body>

</html>

XML describes a markup language that can be anything you want it to be (not just the web), as long as it follows XML format. Eg:

<item>
<color></color>
<height></height>

</item>

XML is usually used to structure data into a file, and transport/share it between various systems. When I record MSN chat convos, they can get stored in an XML file. When I read the news on a website, it's usually from an RSS feed which is a type of XML file. XML feeds are used everywhere and widely accepted.

Below is an example RSS feed (taken from Wikipedia) - This is an XML document that follows the RSS 2.0 standard. RSS feed readers take this file, and format it for your reading pleasure.

Quote:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Lift Off News</title>
<link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/</link>
<description>Liftoff to Space Exploration.</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2003 04:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<lastBuildDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2003 09:41:01 GMT</lastBuildDate>
<docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
<generator>Weblog Editor 2.0</generator>
<managingEditor>editor@example.com</managingEditor>
<webMaster>webmaster@example.com</webMaster>
<ttl>5</ttl>

<item>
<title>Star City</title>
<link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/2003/news-starcity.asp</link>
<description>How do Americans get ready to work with Russians aboard the
International Space Station? They take a crash course in culture, language
and protocol at Russia's Star City.</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 03 Jun 2003 09:39:21 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2003/06/03.html#item573</guid>
</item>

<item>
<title>Space Exploration</title>
<link>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/</link>
<description>Sky watchers in Europe, Asia, and parts of Alaska and Canada
will experience a partial eclipse of the Sun on Saturday, May 31st.</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2003 11:06:42 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/2003/05/30.html#item572</guid>
</item>

</channel>
</rss>

nickyoung · #5 (**permalink**) 10-03-2008, 03:37 AM

CSS is probably the number one thing you should learn how to do - aka Layouts. Essential.

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