Exactly how does one build a website?

[Maet]

I?ve been writing a lot lately.

I?ve been writing reviews of movies and whatever strikes my fancy on a more or less weekly basis for nearly two years, and I also write for my university?s newspaper. Somewhere down the line, I figure I might try my hand at some creative writing, and thoughts of a career in journalism have been dancing in my brain for a few days now.

I post most of my material on a blogspot, but I fear that a time is quickly coming when it just won?t do anymore. The next logical step seems to be creating my own real website, but I have absolutely no idea where to begin.

(I?d like to take this opportunity to state that multiple searches have yielded no existing threads that address this specific problem, and I?m actually rather surprised. It seems to me there would be a bunch of people like me aspiring to do the same.)

I don?t expect the process of building a website to happen overnight, but I would like to have my own personal little slice of the internet sometime this summer. So exactly what does it take to build a website? For the record, www.fullyramblomatic.com (Yahtzee?s website) seems like the type of design I would want for myself (something simple and easy on the eyes).

I greatly appreciate any help, advice, and gentle nudges in the right direction.

 

[Emmitt_Nervend]

First off, you need an HTML server to host your website.

 

[Arachon]

The most commonly used language for websites today is XHTML, which is pretty much extended HTML, many websites also utilise flash (and thus actionscript) and javascript for more advanced functions.

A good place to learn XHTML is W3Schools [http://w3schools.com/xhtml/default.asp]

 

[Seydaman]

go to www.1and1.com they have great service and yes you can make a site overnight

 

[Uberjoe19]

Very carefully!

 

[Ace of Spades]

I like to use Dreamweaver to make my websites, but this was an elective at my high school, so we had our school server to host our sites. Windows has a program for making web pages, but you'll need to pay to have someone host your site.

 

[Locust]

The main difficulty you should focus on is finding a host. It'll always cost you money unless you manage to get employed by your host who should then provide it to you for free in most cases. The actual HTML coding itself can either be done by someone you hire, or heck, you might know a friend who could do it for you. A HTML coder however can't design images for you or create the artwork for your site, unless they're professional and for some reason are helping you for free, so make or get a friend to make any graphics or buttons you want on the site beforehand.

 

[Syntax Error]

If you want an easy tool for your very own blog and stuff, try using Joomla! as it's mostly a click-driven affair. You use simple comboboxes and radio buttons to set stuff. There's a small learning curve and you should know PHP and MySQL (both of which I have no knowledge) to be really able to do some stuff with it. Luckily the community has a forums for your questions.

The default template when I used it was already a blog-style layout and there is already a built-in mechanism for user registration. You gotta have your own domain for hosting the site but you can build one in your machine to get a feel for the tools available to you.