So i want to design a website, ive never had a bash at designing one before.

Whats the best way to go about this? Should i be looking at flash or HTML? Which is the easiest for a beginner to start with?

Are there any programs ideally free/cheap that can help me along the way?

Tar

Ray

HTML

Use the internet to teach you.

Then play with Notepad.

That's what I did.

I will be more helpful soon...

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My Jukebocks

Quote Alphajuno:

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Should i be looking at flash or HTML?

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HTML

Quote Alphajuno:

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Are there any programs ideally free/cheap that can help me along the way?

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I don't like to recommend it but Microsoft Frontpage.

Dunno if there is a free/cheap Mac equivalent but to get started, a WYSIWG app is what you want. You CAN do it in a text editor by typing out the HTML but it's a bit daunting if you're an absolute novice.


Steve

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Before you do anything with software draw what you want on a big bit of paper... or several. Screens with arrows between them and the things you want on them. This is your design.

If you're going to have any text... draft it before you start coding. Get a look at what you're making. You don't need any software to do that and it will save you buckets of time later.

Then you can look at coding. I'd avoid Flash unless you're building a very graphic/multimedia site. If HTML will do the job (my site is HTML) look up the beginners stuff on the web and you're away.

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www.bemuso.com

Think about the information that you are going to present. Think how the user will navigate to it. Concentrate on getting this part right before all the bells and whistles.

Try to keep the content and style separate. Learn a bit about CSS by browsing the demo site Zen Garden.

The complete HTML reference can be found at World Wide Web Consortium.

Try to stick to the free and open standard stuff to maximise compatibility and accessibility. (ie avoid Flash and browser-specific features). Check your site on a variety of browsers/systems.

Consider using some kind of Content Management System (CMS) (or wiki or blogging system) if you are building more than a few pages and want to maintain it - geeklog is one of many many examples.

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TAKEN.BALL.GONE.HOME

I agree with Rob C,

start with a piece of paper, think about the design first, then go about learning the tools you need to realise your idea. Think of the analogy with music - instead of buying some software and hoping that'll compose for you, get the idea first then get the software that best suits you.

One of the best sites I've seen, or certainly one where the designer has a good approach to website design and maintenance is www.lingcars.com she says "a website is like a pet or a house plant, if you don't feed/water it, it will die" it is an entertaining website if nothing else, and yet uses no Flash Harry techniques

Quote Michael B:

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One of the best sites I've seen, or certainly one where the designer has a good approach to website design and maintenance is www.lingcars.com she says "a website is like a pet or a house plant, if you don't feed/water it, it will die" it is an entertaining website if nothing else, and yet uses no Flash Harry techniques

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And it just goes to show it's a matter of taste - that is a terrible looking site to my eyes

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TAKEN.BALL.GONE.HOME

That site looks sooo horrid to me - if I'd paid someone to design it I think they would be staring to the wrong side of a kalashnikov
But Michael's advice is spot on.

Yep, the site is cluttered to say the least, but the point I was making is that a site should be entertaining, which if you read some of it, and watch the movies, the scat on Top Gear - Chop Gear it really is a hoot.

I compare this with some of the more 'classy' and 'moody' looking really slick and long faced, and they may look good but they tell me nothing. Whereas the site I mentioned, even though I have no intention of leasing a car, had me chuckling away and so I remember the site name after only one visit!

Alas, I do have to admit that in the media industry image takes precedence over substance

Hello,

use iWeb for Mac, very simple, very effective, no need to know HTML or whatever. This is what I did with it, check Apple site for more, you can do a lot more...

http://www.villa.schumann.sizaret.net

Cheers !

It really depends on what you want to do with it. Are you looking to have a blog, many sections and content, and want it easily updatable? If that's the case you should consider using a content management system (CMS) like Wordpress to build your site. If you are just looking for a really simple web presence then starting off with an application like Dreamweaver is a good first port of call. Find a simple (professional) site you like and load it into Dreamweaver. You can split the screen between 'design' and 'code' modes - you'll be able to see how the site is put together and can reverse engineer it. I would do this in conjunction with a beginners HTML book so you know what the code means. Try to develop a site using W3C compatible code and CSS rather than using the old way of structuring it with tables - works better across browsers. Once you get really comfortable with the code you can ditch Dreamweaver and use something like BBEdit or Homesite. I would keep away from Flash for now other than using it for things like an MP3 player (like myspace). At first it can be difficult to understand the code - but do persevere!

Ben

Edited by Shocks (15/02/07 06:01 PM)

Whatever you do don't use frontpage, it writes the most awful proprietary code, which is not at all W3C standards compliant.

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Define the moment, or the moment defines you.

Also, it may be an idea to get down to the newsagents and get a mag, there are some like .NET that will usually inlcude some giveaway software that will get you started with the basics so that at least you learn a bit about HTML. Once you've understood the concept that a web page consists of code that 'tells' a browser what, where and how to display content, you're off!

To give you an idea, whilst looking at this page....

if you're using IE go to View/Source

or Firefox go to View/Page Source

It'll look quite complex, but loook at each line and you'll see the HTML

Bear in mind this is not a simple basic page

The HTML or Flash Q is like asking 'Addition.. or Calculus?'

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gentle robot - chapel hill rock band

Thanks a bunch everyone for the help.

I shall spend a bit of time this weekend planning what it should look like, followed by a lot of google.

On the issue of webspace, is it best to stick with your ISP or are they more suitable alternatives?

Hi Alpha


KISS


Nice, simple, elegant personal website


Free simple template based software to download and build web pages

PersonalWebKit

Serif Web Plus 6

Web easy Express 6


Online simple strong webpage builder software

Moonfruit £2.99 per moth


Low cost simple strong web page builder

NetObjects Fusion



7 Deadly Sins

• Pop up ads (93% annoyance level)
• Being required to install extra software to view site content (89%)
• Dead links (86%)
• Confusing navigation (84%)
• Required registration to access content (83%)
• Slow-loading pages (83%)
• Ineffective site search tools (80%)
  
  

Lots of people have slower older computers. So No Flash.
Unless a welcome page is doing sometime useful, unnecesary to have one
... cut to the chase.

Quote Alphajuno:

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On the issue of webspace, is it best to stick with your ISP or are they more suitable alternatives?

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For increased space & downloadable uploadable allowance, extra email addresses,
less restrictions on what you can put up, more control, far more flexible webdesign,
and a simple domain name eg www.Alphajuno.com or.co.uk or whatever
(not a looong domain name prefixed by your ISP's name)
best to move away from your ISP (also helps look a bit more pro & not a cheepskate ).


This is low cost & useful (has a website builder too).
http://www.123-reg.co.uk

Quote A k A:

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http://www.villa.schumann.sizaret.net

Cheers !

---

holy crap, is that your house? i'm coming over for a visit!!!!

nice website by the way!

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are you ready to RAWK!!!! / Our first Review!

Quote Alphajuno:

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On the issue of webspace, is it best to stick with your ISP or are they more suitable alternatives?

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I have sent you a PM.

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Ian Threlfall
magicgenie.co.uk web hosting

Quote Alphajuno:

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Thanks a bunch everyone for the help.

I shall spend a bit of time this weekend planning what it should look like, followed by a lot of google.

On the issue of webspace, is it best to stick with your ISP or are they more suitable alternatives?

---

Depends on how much space your ISP gives you. Look at how many MP3s you'll be hosting and their total filesize, and see if it'll be sufficient. Here in the states I pay about $10 a month for hosting (have your own www domain and everything), but I'm looking at a UK site that wants 30 pounds a year.

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gentle robot - chapel hill rock band

I started, as someone else suggested, by getting Dreamweaver and loading other people's websites to see what they've done. You'll need Photoshop too - and you've got to start thinking in pixels when you size images.
Most web designers do a draft first on paper, then in Photoshop (or similar). That way, you can move elements & colours around and re-size them until you're happy with the layout - then start working in Dreamweaver.
(You can also nick someone else's layout and just change the pics & text to fit your own needs!)
If you hit any problems, just Google a question - you'll find lots of detailed help online.

Quote Steve Marshall:

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I started, as someone else suggested, by getting Dreamweaver .... You'll need Photoshop too....

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But that's the best part of £1,000 - Mr Juno wants something cheap/free to get a feel for website creation. I suggested Frontpage because it is free and although it generates horrible code, would let him dip his toe in the water and make something basic to get started.

And Dreamweaver has one hell of a learning curve as does Photoshop (although I would recommend Fireworks as a graphic accompaniment to DW) - probably not what Mr Juno wants/needs just to have a dabble.


Steve

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

I would suggest using a free program called NVU. It's available for Mac / Linux / Windows and is a complete Web Authoring System to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. I use this as well as notepad and am very impressed with it.

If you are looking for website templates, take a look at these sites:
Open Source Web Design
Open Web Design
Open Design Community
All of these templates are free as they are open source. All you have to do it keep the creators name in the footer at the bottom of the page.

If you are looking for a decent but cheap web host, I recommend the following:Streamline Net. I've been with them for over three years and they have been very good.

Hope some of that helps.

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James Houlston

how about these guys

came across them whilst asking myself the very same question. Anyone any experience?

as far as free HTML editors are concerned, I've been trying to teach myself with this

seems ok so far....

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I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over
Twitter

The HTML Editor at www.coffeecup.com has WYSIWYG and Code views and, as far as I can make out, most of the functionality of Dreamweaver but it's only $49 (£25)to download! There's a free 30-day trial too.

Best price for domain names: http://www.1and1.co.uk
Web hosting: http://www.hartserver.net My website (below) costs £10.60 PA for 100 MB of webspace & 5 GB download. My other website costs £9.09 per year for 50 MB webspace & 5 GB download. So, you could be on the 'net for only about £13! If you wanted to expand later you just need to email them and it's done in a few days. Hope this helps.
Stuart.

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Birthday Song 4 U. Personalised Birthday Songs

I work for a company that can do it for you, if you want a quick and easy option.

High quality site... FREE setup and £10 per month for a small website. Fully designed, built and hosted, all included.

www.sitefox.co.uk

Cheers,
Ash

http://www.kaimotta.com/digicool/portfolio.html

This guy is a friend of mine and designs within his team interesting websites for artists, musicans, companies.

I use Composer, which is included in the Netscape Browser. does the job, and is relativly simple to use. Might be abit basic though?

Looney

I'd recomend learing to hand code and understand the basics of html (tOOk me a few hours), then learn the basics of css. there are lots of simple tutorial and even free templates on the internet but if your stuck, view other sites code and learn from them. Thats how the web evolves!

UK electronica

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Karma Koza UK Electronica

For cheap hosting with a domain name no setup fees and unlimited bandwidth check out www.amen.com tenner year.
Anything else you need to know just ask google.

erm that appears to lead to a Christian website / store.

http://www.familychristian.com/

No hosting :S

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Ian Threlfall
magicgenie.co.uk web hosting

We published a 5-part series for musicians with little HTML knowledge way back in 1999. It's out of date, but a large part of the concepts do still apply and so it'll function as a good overview for you and others like you.

The search page gives you links to all 5 parts:

SOS: Building Web Site Parts 1 - 5

Hope it helps.

Ian G

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SOS Gear Videos now screening on www.SoundOnSound.tv
SOS Podcasts

Quote Looney Tunes:

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I use Composer, which is included in the Netscape Browser. does the job, and is relativly simple to use. Might be abit basic though?

Looney

---

Netscape Browser has since been killed off, so not good idea to start learning that particular browser.

Some domain sellers offer basic space and a resonable range of templates for quick building of your own site. Apple's .Mac is one of the easiest, and these days they let you use your own domain if you have one (but you need to be a Mac owner).

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SOS Gear Videos now screening on www.SoundOnSound.tv
SOS Podcasts

I used to faff about and design my own, but decided that life was just too short (and anyway, I wasn't sure that the 'quirkiness' of my own sites was putting out the right image). Also, I soon realised that I'm simply not interested in learning html, flash or whatever beyond a basic level.

Now I use Mr Site : dirt cheap, very simple, domain name (if required) and hosting included, together with online shop, mp3 jukebox, matching stationery and everything else I could possibly need.

And, did I say dirt cheap and very simple?

My current website took less than an hour to set up.

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"Over fifteen years without a slogan"

Hi Paul,

Nice clean, easy to use web site - does the job well.

I even found out you did the music for Get Shorty - one of my fave films, and my kids will be ever so impressed when I tell them that the man who did Spongebob Squarepants writes in the SOS Forum from time to time. Respect.

Ian G

PS: that's what I love about this forum - you never know who you are communicating with.

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SOS Gear Videos now screening on www.SoundOnSound.tv
SOS Podcasts

I've just knocked up a site, using one of the built in 'Fantastico' installed CMS on my webspaces control panel.

As of posting this message, it took 2 hours to get here (including flaffing about with different themes and doing the logos).

Pretty easy, although I do have some php knowledge from running PHPnuke sites in the past. This time though I'm trying the PostNuke CMS, kinda like it.

My Website

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www.BandSoundHire.com
PA Hire in Brighton, Sussex, Surrey and Kent.

iWeb all the way.

Painting by numbers, could not be simpler.
WAY better then bloody Frontpage ( that abomination of kak)

I know a few hard-core Dreamweaver guys who swear by it, but the learning curve is huge.

Keep it simple - iWeb does !

Hi Ian - not all the scores, unfortunately - just 'additional music'. But, as ever, and like everyone else, I keep trying...!

Paul

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"Over fifteen years without a slogan"

Lo forum.

Recommend very good beginners html book "Using HTML 4" published by QUE.
another ploy is to have a look at ready-made free templates online, and using any editor, change them to suit your site.

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That wasn't a wrong note, just a bad choice!

Post deleted by ForumModTeam

Quote tcdyer:

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Hi,

Spa, spam spam

If you want more info just send me a pm.

Tom

---

You might wanna read the forum rules Mr 2 posts.

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www.BandSoundHire.com
PA Hire in Brighton, Sussex, Surrey and Kent.

I'd REALLY suggest skipping the desktop based tools like Frontpage and Dreamweaver in favour of a content management system like Wordpress, Drupal or Joomla. Do a bit of googling and you'll have no problem coming up with plenty of muso/band sites using these tools.
They take a bit more setting up but make life very easy after that.

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Mark Gibson
www.ImproveYourMusic.com

Quote A k A:

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Hello,

use iWeb for Mac, very simple, very effective, no need to know HTML or whatever. This is what I did with it, check Apple site for more, you can do a lot more...

http://www.villa.schumann.sizaret.net

Cheers !

---

2nd that !

I would not bother with Notepad or other text editors if you are not familir with HTML.
Using a product like iWeb, you can create good looking pages at a suprisingly high rate with virtually no knolwedge of the programming launguage used.

It is the web equivalent of Garageband or Acid - instant results !!

As a beginner this can be the most frustrating experience. But, if you have the patience...

On the other hand if you just want to get your website up and running, go check out elance. They have a whole bunch of freelance web designers there that will bid on your post. You can view there work and also look at what past clients have said about them. I use them for all kinds of stuff.

Trevor

Record Label Guide

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www.independentmusicstartup.com/recordlabelguide.html - For Anyone Starting A Record Label

Quote Gibbo:

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I'd REALLY suggest skipping the desktop based tools like Frontpage and Dreamweaver in favour of a content management system like Wordpress, Drupal or Joomla. Do a bit of googling and you'll have no problem coming up with plenty of muso/band sites using these tools.
They take a bit more setting up but make life very easy after that.

---

That's good advice - Wordpress in particular has thousands of free good quality templates that can be tweaked to produce a professional looking website in an hour or two, and installing Wordpress itself only takes a few minutes.

The quickest way is to use myspace as a template. The most important thing is that you have content: pictures, and information that is interesting...oh yes music too, and things you have on youtube. If you are more patient, go buy some web software and learn how to use it. Dreamweaver (Html based) is very good, but there are much cheaper options.Then get spamming, and play gigs..human contact has no alternative.

Here is our effort: regards strangefates

www.moonfruit.com/

Hmm, the fastest way actually you use wordpress to set up a website for you. It easy and you don't have to learn HTML because they have an in built "MS office" like editor. Also the best part Wordpress is FREE! just go to worpress.org and download one.

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Spyware Doctor 6 Review | Stellar Photo Recovery Review

Use iWeb - simple.

Way better than everything else in the "amateur applications" group.

Start with an "almost there" template and edit to suit your needs.

superb.

The problem I have is that I've absolutely no sense of layout design. I can do the coding OK, but can't produce anything that looks attractive.

I've looked at other sites to see what ideas I can copy, but they all seem to be far too complex for just a simple, clean layout that is easy to keep updated.

Most sites also seem to use obscene amounts of javascript and flash. Something which I want to avoid at all costs!

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It wasn't me!
(Well, actually, it probably was)

Yup we used to use Dreamweaver now we use Wordpress and it is awesome. Highly recommended.

Another very cheap but well featured and very easy to use desktop WYSIWYG type program is WebPlusX2, much better than FrontPage.

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www.electric-himalaya.com
VST and hardware synth sound design

I mostly use Joomla Content Management System to design my websites, which is free, open source, and has a lot of useful addons for music, like mp3/video players, and isn't too hard to get a hang of. www.joomla.org is the homepage of Joomla.

You can add forums for free, embed youtube or whatever onto a page, and it's graphically pleasing.

It is helpful to know a bit of html and css, but websites using a cms do most things for you, and the web forums are wonderful things to find help and support. I'd post some links, but I'm new to the site and don't want to be accused of spamming. lol

All the best with it.

Chris

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Djembe drums, musical instruments & percussion

Quote Folderol:

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The problem I have is that I've absolutely no sense of layout design. I can do the coding OK, but can't produce anything that looks attractive.

I've looked at other sites to see what ideas I can copy, but they all seem to be far too complex for just a simple, clean layout that is easy to keep updated.

Most sites also seem to use obscene amounts of javascript and flash. Something which I want to avoid at all costs!

---

I suppose it really depends on what you want to achieve, like someone said up above: a blog, ecommerce, forum, gallery etc. A blog is easy to update, and all the coding is done for you, so Wordpress or Blogger would work. Some people have made these quite attractive, like jimmy currant's site I read about earlier in the thread. I think, if you go down the blog route then adding your own gig photos, or youtube videos, or other interesting content really goes a long way to making it noticed, whereas flashy stuff is only a short term thing. I usually make sites on Joomla CMS, but buy a professional template which has all the attractiveness I am looking for with the functionality of Joomla. Look up Rockettheme, joomlashack or search joomla templates on google if you want to see some options for that. Most webhosting will have Joomla and other CMS options preloaded in their control panel (cpanel) under Fantastico, so it's not too hard to install and get going.

Sorry for the long post, congrats, you're at the end.

Chris

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Djembe drums, musical instruments & percussion

If you are on a mac use iWeb. The pages pratically build themselves and you do not have to use code at all. You can get pretty complex if you want also. Check it out!

Hey, please check out this Online Radio and comment about the design!

It's my friend who is a jockey that designed that site.

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D.G.
Tailored Suits Designer

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It looks like Joomla will be my best bet (when I can find that fictional concept - free time)

@djembedrumshop
No probs with the length of comment. It was useful

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It wasn't me!
(Well, actually, it probably was)

Seamonkey by Mozilla (the guys who made the firefox browser) is a decent place to start if you're a beginner. Best of all its free too.
Seamonkey!

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www.totalmusicsupply.com
Great Instruments at Great Prices

Haven't read the whole thread so it could have been already mentioned. Kompozer, Seamonkey and most of freewares are ok for simple stuff. Joomla seems to be an overkill from my point of view if you are about making band/artist webpage. I have found Joomla as an excellent tool if the content of the site changes very often and basically you are not after "unusual" look. Flash would be perfect but I haven't found any free GOOD editor yet. Paying for Adobe makes no sense for me. So I would recommend HTML based Microsoft Visual Web Developer. FREE, pretty stable, good editing/coding capabilities, keeps page setup pretty firmly. I have ended up with this one after few months of trials and I'm really happy with it.

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Dance&Club Myspace Profile

Btw the most tricky thing about Joomla is installation. You need to set up a virtual server etc. To be honest PINA. However, if you crack it possibly it could be quite useful in some situations.

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Dance&Club Myspace Profile

I've not used Visual Web Developer, but if my past experience is anything to go by I'd stay far FAR away from anything Microsoft for creating webpages. Yuck yuck yuck.

I'm sure it's been mentioned before in this thread, but I've just used Wordpress to build a quick and simple website for a friend, that allows them to easily make changes without having to delve into HTML or ask me for help. I managed to get my head round how it all works and put together the site in a few hours, I'd fully recommend it, both for more static sites as well as blogs. Dead easy installation as well.

For more complex things I use Zend Framework, not really so relevant for beginners, but a very flexible tool if you want to start doing anything beyond the very simple with PHP.

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Myspace | All Things Considered - album out now!

I used Macromedia Dreamweaver which was really easy to use.

Im 17 years old, & I created about 5 professional websites for companies.

Nathy xx

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Nathan Stewart | Freelance Sound Engineer

Usability is all about making the visitor’s experience a good one on your site. Things should be easy to read, easy to access and most importantly, easy to understand. When a visitor visits your site, they should know exactly what your site is about within the first couple seconds. This is obviously where design, and layout come into play. You need to avoid cluttering your site in the physical sense. I’m not talking about having “too much content”, but rather how you choose to display that content. Things should be laid out with spacing and margins.

I personally use Adobe Dreamweaver, it's a bit of a learning curve but worth the effort.
HTML is a must and flash is optional. Google doesn't deal with flash well so it has to be a combination.
try out lynda.com, they have tutorials about anything you can think of.
I created my site with Dreamweaver, have a look:
Free sound effects by the Sound effects hunter

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sound is everywhere
sound effects hunter

A few quick solution:
If you want a flash site, (that google can't find) but looks and sound cool try www.wix.com - you can design you own site in a few hours and it looks great.
You can also try wordpress, it's easy to use and there are many plug ins that can make it a full working website in no time. You can also buy a domain to host the wordpress site.
For pros I recommend dreamweaver...
Good luck

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sound is everywhere
sound effects hunter

Tutorial on How to Design Your Website Using Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 .... simply click on the word you wish to replace, delete it and type your own. ... One reason we're going to do this now, even before we've finished.
You'll want to do this to make sure you're not really seeing a cached copy of ... Get more free tips and articles like this, on web design,
If so, you'll need to go to each website where you're using your Windows Live login ... To do that, go to Tools and then “Delete Site”.


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Create a Website in Minutes w/ our Award-Winning Web Design Software. ... If you're rushed for time, you can just drop in your business name and logo, ... Want a professional to build your website for you? You got it!
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Quote Alphajuno:

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So i want to design a website, ive never had a bash at designing one before.

Whats the best way to go about this? Should i be looking at flash or HTML? Which is the easiest for a beginner to start with?

Are there any programs ideally free/cheap that can help me along the way?

Tar

Ray

---

This could be the best $27 you ever spent, I did and I learnt a lot about web design. I initially built my own websites but then decided that it wasn't just about coding but graphic design as well so now I have my sites "skinned" by a web designer and then do a lot of the coding myself. Looks much better.

It includes a load of training videos and templates to work with. It also includes a realtime css/html editor. It's a triple pane split screen where you type your html code in one pane the css code in another and the third pane renders what you have done like a browser would

Also check out http://www.dynamicdrive.com/

This is stuffed full of great Java Script ideas which is the way to go IMHO.

http://howtomastercss.webdesignboost.com/

It's a pain in the rear to begin with and you'll find you have to watch the videos a few times for it sink in. But once you start to get to grips with it it's a lot of fun and great asset when it comes to keeping your website up to date.

Also use the web, there are hundreds of forums from absolute newbies to real experts and they are really helpful

Have fun

Sean Kenny - Ten21 Recording Studios

http://www.ten21recordingstudios.co.uk/

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Sean Kenny - Ten21 Recordings Studios

Quote Forum Admin:

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Hi Paul,

Nice clean, easy to use web site - does the job well.

I even found out you did the music for Get Shorty - one of my fave films, and my kids will be ever so impressed when I tell them that the man who did Spongebob Squarepants writes in the SOS Forum from time to time. Respect.

Ian G

PS: that's what I love about this forum - you never know who you are communicating with.

---

OK I know this is OT - BUT Paul - it's an impressive list of credits - but it would be interesting to know what you actually did on those films - ie what the actual credit was, and if I were to type Get Shorty into the IMDB database where would I find your name...?

And in what sense are you the man that "did" spongebob squarepants?

And I know you didn't write '2.4 Children' because that was Howard Goodall; 'Father Ted' was Neil Hannon etc etc etc

So Ian - I wouldn't be so easily impressed with everything you read on the web! Is there a lesson in website design there?

Ben

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The large print giveth and the small print taketh away

Quote James T Bigglesworth:

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Hi Ian - not all the scores, unfortunately - just 'additional music'. But, as ever, and like everyone else, I keep trying...!

Paul

---

OK I've just realised this is a really old thread resurrected this morning - I'd like to hear some of that 'additional music' on your website though...

B

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The large print giveth and the small print taketh away

I didn't know you could use Photoshop to design the layout of the website then work with the design in DW. I've been trying to work in DW alone and just cant get my head round it.

So i'll design in PS split up the design into tables and work with it in DW.

Sweet.

Sorry it's taken me a while to respond to this - I don't get here as often as I would like, unfortunately.

Regarding my website, the list of credits (additional music) is long out of date and it would probably be a good idea to junk some of the older titles in favour of newer ones. You're right to make the point that I'm not credited at the end of most of the programmes, but I'm credited on the cue sheets, which is all that matters to me. Again, when and if I ever get time, I'll post excerpts from the programmes on the site to show just where and how the music was used - actually it can be quite informative to see, for example, how one piece of music can fit lots of different scenes!

I don't know what you mean about being "the man that 'did' Spongebob Squarepants", but I'm grateful that they've used a huge amount of my music on that programme.

I've not seen Get Shorty all the way through - I've not seen even a quarter of the films and programmes that have used my music - but the film appears on all my royalty statements going back ages, so without looking it up I can tell you that the track is called 'Sixty Seconds to Climax'. Conversely, I don't know offhand what music was used in 2.4 Children, so I'd have to look it up. If you think there might be a problem, I'll happily send you extracts from my various royalty statements and you can take it up with PRS etc.

But going back to website design, I'd be the first to admit that mine is far from perfect, although that bothers me not a jot. However, it reaches the people I want it to reach (e.g. music editors and commissioners). They understand it and it works for all concerned so, at the moment, it can stay as it is.

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"Over fifteen years without a slogan"

The good news is that you have numerous options. First, eventhough Flash looks good, these websites are difficult to get seen and ranked by search engines.

So, if you want some traffic, stay with the HTML-Based design. To really standout, I would suggest hiring a freelance web designer. There literally thousands of them just waiting to show you what they can do. Go to Google and do some research.

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Make Your Own Studio-Quality Music - Free Trial

A friend of mine used a wordpress template as my website - this means I have a content management system, rather than what I had to do before, which was to update every page manually and update all the links. I registered a domain name, then this got redirected to the WP blog template site. Much easier for me than having to learn html

I recommend you HTML and Dreamweaver (the most popular html editor)

I'd be carefull about taking on the design yourself! HTML/Dreamweaver all have a learning curve and that means time! If you want to get on with making music avoid the doing it yourself - I would suggest the best approach is use wordpress(free!) and use a premuim template like THESIS from DIYThemes http://diythemes.com This cost about £60 but you have support/forum etc to help get you going ASAP

Hope this helps
kevin
http://kevinjryan.co.uk

hi,

to the OP, here's my take:

at its heart, a website is a set of files written in a specialized mark-up language called HTML (hyper text markup language). there are about two dozen basic html commands you need to master. btw, back in the old days of computers (pre-Wordperfect) we all used some variant of these codes to lay out documents in a text editor - things like .li for a list element, .ul for underline, etc. it's not a big deal to learn these basic commands. the other thing you need is a text editor that generates text files (not Word files, not RTF files, just plain text). both notepad and wordpad on windows machines work fine.

the home file of a website is always called 'index'. it defines the homepage and contains the links to the daughter pages.

after this, things can be made very complicated very quickly. there are things called style sheets, etc, that web designers use for ease of re-use, etc. don't worry about them for now.

the last thing is a host on the web to place your HTML files. your ISP should offer this service as part of your subscription and there are zillions of third party choices. i use Godaddy, but there are many other good ones. you'll need to use a program that implements a file transfer program to get your files on to the one you choose. the provider should have a help desk if you need a hand, which you probably will the first couple of times.

dreamweaver, photoshop, etc are very nice programs but definitely overkill unless you are getting into the web design biz. to summarize, all you need is:

1) learn the basic HTML codes
2) a text editor the outputs ASCII text files
3) a (FTP) file transfer program
4) a host computer on the web

also, you'll need to register a domain name if you want people to be able to find your site. there are zillions of domain registrars. pick one, buy your name, they'll load it into the internet 'phone book' called the domain name service (DNS).

that's it. bob's your uncle.

of course, the real fun starts in figuring out the design of the pages, layout of pix, etc, but the fancy tools only get in the way IMHO.

btw, the SoS tutorial ian referred to above is an excellent source (no surprise, every SoS tutorial i've read has been top notch). also google the W3 consortium, they have tutorials that you can follow.

my advice: start simple, add incrementally, avoid (unnecessary) complexity. sort of like learning an instrument ;-)

cheers,

d

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"Patsy had the drug tolerance of Keith Richards and the moral rectitude of Brian Jones." - Dr. Walter Bishop, "Fringe"

My advice would be to always think of userbility in your design. Once you figure out how to create a site ... keep it simple and functional!

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Unsigned bands and artists can audition their music to top industry opportunities using www.audiorokit.co.uk

Best Soap Cutter

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Best Soap Cutter

Another recommendation for Wordpress. You can get a site up and running with music samples, contact form, etc. very quickly, and many of the themes can be personalised to some degree. You can add/edit pages, categories, upload pictures, mp3s, etc. whenever you want. There's a plugin for almost everything - all the hard work has already been done. Once your site is running, then you can spend time learning about html, css, etc. and build your own theme if necessary.

http://bandzoogle.com/index.cfm?pc=google-ppc-bandzoogle-p-7019814616& gclid=CJub5qO06qoCFeMJtAodNFYoNg

Bandzoogle website design service looks pretty good.

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$14.95/month

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Download codes

Start by learning HTML and CSS. You can find loads and loads of material to help you learn at w3schools.com

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Sonos Wordpress II Sonos Blogger II Sonos Ezine

Quote mathman:

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Start by learning HTML and CSS. You can find loads and loads of material to help you learn at w3schools.com

---

I wonder what proportion of current websites are hand-coded in HTML and CSS, how many are laid out in an editor such as Dreamweaver, how many are just filled-in templates.

Hello,

New here, stumbled upon this post as a web designer and musician looking at how other musicians present themselves online. I would give a thumbs up to wordpress and joomla, as mentioned above. Joomla is my own choice because it allows you to fire up a simple (looking) content managed site really quickly but is as flexible as you want it to be. You can really push it to produce just about any site, with enough coding knowledge and patience. I can understand that it would be intimidating for those that don't want to get too deep into coding. Wordpress might be a good choice in that case and many web hosts can give you a simple installation. There are a lot of good music related extensions for both systems.

I don't like flash but it has its uses, importantly as a good music player. They key is that flash should only be used for elements of a site that really need it. A site based purely around flash is inaccesible and won't be indexed properly by the search engines. I don't think people are generally very impressed by flashy presentation on a website and are more often than not looking for information/advice, for that reason a clean, slick website that lets the content do the talking will always get my vote. Joomla is a platform that allows this.

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Riverside Recording Glasgow

Quote RiversideComplex:

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They key is that flash should only be used for elements of a site that really need it. A site based purely around flash is inaccesible and won't be indexed properly by the search engines.

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Amen!! A simple site with clean lines, excellent functionality, & fast loading -- as we used to say in journalism, "You've got 15 seconds to hook 'em." You don't generally get that with black backdrops & lots of flashing lights & movement. Keep it as bare-bones as you can, while selling your music. Backstory is good, but keep it lean & leave a detailed page for the fanatics. Similarly, if you have to indulge in Flash theatrics, put these on a secondary page or grouping.

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resident troublemaker, http://forum.frugalguitarist.com/

Hi,

I use Joomla which is a free, open source content management system, a database in otherwords. My hosting is with hostgator, who let you have as many joomla installations (sites) as you like and costs about £5 a month I think. Its much easier to use than learning to hardcode and you can install free plugins developed by other users worldwide for things like contact forms, auidio n video players etc - I never yet struggled to get a plugin to do a job. The only other expense is artisteer which I use to design my templates and is a one off purchase at about 50 or 60 quid I think. Results are fast and look very pro, I got up to speed with it all in about 3 weeks.

you'll find a mass of joomla resources if you just google Joomla and Joomla Extentions - one word of warning though - most UK hosting companies offer one database per hosting account, which is fine if you just want one site but personally i'd go for something like hostgator who offer unlimited databases so you can experiement or set up more sites for about the same or less a month!

hope this helps! - my own website was designed exactly this way if you want to see what joomla can do.

Remo.

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www.thedenstudios.com

Quote RemoHead:

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- my own website was designed exactly this way if you want to see what joomla can do.
http://www.thedenstudios.com

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None of your menu bar links work, in IE9, Chrome or Firefox. So probably not in anything else either :-)

I use iWeb, is really easy, you never see the code, is like those easy Mac applications but very powerful.
i created my site with iWeb, is a royalty free music library with piano music content.
www.royaltyfreepianos.com
web page

Quote:

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But that's the best part of £1,000

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i agree with hollowsun, the op was asking for free/cheap, not hundreds of pounds worth of complex software! i got my webspace through ipage and used the software that came with it, its drag and drop super easy and a great place to start without having to learn html or flash etc

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www.humandrums.com
online session drumming at realistic prices

well after sitting down with a few free web building software applications and eventually the free 30 day dreamweaver trial i ditched the lot and started from scratch using various tutorials.

i knew absolutely nothing about HTML and even less about CSS but have managed to throw together a simple but effective site. No flash and its 100% correct when it comes to wc3 validation. the only issue i have is some of the pictures are rendered incorrectly when browsing with safari on the ipad/iphone and i have used a single css 3 tag which some browers dont suport but the alternative looks fine.

yes there are additions to be made to the code and a bit of housekeeping wouldnt go a miss but thats more of a behind the scenes issue.

knowing what i know now my next site will be better planned instead of diving in head first. Eventaully i'll move over to a content management system like silverstripe when i get my head around the science behind it.

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I eat kebabs when i'm sober!

Quote Exalted Wombat:

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Quote mathman:

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Start by learning HTML and CSS. You can find loads and loads of material to help you learn at w3schools.com

---

I wonder what proportion of current websites are hand-coded in HTML and CSS, how many are laid out in an editor such as Dreamweaver, how many are just filled-in templates.

---

For what it's worth, mine is 100% hand coded. The only use of flash is for the in-line player.
It's a very simple design but (mostly) does the job. It is also accessible to text/speech software.

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It wasn't me!
(Well, actually, it probably was)

I find wordpress the best platform. You can choose themes and search engines love it. It's completely editable and easy to use.

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hire wedding bands & hire wedding entertainment at Music Live.

I think word press the best platform for promote your business online. You can choose themes and search engines love it. It's completely editable and easy to use.

Got to add my voice for iWeb.
Its simple and to the point.

Should you lean HTML - well, are you a musician or a web developer ?
It done not hurt to learn a new skill, but personally, I leave it to others, who can't produce music but make great web sites.

Avoid at all costs any MS "web apps"- they add bespoke code that only runs in IE on a PC. - VERY limiting !
Avoid flash because Apple can't get on with Adobe ( Sort it out guys !!!!! GGRRRRR ! ) - Again, limiting.
I know a young musician who asked me for help with "contacts", but none of us can view the site because it is PC-tastic.
- And all the people I know who matter, use Mac.

shame.......


Make sure it loads quickly, slow pages are painful.
Give something for free - a simple click to D/L - everyone loves a free loop or sound.
Make sure your links work and don't forget links on your "social media website" to encourage traffic.
Don't worry too much about SEO, unless you run a business from your site.

and finally

Web space, Apps and templates are available for FREE !
Take a good look before you part with any money.

Quote Scope:

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I know a young musician who asked me for help with "contacts", but none of us can view the site because it is PC-tastic.

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What site would that be?

Check out KompoZer, it's free and for both Mac and PC!

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Do you need help selling beats? Check this out! Click here!

There are many places online where you can create a basic website quite easily with little to no HTML knowledge. I recommend Yola. It's very reliable, easy to use and cheap! Wordpress is also good as it's very versatile to your needs.

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http://best-headphones.org.uk

Today's website designing is the most important for company's.If u are a beginners it is difficult to design the new site. To design the site first we have to analyze the some sites how they are designed ,what type of logo they are present its all important and also see to design a website Should be flash or HTML are use full for the beginners to understand.

Quote ElizabethHannah:

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Today's website designing is the most important for company's.If u are a beginners it is difficult to design the new site. To design the site first we have to analyze the some sites how they are designed ,what type of logo they are present its all important and also see to design a website Should be flash or HTML are use full for the beginners to understand.

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Eloquent and insightful.

I am wanting to design my own website. but really could not design any kind of website. so i need a programmer for design my website. i anybody want design my website p;ease contact me.

What's going on with this 'ere thread then?

Quote:

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Today's website designing is the most important for company's.If u are a beginners it is difficult to design the new site. To design the site first we have to analyze the some sites how they are designed ,what type of logo they are present its all important and also see to design a website Should be flash or HTML are use full for the beginners to understand

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Quote:

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Eloquent and insightful.

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These look suspiciously spammy - fleming24 is already on at least one forum spamming blacklist. I frickin' hate spam

Don't bother with Flash, it's gonna be obsolete soon anyway. Not to mention it's bad for SEO and it's harder for Google's spiders to crawl. You should just install wordpress on your server and learn how to use it as your main CMS. You could learn HTML as well, which will help you navigate around editing when you need to...but we live in a day where all you really need is a good CMS (wordpress/joomla/drupal...etc) and find a good looking template to use.

You can find many free ones that work well. Building a static HTML website is a bad idea anyway, as you're going to have to manually change code whenever you wanna make a change instead of your site making dynamic changes on the fly.

Good luck!

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My Facebook and Twitter pages

Your best bet is to use wordpress and pick a good theme, you can find many themes for free but for a really professional job you might as well purchase a premium theme.

Use wordpress and in a matter of days you could be up and running with ZERO HTML/CSS/PHP knowledge!

Trust me

Quote AmyFreelove:

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Your best bet is to use wordpress and pick a good theme, you can find many themes for free but for a really professional job you might as well purchase a premium theme.

Use wordpress and in a matter of days you could be up and running with ZERO HTML/CSS/PHP knowledge!

Trust me

---

Only problem with Wordpress is its open to a lot of hackers.... ie Wordpress sites are easier to hack

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PA Hire Surrey
Lighting Hire Surrey

Hi all, I wrote an article on this lately on my blog:

http://www.filmandgamecomposers.com/guides/how-to-build-a-composer-website

Hopefully you'll find it helpful

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http://www.vstbuzz.com

I wonder if my Word Press site has been hacked? I can no longer upload anything from my media library, nor can I upload new files to my site. I keep getting the rather unhelpful message HTTP Error with no further detail than that. Clearing the browser cache makes no difference and posting the issue on the Word Press forums seems to have invited a lot of smart Alec answers from folk who clearly know a lot about computer programming but sweet f.a. about how to communicate in a simple and direct fashion. My Word Press site expires in twelve months' time. I shan't be going back.

Quote SwingKing:

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I wonder if my Word Press site has been hacked? I can no longer upload anything from my media library, nor can I upload new files to my site. I keep getting the rather unhelpful message HTTP Error with no further detail than that. Clearing the browser cache makes no difference and posting the issue on the Word Press forums seems to have invited a lot of smart Alec answers from folk who clearly know a lot about computer programming but sweet f.a. about how to communicate in a simple and direct fashion. My Word Press site expires in twelve months' time. I shan't be going back.

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There's plenty if you Google "wordpress http error". I'm afraid it CAN get a bit tecchie, but that's the nature of the beast. Hope you get it sorted out.

I know nada about WordPress but queries like this seem to get replies like: "Upgrade to the latest version, upgrade your plugins, upgrade your theme". Does this mean anything to you?

Thank you, chaps. I've spent the past week giving myself a headache over this so I'm going to leave it for tonight and get the recording studio fired up, do something constructive instead.

Advice I've seen so far goes along the lines of "the latest update is what's causing it", "delete everything from your site and start again from scratch" and "deactivate all your plug-ins" - seems to me some of these clowns just make it up as they go along.

I'll try that Google search tomorrow, Exalted Wombat, and cross my fingers for a simple solution

Quote SwingKing:

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I'll try that Google search tomorrow, Exalted Wombat, and cross my fingers for a simple solution

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The official WordPress forums tend to be condescending to non-tecchies with problems. Like the Microsoft ones. Remember this old story: :-)


A helicopter was flying around above Seattle when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft's electronic navigation and communications qquipment. Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the helicopter's position and course to fly to the airport. The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a handwritten sign, and held it in the helicopter's window. The pilot's sign said "WHERE AM I?" in large letters.

People in the tall building quickly responded to the aircraft, drew a large sign and held it in a building window. Their sign read: "YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER." The pilot smiled, waved, looked at her map, determined the course to steer to SEATAC airport, and landed safely.

After they were on the ground, the co-pilot asked the pilot how the "YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER" sign helped determine their position. The pilot responded "I knew that had to be the Microsoft building because, like their technical support, online help and product documentation, the response they gave me was technically correct, but completely useless.

My three webistes are currenly flash : using SiteMaker hosted by www.cheapdomainnames.co.uk
My upcoming webiste will be Non flash.
Just this morning been looking into non flash : (i will have to double check)
afailk adobe muse, bonline, cubender, godaddy, soholaunch (hostpapa uses Soholaunch), wordpress are non flash.

Quote SwingKing:

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I wonder if my Word Press site has been hacked? I can no longer upload anything from my media library, nor can I upload new files to my site. I keep getting the rather unhelpful message HTTP Error with no further detail than that. Clearing the browser cache makes no difference and posting the issue on the Word Press forums seems to have invited a lot of smart Alec answers from folk who clearly know a lot about computer programming but sweet f.a. about how to communicate in a simple and direct fashion. My Word Press site expires in twelve months' time. I shan't be going back.

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Is this a Wordpress.com site? Are you paying, or is it a free one? If the former, is there not a support centre that can sort things for you? If not, then I'd be pretty upset. I've had Word Press hacks on my sites, and I just ask my hosting providors (vexx.com) to sort it for me, and they do.

Quote Rob C:

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Before you do anything with software draw what you want on a big bit of paper... or several. Screens with arrows between them and the things you want on them. This is your design.

If you're going to have any text... draft it before you start coding. Get a look at what you're making. You don't need any software to do that and it will save you buckets of time later.

Then you can look at coding. I'd avoid Flash unless you're building a very graphic/multimedia site. If HTML will do the job (my site is HTML) look up the beginners stuff on the web and you're away.

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That is excellent advice, though often ignored. To get some readies I taught a few times in colleges and coming from a programming background placed much emphasis on sketching out an algorithm, what the finished article should look like and do, and program flow as well (flow charts).

But did students take any notice, nope, they follow the logic of the British Library Experiment - if you bang away randomly and relentlessy at the keyboard, then in theory you might, by happenstance re-produce the works of Shakespeare.

But when I suggested an hour or so with a pencil and pad, the creative bit, students looked at me as if I'd just dropped out my tree, incredulous that a programmer should suggest starting with pencil and paper, it was a ludicrous concept according to the 'kidz' we instantly grab our intellectual comfort blanket, the mouse, and think that'll do all the work for us.

Hi Justin

If you have photoshop skills then there is a simple alternative to all the above - Sitegrinder

http://www.medialab.com/sitegrinder3/featuretour.php

It runs as a plugin in photoshop. You do the designing and planning in photoshop and then run the plugin which compiles the site for you without any techno mumbo jumbo to waste your life on.

There is a full explanation and site examples on the medialab website. I created a site optimised to be viewed on iPADs using Sitegrinder with no previous web experience by following the getting started guide.


Regards
Simon

Edited by Bogmusic (06/04/13 10:22 AM)

[Wrong post, sorry]

Edited by Scramble (06/04/13 10:23 AM)