So, I set up this website...

[BlueSoup]

...And I have no idea what to do now. 

I plan to use it to house my Sims stories, with pictures, and nothing else.  I don't want a forum, or members, or anything like that.  Basically, it's my replacement for the Exchange, since I am no longer uploading things there.

Anyone who can point me to an easy tutorial or can tell me what I need to do or download will get my everlasting gratitude. 

And since I have no idea what sort of information you need to know from me, here's what I got:
               - I have Dreamweaver but I have no idea how to use it.
               - The web address is www.bluesoup.noads.info (if that tells you anything about what kind of site it is).

[simmiecal]

Sorry I can't help....but I am in exactly the same position you are in. I have a site and am playing with a package to create the web pages but I'm lost so far.

Anybody out there willing to share some info.......     

[Ancient Sim]

Well I have my own sites (keep meaning to start a Sims one), but I don't use anything like Dreamweaver, I just write my own html, so I probably couldn't be of much use.  I just write my pages in Notepad and upload them to my site, but obviously to do that you need to know html.  There are plenty of programs around that will convert things into html for you, I just prefer to write my own so I know what's in it, so to speak. 

You could always use a site that does all the work for you, one of the free ones, assuming you could put-up with the ads.

[Sagana]

I've used Dreamweaver (under duress) and could answer specific questions if you have them.

The best way to start is probably to choose one of their template pages and use it to create a home page just to get your feet wet. Then you can little by little learn to add the pieces that you want. Do you have an idea of what you want your page to look like?

[BlueSoup]

I don't use anything like Dreamweaver, I just write my own html, so I probably couldn't be of much use.  I just write my pages in Notepad and upload them to my site, but obviously to do that you need to know html. 

You could always use a site that does all the work for you, one of the free ones, assuming you could put-up with the ads.

It depends on how I can manage to figure out Dreamweaver.  I have a tutorial, so I'll take a look into that and if I can't figure it out, I'll do the notepad thing.

This is a free site, and the appeal was that it seems like a really good deal for my purposes.  No ads on this one either.

I've used Dreamweaver (under duress) and could answer specific questions if you have them.

Thanks, I may just take you up on that. I'll PM you if I have any.  (And Liss, too).

The best way to start is probably to choose one of their template pages and use it to create a home page just to get your feet wet. Then you can little by little learn to add the pieces that you want. Do you have an idea of what you want your page to look like?

That may work, I'll have to play around a little and see how it goes.  I would like a main page, and then pages off of that for each story. That's about as specific as I've gotten with it.

[Sagana]

simmiecal, what program are you using? They're all a bit different.

Blue, I'll be happy to get a PM :) One thing about Dreamweaver - it's really set-up for professional website designers. Not to say you can't do it, but it's a bit confusing for someone that doesn't know anything about setting up a site (personally, I hate the site management tools and they force you to do that part first). That being the case, I suggest reading through a basic tutorial or two on html (which is really easy) just to give you a little bit of background.

The Macromedia Dreamweaver forum is here:
http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/index.cfm?forumid=12

It might help to look through other peoples questions (when I was learning Flash, I found a Flash site invaluable :)

There's a list of basic html guides here ("HTML for the Conceptually Challenged" looks pretty good.)

http://www.hwg.org/resources/?cid=26

The html writer's guild itself has a bunch of mailing lists that are nice to learn to do specific things, and their archives are available online (you don't have to join - although their front page is all about signing up).

And one more basic guide. I like this little page because it tells you how to write html in notepad :) (including properly saving the extension).
http://www.pageresource.com/html/getstart.htm

Hope that helps a bit.

[simmiecal]

simmiecal, what program are you using? They're all a bit different.


Hope that helps a bit.

Thanks for responding. I'm using Yahoo Pagebuilder and not liking it too much. I have a WebEasy program I used 5 years ago that I'm tempted to load up. It didn't have too much fancy stuff, but I was able to understand how to put the pages together. The main thing is I just need to allocate a chunk of time to play around with the software....maybe this weekend. I was hoping to use the website for the shared neighborhood and also I was going to put up some custom neighborhood terrains.

[LFox]

Dreamweaver is definitely the easiest to use, i personally got most of my knowledge from trying experience rather than tutorials since their never exactly what you want.  One thing I've personally found is your better off to use tables rather than frames.  As frames can get annoying and can't be read by some browsers.  Tables as far as i know can be read by all of them and are rather easy to use, you can also put tables in tables which can make for some funky designs.  The site manager is an extremely useful tool when you know how to use it and so is find and replace.  When you know how to use find and replace proper you can correct links on over 100 pages with a few clicks.

My advice is setup your layout on paper first and see if you can follow some of the tutorials to learn what you need to get the desired result.  When i started on fixing up web pages seriously i used a page my brother had from a site of his to get the desired layout so i already had the tables and such but after that i learnt how to get it setup.

This stuff is just from my personal experience take it for what you will, i'm sure some real professionals can give you some good advice though.

[BlueSoup]

I may just take you up on that....


Actually, I just had a thought.  Let me PM you about it. 

[Zandi]

Hey Blue,
Still need help?
Dreamweaver is actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. I can guide you through via IM if you like.
Do you have a layout template you would like to use Or shall I help you create your own?

[BlueSoup]

Zandi - that might be awesome.  I have no idea what I want to use for a template, so creating my own might work.  Maybe this weekend or something?

I played a very little bit last night with creating a page with HTML, and it worked fine and all, but then I got a little bit stuck when it came to actually getting the page onto the Internet.    I got bored with it after a few minutes and left. 

[Zandi]

Once you get DW configured to put the files on the server it's cake.
But we can work on it this weekend.



Look out PM on it's way.