Anyone know a good book for making a website

[MagnumDweeb]

I'm going to be an NRA instructor at a gun shop, and the guy isn't going to put up a website. Which seems foolish to me. If you want to tap the online market which can be very porfitable, you need a webiste, not just gunbroker. He said if I wanted I could put up a website and get a cut, my main interest is to try to get him to advertise police trade-ins, and the confiscated guns he lets me clean up(know a fair bit of gunsmithing, can refinish, and replace parts, the simple and complex stuff), also let me advertise the kit guns I'll build as FFL sellable. The shop owner is trying to run the operation with as little overhead as possible and I understand that but a website should be basic expense, especially when you are a complete unknown and he knows very little about the gun culture or community.

I've got a few ideas about how to do it, but I didn't know if anybody knew of some good 'What you see is what you get' website builders, I can do it by html but that is a complete pain in the neck. If possible I'd like a good one that allows me to put up video so I can put up, 'how-tos' on assembly and dissassembly and such. Thanks ahead of time guys.

[Bogie]

I do zen cart installs... I can set you up with something that you can add to, etc... And it has a pretty decent user interface. www.meramecdigital.com for instance...

[Regolith]

If you have the money for it, Dreamweaver is the best way to go.  Pretty expensive, though (they're asking about $400 for it).

I don't know about freeware applications.  Generally, when I code websites I either do it via notepad editor or I use Dreamweaver.

[Gowen]

http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/

Here is a site through Microsquash that gives you a free website, with domain name.  The site templates are probably adequate for your needs.  Here is a link to my site that my wife uses for our jewelry and bath products we make.  www.gemoriah.net  We have not put any time into it this past year with my daughter's birth and infancy taking all of our time.  This is my fault not the sites.  Some of the others maybe able to give you something better, but this is free and you don't need to be a website designer to get started.  If after awhile you need something better you can move your domain name to another host.

Edit:  We use a separate site as our shopping cart program, $.20/listing is easier for me than adding a shopping cart program.

[Bogie]

Dreamweaver is nice, but...
 
Would you suggest that someone wanting to buy a .22 rifle for plinking first learn how to be a master machinist, metallurgist and woodworker? Get a solution that's already more or less together...
 

[Perd Hapley]

The Diary of Anne Frank would make a pretty good website. 

Or how about Captains Courageous? 

[Harold Tuttle]

web publishing R a serious business and a pain in the butt to maintain, administer, and update

a 1996 webpage was simple html

todays css, div, php, tabled realm is a steep slope

I would find something prepackaged or run iWeb on a macintosh

[Werewolf]

MS Frontpage has a WYSIWYG mode that works pretty well. You can build what you want easily just like using a word processor and then go and look at the code generated to see just how it was done; a quick and simple way to learn and produce at the same time.

Don't let the general disdain for MS many here seem to have deter you from using a powerful and easy to use/learn MS product that comes with Office.

[K Frame]

The XXX for Dummies will give you a good grounding in how to create a basic website.

There are a bunch of different titles in that series:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=web+design+for+dummies&x=0&y=0

[mtnbkr]

Don't let the general disdain for MS many here seem to have deter you from using a powerful and easy to use/learn MS product that comes with Office.

Powerful it isn't and easy means it'll become a burden when your site gets large.

At my previous company, I ran a server that was, among other things, our project intranet server.  The "web developers" who managed pages for their individual groups wanted FrontPage because it was "powerful and easy".  Well, once the site started edging towards the several hundred megabyte range (this was in the late 90s), the FrontPage portion of the web server started puking on a regular basis.  It just couldn't handle the number of documents, features, etc people wanted to use.  I tried to get them to use another tool, but that became too much like programming and they wouldn't go for it.  So, I periodically had to rebuild the site to keep FP happy.

We won't even get into the craptacular html FP generates...

Chris

[K Frame]

For most people, for most applications, Frontpage is going to be fine.

But, as Chris said, once it starts getting over about 200 meg total, it's time to move onto Dreamweaver.

I know quite a few people who have authored entire webpages, BIG ones, in note pad or MS word and done quite well.

[mtnbkr]

Notepad, Wordpad, Vi, and even Emacs <ptui> all make fine html editors, but require you know more code since they will not do anything for you (actually, I think emacs <ptui> can, but I don't use it)

Nothing wrong with FP for personal sites, but it's a bit too proprietary and limited for large or standards based sites (the latter is important if you're creating e-commerce sites and don't want to piss your customers off with html that doesn't work in their flavor of browser).

Chris

[K Frame]

EH! YOU YOUNG PUNK!

(shakes cane menacingly)


When I was your age I authored to world's largest web page by chipping it into stone tablets with a spork! And it never went down!



"standards based sites"

Good point. For a gun shop website that could be a very serious consideration.

[RocketMan]

FrontPage is dead and gone, folks.  No longer supported.  Most webhosting outfits no longer support FrontPage extensions, either.  The follow-on to FP is Microsoft Expression Web.  Don't know anything about it, though.

That said, you can still find FrontPage 2003 around on eBay and used software sites, etc.

[Fly320s]

The Diary of Anne Frank would make a pretty good website. 

Or how about Captains Courageous? 

MTP, unscrew the suppressor.  No one heard that.   

[Perd Hapley]

I should have said Atlas Shrugged.  It's the only book anyone seems to be reading around here, these days.   

[Bogie]

Seriously - look at www.stickertramp.com or www.meramecdigital.com - It's damn easy to set up new product categories, etc., along with the rest of the stuff.
 
bogie@meramecdigital.com