How long did it take for you to learn how to make a website?

I'm just starting out (last few days) to learn about making a website.

How long did it take you to learn how and to get your website up and running?

Might motivate me

 

To make relatively simple sites - about an hour

To get to the point I'm at now - about a decade.

One of the most important rules to learning how to write a website is to NEVER assume you 'know how' and are 'done learning' - the way websites are written is as fluidic as the hardware on which it runs. 3 years and you are obsolete.

The day you think there's nothing new to learn, is the day the world leaves you behind. I'm a decade in on web programming, three decades of general programming under my belt, and I'm STILL learning and finding new and better ways of doing things.

 

2-3 years to get to where I am now (started learning HTML in late 04 in an E-Commerce HS class). My main advice is.. find multiple ways of whatever you're trying to do and find out which of them is the best way. Many people just google up some crap ass article and start using obsolete methods without ever asking someone else's opinion on why the method is good.

This can be anything, such as image replacement... font sizing methods... css layouts. Don't just take someone's word, test things out in different browsers and ask for help.

I myself keep on finding out new methods of doing something, or finding more pros/cons about a current method I'm using and switch to another one. I don't think I'll ever have an established way of doing things... I'll just keep changing my ways forever.

Like deathshadow said, if you stop learning then you're going to be like those programmers who are still using table layouts to this day.

 

Exactly...couldn't have said it better myself.

 

It just depends. Everyone learns at different paces. It also depends on what you want to do? Static site with just simple html files or dynamic site with a database backend?

I really don't think anyone (even the pros) really ever stop learning. I know I don't.

For me though, before I got to where I was fairly confident in my ability to design and develop a site from start to finish (hand coding) it took me about a year or so. I've been doing it now for over three years and just keep improving my skills.

 

Ultimately, a really graphic website, like www.nba.com

 

I never started anything web wise till I started at Uni and to make a basic website framework could be done in hours.

You start to realise that it takes more time preparing the site than actually making it. Gets mockup designs done, getting everything looking how you want it to before you start etc. Coding wise, you'll get better as you go along and find out the best way to do things - 5 years and still learning here.

 

Well, for a site like that, it would probably take someone a while to 'learn' how to do it. There's a lot more going on with the NBA site than just "graphics."

Looks like they make use of Flash, Javascript, HTML, CSS, and some other stuff like probably PHP/MySQL or maybe ASP.net (not sure on what language they use) or they may even just use a commercial Content Management System (CMS) that they purchased. Which would be something else you'd need to learn.

Honestly, I've been doing websites for three years or so, and this would be a big undertaking for me to accomplish a site like this. I just don't have the skills to do it. So I can't give you an estimate on how long it would take to learn.

What are your current skillsets?

 

Funny, I look at that bloated flash laden pile of crap and think... aim a little higher kid.

Seriously, telltales of a POORLY coded site

1) more than twice as much HTML as there is text content

2) more than twice as much JAVASCRIPT as there is text content

3) more than 15k of CSS for ANY site.

4) more than 30 files total.

The nba main page?

6K of actual 'content'

72k of HTML, 29k of CSS in three files, 75k of Javascript (!?!) in THIRTEEN files, and a whopping 91 files... The overhead on files alone on a GOOD connection is 18 seconds - real world should be upwards of 30 for broadband and several MINUTES for dialup - and I'm just talking the handshaking overhead, not actual transfer of DATA.

Hell, you want to see how badly that page is done, czech this out:

http://www.nba.com/media/litte_rss.jpg

25 freaking K for a 12x12 image? I'd be AMAZED if that needed to be more than 180 bytes as a .gif

... and people wonder why I say most corporate 'designers' need to be taken round back of the woodshed with a 30-06. I'm willing to bet that page could be recoded to use a quarter the bandwidth it does now, loading as much as eight times faster - making for a more enjoyable browsing experience even without the stupid ****ing bloated flash eye candy.

 

to make my first site? About an hour.

What I can do now? About 3-4 years.

 

How to make a website? Or how to make a good website?

I think almost any joe blow can read a little bit about HTML and create a website. A good one takes times though, quite a bit of time.

 

Wow, didn't know it was that comlicated. My skills are very little, but I am really motivated. I think I'm seriously going to have revise my goals from what was my specified target (1yr), and just go about it an hour a day, make little goals, and see what happens from there.

 

rofl I'd hire you if I had the money

 

I'm about 5 years in this buisness.
It took me like 1 year to learn HTML

 

Depends how much you set aside for learning. If thats all your doing for 8-12 hours a day then you will learn pretty quick.

 

That's probably a good approach. It's much easier to learn one thing and then move on to the next. You can't sit down try to learn 10 different things at the same time (or at least many people can't). Everyone has to start somewhere, but you just have to keep in mind that majority of the people you see putting out great websites and content have been doing it for years upon years. They didn't sit down one day and instantly put out great stuff.

Good luck.

 

Each has its own pace I guess. The only sure thing is that you must never stop learning.

 

In March or so, I'd only heard the words HTML and CSS. Now I can do something with them.

But without Js skills, php "skills" (dunno if I'll waste my time learning php until it's secure), etc, I can only make static sites. Heck I couldn't use GIMP for more than resizing in the beginning of Februari (this year).

HTML seems definitely a quicker learn than CSS. CSS seems more like Perl-- more than a gazillion ways to do it. The flexibility also makes it complicated.

 

If php isn't secure, it's because of the coder, not the language. There are a bazillion applications out there running off php and they are very secure.

 

Took me ~6 months to actually make a good site with php and mysql, but you never stop learning since the net keeps on evolving.