Super noob question's , any advice will be greatly appreciated.

I am an IT guy but have never been into coding or website design. I do work for a doctor's office who does not have a website and they asked if I would be interested in building one for them. It would be dumb of me not to at least try because they pay very well. Here is what I think my options are at this point. I have dreamweaver CS5, can someone with little experience manage to create a decent site with the dreamweaver site option, rather than straight from HTML, or PHP? Or should someone with no experience just use a site like Godaddy and use there website building tool (I'm guessing this is frowned upon). Or do you think I should just suggest that they contact a third party and let someone else do it. One more question that I am just unsure about, is if I build a site in Dreamweaver, but can't host the site on a webserver, how do I have the site hosted by a site like godaddy. I hope someone can take the time to give me advice.

 

Seeing that you do not know any HTML or web development languages as of right now, it would be a pain to try to learn them as your make a "professional" website. Dreamweaver makes code that is absolutely awful and jumbled. It looks good... until you need to go in and manually change the code... then your are outta luck. I personally frown upon it. Website builders are okay for beginners but then again the code is just absolute trash. I would recommend the straight up HTML/PHP/CSS/etc. So I guess to achieve this, you will have to go with a third party. If you really want to do it yourself, start on some smaller projects for yourself to begin to understand and learn the in's and out's of web development. Practice makes perfect! I am no expert myself but I have a very good understanding of how it all works.

Please do not use Godaddy... The only thing they will provide you are headaches. Yes they are cheap and popular because they advertise everywhere but I have heard only BAD things about them and that the costumer service is complete trash and their overall service is poor. Do some research to see what will fit you best for the price you can afford. There are many many better options out there.

 

If you don't have any experience of web designing, use WordPress! You can easily find tutorials on how to make a website with WordPress *from scratch.
You only need a Webhost. I would suggest BlueVM, (google it), I found them on DP only. They are cheap and provide great customer support. I'm myself a customer.
There is an automatic site builder they provide(I'm not sure), which could install WordPress in one click.

 

Thanks for the response. Honestly right now, I have a 1 yr old at home, and literally finding the time to start to learn HTML or any other code probably won't happen in a short amount of time (they would like it up in about 2 months). However, with that said, I'm not opposed to learning it, but I'm sure I could not build a sufficient site in that amount of time because I am limited to a few hours a night at best. Which code do you suggest would be the best to learn? I will stay away from godaddy, thanks.

 

This seams to be a popular answer from what I have researched, I might have to give this a go. Just out of curiosity could I build something similar to this site here in wordpress, http://www.cardiologyassociates.info/ ? The doctor asked me to take a peak at this site just to get an idea. Seams pretty simple to me, although I am sure it's not as easy as I think.

 

Why not manage the process and outsource the building of the site to someone here. You will make some money and have the help you need to make the site. Consider yourself more of the project manager and hire someone to do the part you can't do.

 

Do you have a ballpark figure of a cost, it would be a site similar to the one I posted above.

 

I also would suggest using WordPress, or getting someone to design a WordPress site for you. WordPress is built using HTML and PHP, and comes as a framework out of the box for you. It enables you to add additional addons so that you can add more functionality to your WordPress installation. It is much easier to edit than starting a site from scratch. It is much easier than Dreamweaver, although still challenging.

 

If it were me looking to have it made, depending on how much I needed done it could be anywhere from $750 to a couple thousand. It really depends on a lot of factors. That site you showed is not that complicated, but there could be a lot of pages that need content done.

 

As I have read, you are leaning toward a third party or a Wordpress website which are both good approaches. But to answer your question, the best code to learn is all of it. But you need to start with HTML because HTML is the basis that all the other code and markups use and work off of. From HTML I would probably suggest CSS so you can design and style the page to your standards and make it look 'pretty'. From there PHP and MySQL to do server-side things, such as validation, making your website more dynamic, and overall adding a lot more advanced features. Just these three will take you months if not years to gain a solid understanding so it is not practical to learn them from scratch for this one project. I still recommend learning it for future uses... It's a great thing to know how to do well...

 

Wordpress is a blogging tool, FYI. You can use it for the doctor's website and buy a generic templates for less than $100 and register a domain and hosting for ~$100. About $200 for an out-of-the-box website. That's the ballpark figure if you're DIY, but you will not get like the site you've shown.

The headaches for beginners begins when clients want to customize. Here's a tip for what you must know;

• HTML & CSS
• PHP
• Javascript. The cosmetics.
• A good knowledge in designing for the web and its tools.

To get you started, I'll give you a link of tips & tutorials;

Understand HTML & CSS — Step by step
http://www.w3.org/Style/Examples/011/firstcss.en.html

Wordpress as website
http://en.support.wordpress.com/using-wordpress-to-create-a-website/

Getting started with PHP (get your reading glasses)
http://www.php.net/manual/en/getting-started.php

Understanding Javascript (a nice hands-on explanation)
http://www.codecademy.com/courses/getting-started-v2?curriculum_id=506324b3a7dffd00020bf661

Designing for web — A long list of tutorials.
http://webdesign.tutsplus.com

These stuff will get you a glimpse of everything. Takes time and patience. Just like an architect designing a building, you must follow web standards. Of course you can build it like however you want, write gibberish code, like who cares, as long as the user can use your website.

You can look good or bad, but the heart is what matters. A good heart sustains. Just like a good code.

I wish you all the best, and good luck with the project.

 

@JaCqEeZ yes you can make it look exactly like that, but that will require a little bit of Designing you know. By the way there are ready made themes available at WP store, from there you can find your exact match. There are just too many themes, by too many I mean, TOOOO many!
Not just WP store, you can also find great Third Party websites. Many people out here on DP offers designing service (including me ).
My suggestion would be to dig for a free WordPress theme which matches your need.

 

Rolodex's response was excellent. Wordpress was originally developed as a blogging tool, but has since evolved into one of the best content management systems to develop websites upon. My agency develops exclusively within Wordpress.

I suggest grabbing a well-rated theme from ThemeForest and going from there. Find something simple, but well rated. If you grab a complex theme, it might not be suitable to learn on. The best themes come with excellent documentation to help you set them up. Choosing a host with one-click Wordpress install like host Gator or Bluehost would make the process that much easier for you.

Besides that if you want to go deeper, learn HTML, CSS and PHP.

 

This is some great advice, I definitely came to the right place. I have looked into the WordPress themes and I feel like this is the way to go. Rolodex, thanks for taking the time to respond and giving me some helpful links as well.

 

Yeah, wordpress is a great way to make a good looking website easily.

 

What hosting sites do you guys prefer. I know @ixabhey recommended BlueVM, any other suggestions?WordPress suggests that you use a site that offers a one click install and they name Bluehost, Dreamhost and Laughing Squid. Are these good options, or is the one click install not anything special.

 

It's not really special, but it's quite easy. Any hosting site with a deal you like is fine however.

 

Hi there I'm new to the forum but here's my bit I wholeheartedly agree go with WordPress there are great themes available and it is easy to use .If you get stuck the webdesign firm I work with would build you the site for $600 (with your content)so don't get ripped off with some crazy quote! Good luck with the build As for hosting Hostgator are great