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Complete stranger to web design trying to create a simple website concept.

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Apr 06.2015

Hello everyone. I have a very plain concept for a website, but with zero web experience I don’t even know where to start in developing it. My concepts will be significantly simpler than most of the things you’re discussing here so I appreciate if anyone will just pat me on the head and point me in the right direction so I can self-learn this.

Basically, what I want to do is have an opening page with just text that more or less simulates a blinking command prompt the user can type in, and based on what they type, they are then sent to a video or image on a new page.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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5 Comments(s) ↴

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@NogDogApr 07.2015 — Creating the look and feel is the easy part (well, once you learn some HTML and CSS ? ). How to decipher the user's input and do something useful and relevant with it might be the tricky part -- unless there's something you have in mind you haven't told us about?
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@Strider64Apr 07.2015 — Content is the key to any good website and I even struggle with that myself on a daily basis. My advice is to figure out where you want to place your video(s) and image(s) on the page(s) and go from there. Do some rough thumbnail sketches and then some website mock-ups (on paper) then transfer it from there. Once you get that done or close to done then you can add what you're talking about by either using JavaScript or some other scripting language. Maybe have your website design resemble a computer terminal?
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@EatManauthorApr 07.2015 — Okay, so do you think I should start with a crash course in HTML and CSS and then go from there? I doubt my idea would necessitate a complex understanding of either, so will the basics be enough?

Regarding the users input, in the first generation of the website it will not matter what the user actually inputs the result will always be the same and visitors will be sent to the same image. But later updates to the site will assign several choices to put in so the user can choose which image they reach as content is added.

The opening page will definitely resemble a computer terminal and then the destination images will feature traditional site navigation.

I will be looking this up myself, but thinking out loud for a moment, how do HTML, CSS, and something like Javascript all interact with each other? What is doing what? How do I even use these tools?
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@Kevin2Apr 07.2015 — Very very roughly:

HTML describes what something is. A <p>aragraph, an <a>nchor (link), a <h>eading, etc.

CSS describes what those elements should look like, where they should be placed, and more.

Javascript provides a means for the user to dynamically interact with a webpage. It can use HTML or CSS to do so.

A "crash course" is probably a good idea. There are many tutorials out there. I have a distinct feeling though that a slightly more "complex understanding" of the languages will be more necessary than you think. You'll probably also need to learn a server-side language such as PHP after getting your basic site up and running.
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@seoguruApr 09.2015 — Start with a basic HTML and CSS course which you can easily find from CodeAcademy which is very easy and interactive form of learning. After you finish online course which is free of cost in codeacademy, go for a php course there and in the meantime install xamp server(incase you want to learn) on your pc and download a step by step tutorial for how to install xamp.

After installation, try installing wordpress in it, which is very simple and easy platform (CMS) to develop websites. You can find step by step guides for wordpress installation as well.

After wordpress installation and finishing your courses of HTML/CSS basics and php at codeacademy you are able to set a basic webpage for you or your company. Try working hard and show consistency in everything you do.

You can create what you are trying to create.
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