Website Software

Hi All,
I'm want to build my own music website & I was hoping to get some advice.

I'm a complete amature about this, so I'm kinda hoping for software that's easy to use, looks great, preferably with templates, maybe some standard animation?

Any advice about building a easy to maintain great looking website would be most welcome

Thanks

let's start with what kind of website you want...
is it for some sort of collection, is it a personal website, a blog?

I defintely want to make one for myself 1st. So it's gonna need to have info, vids, pics etc.

If you want reactions and activity I would suggest a blog for that.
Wordpres is simple and good blogging software (and works for a true website like fanedit.org and imdb.com also really well).
You can start on a static page (like Fanedit.org does) or with a list of the latest posts. The menu can be configured the way you want to.

What you need first is a webhost. I would suggest starting with shared hosting. http://dreamhost.com/ is not the cheapest, but a very reliable shared hoster, where you can store an incredible amount of images and videos without causing problems (50GB true webspace). One free domain name comes with the registration (IIRC).

Next you will need to create a database on your webhost and use this for your wordpress blog.
The wordpress software can be found here: http://wordpress.org/
A design for free can be found for example here: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

You do not need ANY software to update your website. It is all done online and can be done from everywhere around the world, where you have internet access.

I'll probably do that along with the website. But I'd still like a website I've got the domain names, just gotta put them to good use

You'd still like a website...
what in wordpress isn't a website?
Would you prefer a static html website (fanedit.info is one for example)?
For an html website you need an html editor. There are free ones, but they hardly come with a visual editor, so you will have to use code. Html editors with a visual editor are usually a bit expensive (starting at 49$ for coffecup: http://www.coffeecup.com/html-editor/, more expensive with microsoft frontpage and even more with the great adobe dreamweaver).

Perhaps you should describe what a website is for you. Can you give an example?

I'd like an artist website like any other artist or band would have, with videos, photos, gig updates & stuff like that.

All these bands have their own websites & I'd like to do my own one
http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/
http://www.thebeatles.com/
http://www.ledzeppelin.com/

http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/ <-- php website, post preview on the frontpage
http://www.thebeatles.com/ <-- php website, static frontpage
http://www.ledzeppelin.com/ <-- php website, static frontpage with flash intro

there are plenty of possibilities for a php website. It takes a cms for that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_management_system
I suggested wordpress to you, because it is free, easy to use and very adjustable.
another pretty good one is joomla.

I agree with boon. I've used both wordpress and joomla to create a bunch of different sites and they have proven to be much more effective than standard html. You'll get further faster by using one of these free CMS's than trying to do it with html too.

i don´t want to go off topic here but let me just say the following:

Hey Dork!




...ok back to discussing internet things!

Hey Heiny! Long time no see. Well, long time no post rather. I lurk a lot.

My mate lent me an old program called GoLive CS2. I had a go on it cause I didn't pay for it :lol: & below is a screen shot of it.



The problem is it doesn't look so good on a widescreen as the bloody thing isn't centralised it's positioned to the left. As you can see from test screnshot I did below.



I don't want to give on that html program as it's giving me what I want. But the screen issue is proving one hurdle I can't jump.

So I was thinking of going with Wordpress or Joomla.

The problem is I want to do a lot with my website so I need a lot of flexibility with which ever software I use.

Here's a list of things I'd like to beable to do with my site.
1. Make it look like the 1st Black & Blue Screenshot.
2. Design the site/page however I want, ie I don't want to be restricted by templates.
3. Have as many pages as I want.
4. Beable to add text with a scrollbar
5. Beable to add Youtube videos
6. Add adverts/banners/ etc
7. Direct it to a url of my choice.

Sorry for the bloody great big list, it's just I've spent the last week making the site on GoLive so I know what's needed.

So which is better for that Wordpress or Joomla?

Thanks

Whichever one you choose you are going to have to work with template though it is very possible to edit a pre-exsisting template to look the way you want. You'll have to work for it though by editing the templates coding. As for the other stuff, they both have tons of extenstions you can use to achieve your wants. Both wordpress and joomla will allow you to make as many pages as you want.

If you are looking for a web host, you will do well to have a look here for some good advice:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com

I've narrowed my own personal choice of web host down to Webair.com and Mddhosting.com based on what I read at the above site. I just emailed those companies with some questions this morning before I make a final decision.

The general rule of thumb when you are looking for a good hosting company seems to be, that if the deal is too good to be true, then it is. Be aware of searching for "best web hosting company reviews" or something along those lines. The bad hosting companies make the sites with those 'reviews' and they obviously sing their own praises.

Also, be aware, bad hosting companies will not think twice about canceling your account without warning if you are using too much bandwidth.

I'm new to this too, so that's all I've got so far. Good luck!

Well I decided to go both routes.

I used a Flash program for my music site, which I'm really happy with & I took Boons advice & went with Wordpress for my business site.

The Flash site was easy to make as it was all templates, but making a site in Wordpress is a bloody nightmare.

I'm actually going for a similar design to the Fanedit main page. With a banner across the top with an add above it & with 3 columns below with the centre column for the main info & the 2 side columns for adds.



Any advice on how to make a wordpress site would greatly appreciated as there seems to be so many different ways to do it it's making my head spin :???: . I mean all I need is an opening page which I can update daily with links to static pages throughout the site, so it's not a complicated site, it just seems that making the design in wordpress is a nightmare.

no one said designing a website was easy...
if you want a static front page, go to settings --> reading --> a static page (select your front page).

First of all you should decide for a template, which gets closest to what you want:
http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
http://wordpressthemesbase.com/
(FE uses actually one of the default templates, heavily edited of course)
and alter that in the stylesheet.
There are many guides on wordpress how that is done and it requires using code. But if you are willing to get something nice going, this is the way.

Now FE does not have 3 columns, but 2. The left sidebar you see on the frontpage of FE is a table, not a true column.

Yes, do like boon said. Find a template closest to what you want your site to look like and then you can edit the .css style sheet of that template. There are tons of resources out there that can teach you how to edit a .css file. Trust me, working with wordpress is a lot easier than coding the site from scratch.

I tried working from a template & that was a nightmare. So I used a program called Artisteer which is basically a website builder that exports the site a wordpress theme. It cuts out all the HTML & CSS stuff, you just choose the layout, sizes, colours etc & off you go. I did have to do a bit of coding to add a 2nd menu & adverts but I think it's turned out very well.

Thanks for your help guys.