Help on where to start

[Jon Tweddle]

Hi all

I have recently made it one of my goals to learn web design and start making a passive income via the web.
I have very limited computer skills (only started using one 6 months ago!)
And have no clue about HTML and all the other jargon.
I was hoping there are people out there who where once in my position, who would be willing to give me advice on where to start.
I've noticed there are one or two (million) web pages on the subject, but I was hoping I could skip reading through all them and get some more genuine advice from the good people on this forum.
Yesterday I bought a book called "How To Make a Fortune on the INTERNET" by Ajay Ahuja, now I'm not daft enough to think that if I read this book I will make a load of money any time soon.
Infact at first I am not even bothered about making any money.
I just want the knowledge to put myself in the position to make money when I have invested enough time and hard work in the project.
I know that I could go to my local book store and buy books on the subject, but I've already looked and they all seem too advanced. I couldn't find one for an absolute beginner.
Anyway thats enough of my blabber for now.

Many thanks for reading

Cheers
Jon

[Addict]

If you really do want to learn webdesign, start on this:

HTML Tutorial

It's really not too complicated. And if you have any questions, post them here. This might be a better thread for the technology forum though.

I was hoping there are people out there who where once in my position, who would be willing to give me advice on where to start. I've noticed there are one or two (million) web pages on the subject, but I was hoping I could skip reading through all them and get some more genuine advice from the good people on this forum.

What you might want to realize is that every single person who knows anything about web design, even the experts, at one point had no clue at all and had to struggle through tutorials by themselves. Yes, you should ask questions, but we aren't going to be able to explain everything. I know some of the tutorials online seem technical, but you've got to go through it like everyone else.

[albertlee25]

Some how I feel that web design is not where your passion is. Why do you choose web design in the first place?

How do you intend to use web design to earn passive income? Web designer only earns if they have projects, if they stop working, the income stop.

hm.. I would suggest you sit down to think through, what is your core desire, and from there, it will be much easier to decide your goals and course of actions.

To discover YOUR Core Desires you must pay very close attention to the TRUE feelings you experience as you ask yourself two basic questions.

The first question gets you started (but the first answer people give is rarely accurate):

'What would I like to have that I don't currently have?'

The second question is the drill:

'If I had that what would that give me that I don't have?'

Keep asking yourself that after each answer until you hit pay dirt.

You will know you have drilled down to a Core Desire because it is always accompanied by an intense, sometimes poignant, though not always visible, emotional reaction.

Good Luck!


Cheers!


Albert Lee

[Jon Tweddle]

Originally Posted by Addict

What you might want to realize is that every single person who knows anything about web design, even the experts, at one point had no clue at all and had to struggle through tutorials by themselves. Yes, you should ask questions, but we aren't going to be able to explain everything. I know some of the tutorials online seem technical, but you've got to go through it like everyone else.

Hi Addict, thanks for the link.
I'm more than prepared to go through all the tutorials like everyone else. I was just wanting some sound advice on what is the best way to start. I spend between 4-8 hours a day on the internet learning, studying and trying to better myself. I certainly wasn't wanting some one to hold my hand through the whole thing. Sorry if it came accross like that.

Originally Posted by albertlee25

Some how I feel that web design is not where your passion is. Why do you choose web design in the first place?

How do you intend to use web design to earn passive income? Web designer only earns if they have projects, if they stop working, the income stop.

hm.. I would suggest you sit down to think through, what is your core desire, and from there, it will be much easier to decide your goals and course of actions.

To discover YOUR Core Desires you must pay very close attention to the TRUE feelings you experience as you ask yourself two basic questions.

The first question gets you started (but the first answer people give is rarely accurate):

'What would I like to have that I don't currently have?'

The second question is the drill:

'If I had that what would that give me that I don't have?'

Keep asking yourself that after each answer until you hit pay dirt.

You will know you have drilled down to a Core Desire because it is always accompanied by an intense, sometimes poignant, though not always visible, emotional reaction.

Good Luck!


Cheers!


Albert Lee

Thanks for the sound advice Albert.

To be honest it probably isn't my core desire to design web sites, but I think I would be thrilled with myself if I learned this skill. It is certainly something that I am intrigued by, and I would be extremely proud of myself for achieving this goal of mine.
As for making money this way, I would want to design a web site even if there was no money to be made.
But if I can earn a couple of quid along the way then why not.

I liked what you wrote about core desires, and I am going to try and use this when planning my goals from now on.

Many thanks again
Jon

[Kristoffer]

A way to get a fast start is to use a tool like wordpress to set up your on blog. This is easier than building your own site from scratch. Then as you learn more about html,php,sql, and so on you can start doing more and more yourself.

[OnionJack]

Albert hit the nail on the head. And your response that you still want to go ahead is great. So below I'm going to list some jargon/links and more for the heck of it.

I'm not a coder per se myself. But I can read it and know my way around the web.

Jargon to get familiar with:
HTML
CSS(Cascading Style Sheets - These tell the browser how the font should look and what color the background should be etc.)
Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress(These are called Content Management Systems(CMS). They are there to make your web programming easier. Depending on what you want to do with your site)
PHP & MySQL (Advanced) - These let you do what's called server-side scripting and database calls.
SEO(Search Engine Optimization - this is trying to get your website a good rank on Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask.com)


Programs:
Cpanel(This is a hosting control panel - when you have a domain name and host selected)
Dreamweaver - This is if you don't decide to go with a CMS listed above. You can create and edit sites in this.
FrontPage - Same as Dreamweaver, recently though I haven't heard as much about using it.

Forums to spend many, many hours in:
SitePoint Forums: Resources, Design, HTML, CSS, PHP, ASP, MySQL and more for your web site.
WebmasterWorld News and Discussion for the Web Professional
Webmaster Forum - Internet Marketing & Search Engine Forums

This is probably a bit of overload. But I'm a big believer in why test the waters, mine as well jump in.

-OJ

[Jon Tweddle]

Originally Posted by OnionJack

Albert hit the nail on the head. And your response that you still want to go ahead is great. So below I'm going to list some jargon/links and more for the heck of it.

I'm not a coder per se myself. But I can read it and know my way around the web.

Jargon to get familiar with:
HTML
CSS(Cascading Style Sheets - These tell the browser how the font should look and what color the background should be etc.)
Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress(These are called Content Management Systems(CMS). They are there to make your web programming easier. Depending on what you want to do with your site)
PHP & MySQL (Advanced) - These let you do what's called server-side scripting and database calls.
SEO(Search Engine Optimization - this is trying to get your website a good rank on Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask.com)


Programs:
Cpanel(This is a hosting control panel - when you have a domain name and host selected)
Dreamweaver - This is if you don't decide to go with a CMS listed above. You can create and edit sites in this.
FrontPage - Same as Dreamweaver, recently though I haven't heard as much about using it.

Forums to spend many, many hours in:
SitePoint Forums: Resources, Design, HTML, CSS, PHP, ASP, MySQL and more for your web site.
WebmasterWorld News and Discussion for the Web Professional
Webmaster Forum - Internet Marketing & Search Engine Forums

This is probably a bit of overload. But I'm a big believer in why test the waters, mine as well jump in.

-OJ

Hey OJ

Thanks for all the info.
The links you gave me will really help towards my project.

Thanks again
Jon

[Caveman Joe]

Jon,

The quickest way to learn how to build static XHTML/CSS websites is to download the FireBug extension for FireFox. It'll lay bare the source code of any website you point it at, including the site's CSS, and let you make changes and see your results in a cached copy. Learn by getting your hands dirty.

[Lauxa]

I would say to pick a project and jump in. Go around and look at sites you like that are similar to the one you want to design. Get a feel for the tools they are using to build their sites. Borrow liberally from the sites you like as you build your prototype. Then start studying the borrowed elements one by one and replacing them with custom elements of your own design.

One thing you might like to do is install xampp on your computer so you can do all of your development locally. It is free and this way you will not have to pay for web hosting while you are learning. Also it is much easier to develop on your local machine than to have to FTP each file onto the server to test your changes. The xampp install includes Apache, PHP, and SQL, so I think it should work with most free CMS systems. If you are looking to get into ASP and .NET development, that is a whole another skill set and would require different tools.

Usually you will need at least some amount of graphics to do website design. Don't steal graphics for production sites. You can find some free or attribution-required graphics or buy stock images. The GIMP is a good free graphics design and editing tool, and I also like Inkscape for vector graphics.

[Addict]

The quickest way to learn how to build static XHTML/CSS websites is to download the FireBug extension for FireFox. It'll lay bare the source code of any website you point it at, including the site's CSS, and let you make changes and see your results in a cached copy. Learn by getting your hands dirty.

That's a very good idea. You start learning really quickly as soon as you can play around with things and see the results.

[Helena]

Hey Jon,

I'm not a techie, but I did manage to create a fairly decent site and traffic is now starting to grow at a faster pace.

I wrote an article on my site that tells "How I Did This" and it lists several free ebooks from SBI (Site Build It).

I'm still learning the basics, but at least I can start making some money with my AdSense ads while I'm learning HTML.

Here's some free Webmaster's business Ebooks. Hope they help and good luck to you.

Webmaster Business Guide

Webmaster Business Guide for Local Businesses