Best Way To Build A Website (server, text editor, work, click)

[Nema98]

Hello all

I have one question, and I know there are more than one answer, so I will look into it all. Should a use a program on my computer, which is a PC or use a site builder?

I have to say I want to be able to make it a live site(obviously) so other users can use it for their own benefit.

So think of it this way, suppose I wanted to create "City-Data", how would I have gone about doing it?

Thanks in advance, I remember I created my own website eight years ago when I was senior in high school, but it was just several web pages, no more than ten in which I designed it and all those details.

It was an old computer, lol.

[thecoalman]

Do you want the easy directions or "I want to learn" directions?

[sgorneau]

Well, if you want to build something like City-Data, you can't think of it as a web site of pages; it's a system. There are no pages to build; there are types of content (in this case, posts, messages, etc.); there are queries to gather these content objects based on any number of criteria; there are content relationships; there are users, permissions, and profiles; there are rating and flagging systems, etc.

In the case of City-Data case, vBulletin was used. There are also many other options. Or, you could use a framework to roll your own based on a specific set of requirements.

[Nema98]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

Do you want the easy directions or "I want to learn" directions?

Both would be good, mostly "I want to learn" directions.

[Nema98]

Originally Posted by sgorneau

Well, if you want to build something like City-Data, you can't think of it as a web site of pages; it's a system. There are no pages to build; there are types of content (in this case, posts, messages, etc.); there are queries to gather these content objects based on any number of criteria; there are content relationships; there are users, permissions, and profiles; there are rating and flagging systems, etc.

In the case of City-Data case, vBulletin was used. There are also many other options. Or, you could use a framework to roll your own based on a specific set of requirements.

Yes I want people to be able to use my website and post messages and other types of contents they wish to, and of course free.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by Nema98

Both would be good, mostly "I want to learn" directions.

Well for site like this you could just get a hosting plan and in the control panel they will have one click install for phpBB which is forum software similar to this. That's the easy directions.....

Beyond that first install XAMPP on your computer. This is a preconfigured apache server meant to be used locally for testing environment. It comes with all the things like PHP and MySQL that you need to simulate a website on you local computer for testing purposes.

Open the XAMPP control panel and start Apache and MySQL, you can configure this so they start automatically when you open the control panel. Now type into your browsers address bar: http://localhost/

If you open the folder XAMPP is installed in and then the htdocs folder you're going to find a file in there called index.html or index.php, I forget which. That is where what you see in your browser is coming from. You can type in http://localhost/index.html and it will be the same content. When a request comes into a server and there is no file specified index.XXX is the default file served.


From there you're going to want to have a basic understanding of these five things in particular the first two, when I say basic understanding you want to understand how they interact and what part they play.

HTML - this is what is served to the clients browser. It's the content and provides structure for your content.
CSS - This provides formatting for your content. Colors, positioning, font sizes etc.
Javascript - This executes on the clients computer. For example when you insert a smilie into a post here by clicking one that is done with Javascript.
PHP - This is a server side programming language, it "does things". It's executed server side and does all kinds of things like gathering information from database.
MySQL - This is a database and it stores information, in this context you can look up in the corner and see information about your self "You last visited...." that information was stored in a database.

Download and install Notepad++. This is a text editor specifically made for editing HTML, PHP and many other languages. Head over to tutorials for HTML: HTML Tutorial and create a test file in Notepad++. When you save your test file save it to the htdocs folder as test.html, open in your browser as http://localhost/test.html

If you feel like it open the index file in the htdocs folder and edit it... there is no harm you can do by editing any file in this folder.

Now go the CSS tutorials, CSS Tutorial. Take your test file and apply some CSS. You can also look at the existing files in htdocs for existing examples. When you're done messing around move or delete all the files in the htdocs folder to somewhere else.


-----------------

Now lets get crazy. Download and install phpBB. You can get that here, you'll want the full package.

https://www.phpbb.com/downloads/



This is open source and contains everything you need to have forum like this one. Now if you're not looking to create a forum and are more interested in just a regular website look at something like Drupal, Wordpress or Joomla. These are all free. Any of these packages are going to have instructions in them for installing them. Once you unzip them look for a file called........ install.txt or install.html.

Specifically for phpBB once you unzip it there is folder called docs. Follow the directions for installing, I believe the directions are for host so any instructions will be relative to the htdocs folder.

Once installed familiarize yourself with the admin interface etc. Create some forums, topics, talk to yourself. You can also look at some of the different styles and mods available that are easy to install. Now if you really want to be brave and use the knowledge you gained with the HTML and CSS tutorials find the styles/prosilver folder in the phpBB installation. You're going find three folders there.

Templates - These are special HTML files used by phpBB. When the PHP script executes on the server it will gather the required templates. Within the templates are placeholders and switches. You're going to see something like {USERNAME}, the script has already gathered that information from the database and replaces {USERNAME} with something like Nema98 and then spits it out as regualr HTML to the browser.

Theme - this contains the CSS files.

Imageset - speaks for itself.

Once you have familiarized yourself with this you're ready to go live. The beauty of having XAMPP is you can prepare your forum beforehand, unless you have installed mods or styles there is very few files you need. You install phpBB on your host, you export the database in the maintenance tab of yout XAMPP install and import on your live site.

This is really just a brief overview, there will certainly be many speed bumps. You can spend months doing what I've described here.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by Nema98

Yes I want people to be able to use my website and post messages and other types of contents they wish to, and of course free.

Keep in mind phpBB is forum software just like what you're using here. If you're looking for something more content based like a regular website look at Drupal.

[Jkgourmet]

Content based, I'd be looking at WordPress. Easy to learn, easy to use, easy to set up.

Want a forum? I think there's a plug in for that. But with Wordpress, user's can comment on what you've written.

so if it's a blog and user comment format you are thinking of (versus a forum like this), seriously consider WordPress.

[Peregrine]

ALternatively:

Webs - Make a free website, get free hosting

Free Website Builder | Create a Free Website | WIX

Edge to Wix for user friendliness.

[Nema98]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

Well for site like this you could just get a hosting plan and in the control panel they will have one click install for phpBB which is forum software similar to this. That's the easy directions.....

Beyond that first install XAMPP on your computer. This is a preconfigured apache server meant to be used locally for testing environment. It comes with all the things like PHP and MySQL that you need to simulate a website on you local computer for testing purposes.

Open the XAMPP control panel and start Apache and MySQL, you can configure this so they start automatically when you open the control panel. Now type into your browsers address bar: http://localhost/

If you open the folder XAMPP is installed in and then the htdocs folder you're going to find a file in there called index.html or index.php, I forget which. That is where what you see in your browser is coming from. You can type in http://localhost/index.html and it will be the same content. When a request comes into a server and there is no file specified index.XXX is the default file served.


From there you're going to want to have a basic understanding of these five things in particular the first two, when I say basic understanding you want to understand how they interact and what part they play.

HTML - this is what is served to the clients browser. It's the content and provides structure for your content.
CSS - This provides formatting for your content. Colors, positioning, font sizes etc.
Javascript - This executes on the clients computer. For example when you insert a smilie into a post here by clicking one that is done with Javascript.
PHP - This is a server side programming language, it "does things". It's executed server side and does all kinds of things like gathering information from database.
MySQL - This is a database and it stores information, in this context you can look up in the corner and see information about your self "You last visited...." that information was stored in a database.

Download and install Notepad++. This is a text editor specifically made for editing HTML, PHP and many other languages. Head over to tutorials for HTML: HTML Tutorial and create a test file in Notepad++. When you save your test file save it to the htdocs folder as test.html, open in your browser as http://localhost/test.html

If you feel like it open the index file in the htdocs folder and edit it... there is no harm you can do by editing any file in this folder.

Now go the CSS tutorials, CSS Tutorial. Take your test file and apply some CSS. You can also look at the existing files in htdocs for existing examples. When you're done messing around move or delete all the files in the htdocs folder to somewhere else.


-----------------

Now lets get crazy. Download and install phpBB. You can get that here, you'll want the full package.

https://www.phpbb.com/downloads/



This is open source and contains everything you need to have forum like this one. Now if you're not looking to create a forum and are more interested in just a regular website look at something like Drupal, Wordpress or Joomla. These are all free. Any of these packages are going to have instructions in them for installing them. Once you unzip them look for a file called........ install.txt or install.html.

Specifically for phpBB once you unzip it there is folder called docs. Follow the directions for installing, I believe the directions are for host so any instructions will be relative to the htdocs folder.

Once installed familiarize yourself with the admin interface etc. Create some forums, topics, talk to yourself. You can also look at some of the different styles and mods available that are easy to install. Now if you really want to be brave and use the knowledge you gained with the HTML and CSS tutorials find the styles/prosilver folder in the phpBB installation. You're going find three folders there.

Templates - These are special HTML files used by phpBB. When the PHP script executes on the server it will gather the required templates. Within the templates are placeholders and switches. You're going to see something like {USERNAME}, the script has already gathered that information from the database and replaces {USERNAME} with something like Nema98 and then spits it out as regualr HTML to the browser.

Theme - this contains the CSS files.

Imageset - speaks for itself.

Once you have familiarized yourself with this you're ready to go live. The beauty of having XAMPP is you can prepare your forum beforehand, unless you have installed mods or styles there is very few files you need. You install phpBB on your host, you export the database in the maintenance tab of yout XAMPP install and import on your live site.

This is really just a brief overview, there will certainly be many speed bumps. You can spend months doing what I've described here.

Thanks this had been really helpful!