I want to develop some of my domains into nice-looking web pages (not the poor-quality ones I make with Microsoft Publisher). I am in awe of the pages I've seen many NP members design.
What is the best way for me to learn how to design & program websites?
I am a very experienced PC user, but I don't know PHP from Perl from JavaScript ...
Should I try to learn from a book / CD? Should I take an online course? What's your best advice?
I'd say it's "Near impossible" to learn to design good websites. What i mean is, you need to be artistic and creative in the first place, you can't just "learn" to make a nice looking website.
I spend the majority of my time making website designs and however much i try, i will never make anything good because i have no artistic talent.
Programming websites is different though, most people can learn to program/code a website it's just how well you learn.
Anyway, for coding a website I'd recommend sites like http://tizag.com or books like "Larry Ullman's PHP and MYSQL For dyanamic websites, second edition" which has taught me a lot
My point about webdesign is only my opinion though, somebody will probably come and tell you it's totally wrong, so if it is wrong, ignore it
randomo,
I, too, want to learn to make phat websites.
But when I see these templates, I think learning to design may be a waste of time. http://www.templatemonster.com
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PM me your unwanted aaab or abbb dot nets
If you are looking for websites with "content" I would recommend one of those CMS scripts like Joomla where all you need to do is set it up using fantastico or something and buy a template / find a free one and work your way through it. PM me if you need some help with this.
fantastico is a script installer which comes with most cPanel hosting accounts.
It makes a bare-bones 'CMS' very easy to set-up.
* Then you still need to spend hours experimenting with the different types of scripts.
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The best answer to your question is experience.
I look at sites I made a year ago (never launched) and they look awful!
Making something you can be proud of takes time.
Edit: Sitepoint.com is good if you want to learn CSS design from scratch, and http://webmonkey.com, which Gene mentioned, is a great old site too.
I still wonder where I can find some sort of glossary that will explain all these terms (including things like "cPanel" and "CSS"). Just go to Wikipedia or something?
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CSS : Cascading Style Sheets.
HTML : Hyper text markup language
CMS : Content Management System
cPanel : Web panel manager used by any good host
Fantastico : It installs scripts for you, so you enter a username and password and it automatically installs instead of you manually doing it.
OK. I understood HTML, had some idea of what CMS is, think I might have used cPanel once before ... but I still don't know what "scripts" do. (Excuse my appalling ignorance. I actually used to be a computer expert, back in the day, but then we had kids and I turned into Rip Van Winkle.)
Thanks - nice offer! I already have an unlimited account with a hosting provider; guess I should look into what tools they provide.
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A script is basically the common name given to a downloadable "package" you can use. So for example people will refer to http://phpbb.com as a "Script". generally anything that you can download, install and use is a script.
I'm getting closer to understanding you ... would a script do something like process inputs from people who are viewing that page? What are some examples of the kinds of tasks you would use a script for?
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A script is simply another word for pre-made programming of an application. You could either hire someone to program an application to use on your website, or you can get the programming in the form of a pre-made 'script' if it's available. Of course, a pre-made script can usually be used by many others, whereas having it custom programmed makes it yours exclusively.
You both had a lot of things to say about scripts, but I'm still missing the most basic point. What kinds of things do scripts do? (For example, what kinds of "applications" do people typically run on their websites?) Plain language, please!
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~1997 to 1999: A 'modern' interactive site would cost $50,000 even $100,000 for a company to develop on their own.
Interactive = Communities with user input, for example
2008: The type of 'advanced' interactive applications which would have cost $50,000 even $100,000 just eight years ago are now virtually free! I'm referring to Open-source scripts.
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Sounds good what's the catch?
Your competition gets the same great deal.
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/'Script'= pre-packaged computer program / interactive application, ect.
//Forums, Wiki's, Blogs, Diggs, Pliggs, Moodles, Drupals...It's a wonderful world!
i can say that you can search in google and search for the tutorials and from there you will find some good links where you can learn web designing esily
Domains. 
