Simple Website First Steps

arthurmani

Hi,
I am an architect and would like to create a very simple website in which i could display my work as a full screen slideshow. A small bar that can be hidden would orient the slide show to certain project and describe them...
I am thinking of something in this spirit http://www.f-o-a.net or http://www.jacques-ferrier.com/ but possibly simpler.
Would you know how i could start ? I have no experience whatsoever.
I registered a domain name, that s about it :queasy:.
Many thanks

dagon

You should seriously consider hiring a professional for this. Would you recommend some one with no experience design there own house or hire some one like you?

halojoy

Both those sites using Shockwave Flash (.swf file)
I would contact www.f-o-a.net and ask what is the web designer that made the site.
There is nothing shown who made it for them.

There are special web designers who are very good with Shockwave Flash
and are specially into that kind of web pages
and have all those expensive Adobe design programs.
http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/whatisflash/

If we look at the code of www.f-o-a.net
there is very little. Basically only loads foa.swf file and the settings for that SWFlash

var s = new swfIN("foa.swf", "flashcontent", "100%", "100%")
....load foa.swf and make width/height 100% = cover the screen

	<body>
		<script type="text/javascript">
			var s = new swfIN("foa.swf", "flashcontent", "100%", "100%");

		s.addParam("bgcolor", "#000000");
		s.addParam("allowFullScreen", "true");
		s.addParam("menu", "true");
		s.detectRedirect( [8,0,0] , "noflash.html", true);
		s.useSWFAddress();
		s.scrollbarAt(1024, 768);
		s.write();
	</script>

NogDog

You might be able to use one of these PHP-based open-source applications to get something along the lines of what you want:

php.opensourcecms.com image galleries

halojoy

Craft your practice’s website as carefully as your next building

18 July 2008

By Richard Frankland

Richard Frankland of FKDA, which designs both buildings and websites, on how architects can achieve a striking online presence

Read more: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3118416

On SWF Flash ( like in the both sites you mentioned )
this article has following to say:

For reasons unknown, Flash possesses a stranglehold over architecture online. While it has its place, notably in displaying movies or images that you prefer others not to copy easily, it sabotages the most important function of the web: making information easy to find.

Text displayed within a Flash animation is almost invisible to Google, meaning key information about a firm is only accessible by manually hunting through site sub-menus. How many visitors simply give up?

Plus displaying text as an animation means users cannot copy it from your site, which is potentially frustrating if they want to copy and paste a phone number or email address.

Read more: http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3118416

arthurmani

Thanks a lot everyone.
I really don't want to use flash and i was wondering if there was a simpler way to make a slide-show using php coding on wordpress or something like that.
I feel the ability to display images full screen can be very useful for an architect.
Hope you can help.

everythingis

How involved do you realistically want to get into building the site yourself? How much time do you have to commit to learning all the languages to build a website? Arre you willing to spend money, or do you want to do this on the cheap?

If you want something quick and easy, you can find templated website where you just load in your own content and photos with very little coding knowledge required.

Places like these to check out would be:
www.joomla.org - Free CMS used by millions, but medium learning curve
www.intuit.com - Charged CMS with little learning curve

Otherwise, if you want more control for a custom built site and get your hands dirty, you're going to want to learn HTML for the structure of your site, CSS for the design and style, PHP for dynamic pages, Javascript and jQuery for effects, and MySQL if you need a database. Flash is cool also, but that's something you can probably get away with without needing.

So, start out at :

HTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, etc.
www.w3schools.com
http://www.htmldog.com/

PHP:
www.php.net
www.developphp.com
http://www.tizag.com/phpT/
http://devzone.zend.com/node/view/id/627

jQuery:
http://jquery.com/

They have basic tutorials that will give you the nuts & bolts know-how for most of the languages. But then you're going to need to hop around the web & check out forums, ask questions, and pick it up as you go.

Whe you're ready to start building, you'll need some programs:

Code Editors:
Dreamweaver - One of the most popular, and has almost everything you'll need, but it costs money.

Otherwise, you can get these for free:
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ - Graphics Program similar to Photoshop
http://kompozer.net/ - Code Editor for CSS and HTML, but doesn't support PHP
http://download.cnet.com/PHP-Designer-2007-Personal/3000-10248_4-10575026.html - Free PHP Code Editor

sohguanh

Since the time I get in touch with Internet, highly interactive games and applications (e.g movies and fanciful effects etc) are usually from Adobe in Flash format and Java applet. Of cuz I would give the vote to Adobe though. Now the buzz is RIA aka Rich Internet Application.

For your needs, a slide-show would best be done using Adobe or Java applet from my opinion. Unfortunately Adobe is not Open Source so one cannot try to develop applications using their SDK and tools without paying monies.

However just now a search via Internet reveal the latest offering from Adobe and they are offering SDK FREE called Adobe AIR SDK. This is good time to jump on the wagon to see what they have to offer.

Furthermore, Adobe is withdrawing their development on iPhone and turning to Android a more Open Source OS. After learning Android development, it is time to learn some Adobe AIR SDK.

Sorry for diverting from PHP topic but somehow I feel different technologies are meant for different purposes and in this thread, I feel the poster needs would be better done using Adobe and now it has FREE SDK, it is worth some exploration.

Thanks.

PS Any PHP developers dabbling in Android development nowadays ? 😉

everythingis

After I learn enough about PHP where I feel comfortable, I'm going to sign up for one of those Zend certification programs & then I'll worry about the Android Development because my site is definitely going to need a mobile portal.

But also, in reference to your slideshow comment, wouldn't a jQuery slideshow be nice and simple? All you need is a couple lines of code to initialize it on the page & download whatever template someone has available. There's a bunch of really nice ones you can find for free online.