How do I build a website?

You haven't got a clue. That whole site is an eCommerce funnel, and the eCommerce part is 50,000 lines of Java EE. Everything comes out of an Oracle database.

People who do wordpress and make believe they're coders wouldn't know where to begin.

Wordpress is a JOKE for incompetents who don't know what they're doing. People like you, whom real businesses know enough to stay the hell away from. If you are a real developer and you list Wordpress on your resume or portfolio, most corporate accounts won't even talk to you.

There is actually very little you can do with Wordpress besides a blog, and most businesses that want a REAL website but can't have a development staff will go to Drupal or Joomla

Because its true an corporate America knows it. If the OP wants a REAL website, the OP should get a REAL developer.

The simple fact is that nobody worth a damn does wordpress.

coach d wrote:

If the OP wants a REAL website, the OP should get a REAL developer.

said the "real" developer

Whoever needed 50 000 lines of ANYTHING to code hat page doesn't have a clue, to borrow your parlance.

That can be true, for some people; but many folks who are solid professional coders (including php, html, etc) use and like wordpress.

Did you get the impression from the OP, posting for website development assistance on a f**king running website, that is somehow looking for a "corporate account"?

Both are great platforms. As is wordpress. But I'd suggest your (ridiculous) comment above about resumes, etc, will likely get the very same response if they list drupal, joomla or wordpress.

What does "corporate america" have to do with this subject? And when did corporate America ever become any bastion of all things web design?

That's neither simple or a fact.

New to this wrote:

I am looking into making a website for my mom's small business. I have no prior experience with web design or building a website. How should I start?

Hi these are the steps to be followed to build a website they are

1. Get your Domain : check for the name you want for your website and its availability. Once your selected name is available, you need to register it for use.

2. Web hosting : If you want to display anything online, you have to buy web space on which you can store files and make it available online. Hosting nothing but buying web space to host your site online.

3. Web Design and Development : It is the final and main steps. You can go for free web template if you have some knowledge of web design or you can hire any web design professional same way you can go for free website builder .

You can get the above specified services at

.Here you can register your domain at cheap cost for which they provide you many free services like hosting,website builder and so on using this you can easily build and host your site online.

I'll second the vote for Wordpress - coach d is delusional if he thinks your Mother's home business needs a fully coded-from-the-ground-up bespoke solution. I don't know what she does with her business, but going with coach d's "solution" will probably mean using the next couple of years income paying for her website.

Even Drupal is probably more advanced than you need to be - unless you feel comfortable with database design, and understand basic web security, Drupal isn't going to be enough help to you. Plus, if you use anything other than Linux, you could have your website up and running with Wordpress before you've even got Drupal installed.

One or two words of warning - don't go with free hosting, and don't buy hosting from your domain name registrar.

The reasons: your site will look cheap and nasty using free hosting, and domain name registrars are not necessarily good web hosts.

You don't need your own Virtual Private Server, a shared server will do, but make absolutely certain that your host restricts what people can put on the server - your security is only as good as the biggest dumbarse on your server.

Don't hold ANY credit card details on your site - use PayPal's services for all payments. It might be a bit more work, but I would probably let PayPal hold the addresses and telephone numbers of your customers as well - customer analysis and purchasing trends aren't going to be massively complex anyway, but the gains in security would be worth the extra work of having to dig the info out of PayPal.

Even if you are careful to avoid storing sensitive data about your customers, BUY INSURANCE - everyone gets hacked sometime, it'd be better if your Mother doesn't have to compensate her clients out of her own pocket.

Actually, using Wordpress will be a positive for the insurance company; the company will at least be fairly confident that your rudimentary coding hasn't left the back door of your database unlocked (or even the front door! I've seen some godawful security cockups when it comes to databases).

Good luck.

You answer with some knowledge, but would you care to please clarify some points?

Can you provide any examples of existing business websites, whichinclude some e-commerce functionality, that were created with Wordpress?

Why? Because they tack on unwanted advertisements on the web page? Because they limit the functionality possibilities that one can build into their site?

What type of stuff are we to somehow assure ourselves is not on the server?

Thanks for the tip. Is it possible to get this info from PayPal? At what cost?

How much does this cost? Any recommended sources?

Thanks!

I am LOLing so hard at coach d.

BTW I use wordpress on a few sites I own that generate a 200-300 dollar passive income DAILY.

TLW wrote:

I am LOLing so hard at coach d.

BTW I use wordpress on a few sites I own that generate a 200-300 dollar passive income DAILY.

coach d speaks out of ignorance. My design + branding firm has been developing comprehensive corporate and e-tail websites on the WordPress platform for the past 18 mos. No longer is it merely an exercise of choosing a stock template. There is an ocean of opportunity to enhance functional customization and design sophistication.

BTW, many of our clients hated Drupal CMS. Just sayin'.

Top of my head, no, but the poster above me seems to be confident with Wordpress. I don't use it myself (I work with Yii and Laravel mainly), but I know people who do, and their results are good.

If you don't like Wordpress there are other systems, I was just cautioning you away from Drupal, which is a bit of a mess (I have used it, but found I spent more time trying to get things to work the way I wanted than actually designing the site. I also found too many half finished contrib packages, and that it was a steep learning curve) and won't help a new designer with the most important aspect of ANY ecommerce site - security.

I am making a couple of assumptions (1) your mother's business is quite small, and (2) this won't be a high traffic website. If either assumption is incorrect, then you may be better off hiring someone to do it for you.

If I'm correct in my assumptions, then check out Wordpress (not the free stuff), or perhaps Joomla! if you are slightly more confident around web design than you are letting on.

One thing that probably needs consideration is the ongoing site maintenance. I'm assuming that you don't want to be the full-time webmaster, so it would be handy if the Content Management System doesn't scare your Mother away every time she wants to add a new product, or change a price, and that it is simple enough for her to do those things without leaving a gaping security hole when she does so. You'll get that with Wordpress, or Joomla! (or, to be fair, Drupal once you've developed the site. Something I noticed in my limited experience with Drupal was that once the site was up and running content management was extremely easy).

All of that, plus the lack of security.

You can't directly, but review the Acceptable Use policy, and go for something a bit more expensive (a few dollars more at this point is money well spent) - the dumbos and spammers will go to the cheapest hosts.

If you want them to do analysis for you then the price depends on the sort of account you have with them, but you can get the raw data and process it yourself without cost.

The plus with PayPal keeping the records is that their entire business model is built around the security of their servers (so you don't have to think about it), the minus is that your customer details aren't easily to hand when you need them (having said that, it isn't a monumentally difficult task to retrieve that info).

There are also payment gateways that integrate into your site (I think you can do this with PayPal now, but I haven't tried it myself) but any of your customers who know PayPal will be comfortable with the redirect procedure, so that shouldn't put them off.

Your Mother probably has some sort of liability policy for her business already (if not, she should have!) ask her broker about "cyber liability" cover, either as a separate policy, or more likely an add-on to her existing cover. That is probably the best way, as the more business you put with a single broker, the harder they will fight for you when it comes time to claim.

I keep talking about security; for me it is the number one consideration every time I sit down to think about a new site - especially one that will be handling other people's money. You need to give the potential purchaser confidence that their money is safe, and using known names like PayPal will help with that.

A solid webhosting company which guarantees a good uptime (I notice DreamHost promises 100% uptime, which is interesting. I've never used them, but they talk a good game) will help with that.

The design of your actual page is important, but not as critical as all that (look at this site - it looks like something two 12-year-old cooked up in 1998, but it gets the customers in), look around at a few e-tailer sites, pick out things you like and use them. Avoid Javascript blinkies and you should be OK.

I THOUGHT YOU WERE A "D1" COACH LIKE YOU BRAGGED ON THIS SITE???

LIAR.

This explains why you are such a large anus.

from a design perspective, the verizon site is a mess! to start, you should never have two sets of navigation buttons...use either horizontal or vertical, but never both!

From a combination Design + Hosting package I would HIGHLY suggest Virb or Squarespace.

When it comes to building a website, the way to go depends on your programming knowledge. If you're not a coder, I suggest that you take a look at Wix. It's extremely flexible when it comes to design so you can easily rearrange items on your pages by dragging and dropping them wherever you want to. Read more about Wix here - http://www.webbuildersguide.com/website-builders-reviews/wix-review/

Oland888 wrote:

When it comes to building a website, the way to go depends on your programming knowledge. If you're not a coder, I suggest that you take a look at Wix. It's extremely flexible when it comes to design so you can easily rearrange items on your pages by dragging and dropping them wherever you want to. Read more about Wix here -

I'm sure the OP appreciates your response 4 years later

I just cant recommend wix. Sorry

I would recommend going with Wix or WordPress, they are very easy to handle, even for a beginner. If you're interested, here's a couple of tutorials - http://www.webbuildersguide.com/free-website-builders/. I think you, as a beginner, will find them very helpful. Good luck!

In order to build a website, you don't actually have know about HTML. Consider using website builders. I'm personally a huge fan of Wix as it comes with tons of templates filtered in many categories. It also offers free hosting plan and a lot of flexibility to make your website look exactly the way you want. Overall, this is what every non-technical user like me needs. But if you want a professional an powerful website, I recommend you to consult the web developers from http://wezom.com/ .