Website-building

HTML 5, handwritten if you want rankings. And the whole web is still written in HTML. ; What makes that Passé? You can't get anything to show up without HTML. You could have the best PHP, Javascript and Javascript libraries ever, but you can do much without HTML.

Also in the loop should be user experience, SEO, and some of the more social aspects of the profession. You know, the stuff that programmers hate. (What? You're saying change the program because the interface is not feasible to users?)

Mark up, scripts and programming languages: AJax, HTML 5 (we're up to 5), CSS, Javascript, PHP (Down with ASP *shakes fist*), MySQL (or some database), Jquery (Javascript library), and a little, but not a lot of Flash.

Applications: Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop,illustrator and Dreamweaver), FTP programs (Cute FTP, etc)

Most people are following a lot of the principles set out by Steve Jobs and Jakob Nielsen for User interface. It's worth reading Jakob Nielsen's stuff.

Usually a normal website will have a graphic designer, Website designer (handles HTML and often the User Experience stuff plus the UI), Website programmer (it's not a good idea to combine the programmer with the website designer because most programmers don't give a crap about people. They just want the program to work. And this is fair to say... my Dad is like that.) and sometimes a separate SEO person. Then maybe some data entry people.

(Making a pro website is expensive). If you are a big time company, then hiring a UX specialist is usually on the list, in which case the website designer functions to put in javascript, HTML, ajax, and make sure the website is functional.

For a forum, you could use open source rather than building your own. Ruby on Rails, etc. Most programmers usually think,if it's built, why should I rebuild it. Or as one programmer I know put it: "Programmers are lazy."

I work more in the website design/UX stuff. I'm the thorn in the programmer's side that makes them want to argue that their program is perfect and shouldn't need contingency plans. I'm the one that beats people for trying to make it complicated. I'm the one that makes sure that the HTML is functioning and clean and doesn't look like Frontpage hit it with a bulldozer. I think about users when no one else is. I unify the various departments based on my knowledge to manage the overall result and check for functionality. Website designers need to know a little of everything, yet not quite specialize.

This very forum is "Powered by vBulletin®" (as you can see on the bottom), which is a commercial software; you only need to adjust some settings and put it on a website.

boron said:

This very forum is "Powered by vBulletin®" (as you can see on the bottom), which is a commercial software; you only need to adjust some settings and put it on a website.

Click to expand...

Err, no, not exactly. It's a bit more complicated than that.

Transatlantic said:

I need to mention a few of their day-to-day tasks. They're uploading lots of text and some images and building a forum, probably. Would they be using HTML? Or is that passe by now? What software, code, interfaces, whatever, might I mention?

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Click to expand...

SFTP, or SSH to get the software installed, and configured. MySQL, and Content Management Systems would be the way they would go.

They'd mostly use off the rack software, probably for the kind of site you're describing, they'd use open source content management software, like WordPress, though I wouldn't name names. They likely would be fine with an open source forum program—there are lots, and I wouldn't name names for any of this.

vBulletin would be a bit pricey and overkill.

They'd customize the forum and CMS software using HTML and custom images.

They'd want to do some modification of the software that runs the server—apache for the Web, MySQL for the database that works with the forum and CMS software. They'd want to do some tweaking for security purposes, and response time.

When I code for the web, I use a mix of HTML/CSS and for CMS style sites I tend to use the pre-built stacks available via the likes of Bitnami, bundles of open source software (Apache/MySQL/PHP plus Drupal or Joomla are my stacks of choice) pre-configured to work out of the box, and ready to be customised.

Not how everybody does it but it works for me.

It doesn't sounds like your characters have a whole lot of specialized web knowledge and money to throw at this, and a website memorializing an artist doesn't need a lot of fancy stuff. So I suggest a semi-low cost, out of the box type of site.

1. They get a free account at wordpress.com and set up a site there. The URL will look like artistjoeblow.wordpress.com.

2. Using the Wordpress interface, they browse the thousands of free themes (templates) and pick one.

3. For $10, they buy a URL (joeblow.com) at someplace like name.com. Your ex-MBA guy will know enough to know how to point the URL at the Wordpress space, so people entering joeblow.com will arrive at the website.

4. For a few hundred bucks, they hire a website designer to design a cool header graphic for the site to replace the one that's there. The designer might also create a background graphic and show them a simple programming tweak (in CSS) to tile it.

Voila.

Later on, they're like, "I wanna message board!" So they buy a hosting space at someplace like godaddy.com or bluehost.com. Their website designer friend sets up a database there, exports their content from the wordpress.com hoster to the new place, configures it to look like the old site, and re-points the URL, in about an hour. Then they download a forum package from Simple Machine Forums (a free program), and upload and install that.

So, I have a few points, in summation:

1. You don't have to throw a hundred acronyms at the readers to make it seem authentic. In fact, if you get too technical ("ASP! PHP! CSS! HTML 5!"), someone who knows something about this will instantly know you're bullshitting.

2. You can get a lot of professional functionality in a website a lot more easily and a lot more cheaply than you think.

3. The ultimate determinant in your descriptions should be your characters. If they're ultra nerdy, they'll do all kinds of cool stuff with dedicated servers and custom-made content management systems. If they're not and only have a smattering of knowledge, I think they'll follow a path a little more like what I described above.

Good luck!

First, having a MBA does nothing to help you design a web site.

Have them build a new template for a Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla or DotNetNuke portal. Have them use DreamWeaver, Photoshop and Visual Studio. Have them "upload to the web host" and "configure the DNS records." Talk about them adding content, doing some search optimization and adding JavaScript to the "front end." Have them use the "latest .NET Framework" or "latest stable PHP release."

That will be enough to set the tone that they know what they're doing without confusing the readers.

Jeff (MBA and web designer/coder)

Go Daddy, as an insider, sucks. Don't use them as a registrar or a host. So I'd strongly recommend they don't go with GoDaddy, because anyone who has seen their UI will hurl a book at it and their customer service is constantly trying to sell the consumer stuff they don't need. Most pros don't recommend them as a registrar or host. (Plus some of their "features" makes me wanna rant at their website crew and business model for a few hours.) They do neither registrar nor hosting well.

Also, as a pro, I would say a different registrar and a different host. Usually websites specialize in one or the other, but still offer the other at over the top prices with less features that one needs. Also, companies can be petty and freeze your account and your domains with it. Hosts aren't as stable as registrars, either and there may be fights with your host more often than the registrar since it's an active interaction... so you need to have a clean get away plan just in case, which means different for both.

@Weasel Fire: It could be an MBA in Design, in which case yeah, it will help with designing websites. Especially if they majored in graphic design with a minor in psychology, anthropology or sociology (Alternatively could be MBA in psychology, sociology or anthro). Taking design helps websites become less cluttered.

I know a lot of designers and the ones who build websites complain that most are near-impossible or at least difficult to navigate. The most important thing in getting your site looked at is the viewer's ability to find their way around. Don't get caught up by using fancy typefaces and graphic. Ease of use – that's the ticket! (Many designers don't do this well because they're too busy being cool.)