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Recommendation A person who can't code, at all, trying to edit their own website's html - is this a terrible idea?

Shippou-Sensei said:
Also at this point I would recommend people just getting a wix or squarespace site if they want a site they can update.
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I always recommend this as well. It's only half based on not wanting to do it because I already have a job - it's just generally the quickest and easiest route.

"Oh fridge you're a web developer right? I need a website, can you do one for me?"
"Yeah so nowadays that means I write software that generates web pages. Sometimes I write software that writes software that generates web pages. Sometimes I... well you get the idea. If you just want to make a website that does general website shit, someone else has already written the software to do that and they sell it to you, I'd go for that."

If that doesn't work I mention my hourly rate and that always works.
 
Are you planning to directly edit the raw html rather than use something like wix to do it for you? If so html is not a very complicated language at all and the source code is actually just a basic text file that just happens to end in an .html rather than .txt that you can edit with Notepad if you really have to. However I suggest you use a context sensitive editor which understands the syntax of things like HTML and will highlight relevant bits in pretty colours so you can see clearly see where each block starts and ends.
There are literally dozens of free ones out there, I have used Atom, Vscode and Notepad++ and would recommend any of them they are all easy to learn and easy to use and like I said don't cost a penny.
 
While html is at its heart easy it can get quite convoluted when you get to stuff like styling.
Who knows what combination of divs, IDs, and classes are being used.
Also what if the site is using javascript to add dynamic effects?

Lego is easy to understand but I wouldn't want to put together the deathstar kit without the instructions.
 
FridgeMagnet said:
I always recommend this as well. It's only half based on not wanting to do it because I already have a job - it's just generally the quickest and easiest route.

"Oh fridge you're a web developer right? I need a website, can you do one for me?"
"Yeah so nowadays that means I write software that generates web pages. Sometimes I write software that writes software that generates web pages. Sometimes I... well you get the idea. If you just want to make a website that does general website shit, someone else has already written the software to do that and they sell it to you, I'd go for that."

If that doesn't work I mention my hourly rate and that always works.
Click to expand...

Very similar to what happened with me. I started off doing back end stuff for a college with the idea of picking up work on the side.
I gave up on the side business after one job as trying to deliver a site that was like what they wanted was harder than anything else I did.
Write a php mysql web forum? No problem. Write an online admissions system with built in commications and searchable student records and grading system? Simple enough.

Getting his site to have a specific font and alignment that works on his copy of IE 4.0? Blood sweat and tears.
 
This copy and adjust is how I started making html webpages. So take a page save it to a new page name, find and replace the relevant text and images, including invisible stuff like meta fields, and hey presto you have a new page. Remember to add a link to the new page though. It is a good way to learn.
 
Sue said:
Those programs add all kinds of crap. Handcoding is actually easier. And whoever did the original should've checked out the browser compatability stuff so shouldn't really be an issue if bimble's just adding some similar pages.
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I think it’s going to be ok, it’s not even similar pages I want to add, just sort of ‘slides’, additional ones with new pics and writing, nothing else to change just add a bunch of additional ones of those.
if I can safely save what I have now, then play with it, so that even if I fuck up i still have the current version, I think disaster can be averted. :hmm:
 
If the OP has had their vaccine 5G microchip inserted, there shouldn't be any need for any complicated manual coding. Just think of the changes you want to make, look at the screen and hey, presto!
 
Harry Smiles said:
If the OP has had their vaccine 5G microchip inserted, there shouldn't be any need for any complicated manual coding. Just think of the changes you want to make, look at the screen and hey, presto!
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Yes but the What You Think Is What You Get editor creates terrible code as it's based off of FrontPage.
 
weltweit said:
This copy and adjust is how I started making html webpages. So take a page save it to a new page name, find and replace the relevant text and images, including invisible stuff like meta fields, and hey presto you have a new page. Remember to add a link to the new page though. It is a good way to learn.
Click to expand...
If you had missed out the nonsensical bit about Meta Fields this would have been such an encouraging post.
 
bimble said:
If you had missed out the nonsensical bit about Meta Fields this would have been such an encouraging post.
Click to expand...
One of your html files should be called index.html, It's (usually) the first one that the web server will hand over to any computer when it gets asked for your website. Near the top of it you will find 2 tags <meta> and </meta>. The stuff between them is essential a quick summary of your website that can be read by an external program. Metatags are basically what things like Google and Bing are looking for. Writing them can be quite an artform and there are people who get paid silly amounts of money for being creative with them to try and ensure that their customers website gets bumped up the list that Google returns to the punter.
For someone like you they are of only academic interest.
 
A slight hi-jack of the thread, but...

I look after the website of a voluntary organisation, that was set up some time late last century (the website that is, the organisation has been going longer) and for various reasons, past attempts to drag the website in to the more modern era have been blocked. committee now want me to do something about it.

I use a very obsolete WYSIWYG editor (so obsolete it won't load on a 64 bit computer so i have to hope an ancient laptop keeps going so i can use that), with occasional lapses in to editing the HTML when it doesn't behave itself. The website is frames based (yes it's that old) and I guess I ought to do stuff with CSS now.

someone did give me a copy of 'dreamweaver' but that was about 10 years ago (it's taken that long for committee to agree to me doing anything) so is probably not a sensible basis for the long term.

Any recommendations for -

open source software I can do this on? (there's a budget of bugger all) - i'm reluctant to go near wordpretzel (I do a much smaller WP website for a much smaller organisation - website needs updating maybe a handful of times a year, and how you do stuff seems to be different every damn time i do)

and somewhere i can learn the basics of CSS?

no intention to do anything involving cookies or scripts or trading or mailing lists on this site, just pages and photos but quite a few of them.
 
If you just want to edit the HTML then I personally swear by VS Code for editing all sorts of stuff, it includes syntax and highlighting support for loads of languages. It's downloadable free from Microsoft. If you have moral objections to supporting Big Tech even for free then Atom is almost identical and also pretty good. I used it until I discovered VS Code. Notepad++ is another option. If you have a modest budget then take a look at Coffee Cup Software. It's not free but it's not ruinous either. I've found it to be capable even if it does assume a modest amount of pre-knowledge.
As for learning CSS on a budget well start with YouTube, it is frankly amazing what is on there these days, Somewhere also worth taking a look at is Tutorialspoint, they have loads of low cost courses and eBooks on every subject under the Sun, they usually cost about a tenner (I've checked the CSS one does). Programming is the one thing that always best learnt by the doing but it should get you started.
 
I just learnt CSS, javascript etc by doing, but that learning style doesn't suit everyone. There are practice sites where you can plug in your code and see what happens and try to figure out why it doesn't. Quite a few animated effects are now built in to most browsers and so are much easier to incorporate into your design too.

Basic sites for learning and practicing would include:

HTML & CSS - W3C

www.w3.org www.w3.org
www.w3schools.com

HTML Styles CSS

W3Schools offers free online tutorials, references and exercises in all the major languages of the web. Covering popular subjects like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, SQL, Java, and many, many more.
www.w3schools.com www.w3schools.com
 
bimble said:
Well?
I have absolutely no idea what i'm doing, whatsoever at all, but i can see the patterns in the code, and i just need to add a few pages that look the same but with new pics and text. Can I potentially do this or will the whole thing explode ?
Would be so much better if i could do it myself rather than look for someone to help me.
(I haven't actually found a way in to edit it yet, I can just see the code thats there and see what i'd need to add, to make it match but different.)
Click to expand...
It's how I learnt!
 
This site has some nice ready-baked animation solutions that you can fiddle with, copy the code, and then plug into your site too if you fancy. I've used a few to create some truly fabulously tacky effects before:

animista.net

Animista - On-Demand CSS Animations Library

Animista is a CSS animation library and a place where you can play with a collection of ready-made CSS animations and download only those you will use.
animista.net animista.net
 
Carvaged said:
This site has some nice ready-baked animation solutions that you can fiddle with, copy the code, and then plug into your site too if you fancy. I've used a few to create some truly fabulously tacky effects before:

animista.net

Animista - On-Demand CSS Animations Library

Animista is a CSS animation library and a place where you can play with a collection of ready-made CSS animations and download only those you will use.
animista.net animista.net
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with tacky
 
Are there actually any decent wysiwyg editors about these days that are just simple? After my Wordpress fails (by fails I mean constant hacking that I can’t be arsed to keep up with) I just want a very basic static site pointing people to my socials and what not.
 
cybershot said:
Are there actually any decent wysiwyg editors about these days that are just simple? After my Wordpress fails (by fails I mean constant hacking that I can’t be arsed to keep up with) I just want a very basic static site pointing people to my socials and what not.
Click to expand...
You could try BlueGriffon. There's a free version that has some features disabled and has no manual, but the basic version costs €75.00 (+VAT). If you only want the free version, you can buy the manual for €7.50 (+VAT). Apart from Dreamweaver I think most of the other WYSIWYG web editing programs have been discontinued as pretty much everyone uses some template driven CMS system these days.
 
cybershot said:
Are there actually any decent wysiwyg editors about these days that are just simple? After my Wordpress fails (by fails I mean constant hacking that I can’t be arsed to keep up with) I just want a very basic static site pointing people to my socials and what not.
Click to expand...
Lots of people seem to be using Linktree for that.

linktr.ee

Linktree: Link everything you are

Linktree makes room for all of you. Get everything you create, curate and share, wherever it’s scattered online, and put it back together again in one place – your Linktree – where it can be discovered with ease.
linktr.ee linktr.ee
 
The other thing I'd suggest (as a virtual non coder) is to make a change, see what the effects are and correct anything that's not as you wanted. Then make another change .... Otherwise doing them all at once risks having lots of stuff gone wrong and no idea what the problem is.

Does that sound sensible? Or would it be better to do all the changes because at least you've got all the changes done?
 
Also, I'd ignore all this chat about animation. Concentrate on the basics and you can get more fancy if you want to later on.
 
two sheds said:
The other thing I'd suggest (as a virtual non coder) is to make a change, see what the effects are and correct anything that's not as you wanted. Then make another change .... Otherwise doing them all at once risks having lots of stuff gone wrong and no idea what the problem is.
Click to expand...
That sounds way too sensible, you will never get a job in IT with an attitude like that.
 
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