Website Planning

[Wayfarer247]

Alright, so I am here to ask for some advice. I am thinking of creating a website. The Website is not going to be a personal one, it will actually be a purposeful website. However, that is not the point. The point is, I don't really know where to start. For example, I need advice on:

 

1: wysiwyg editors vs HTML text editors (I know HTML)

2: If you suggest using wysiwyg, then what editors should I use? And why?

3: The website will require functionallity in; Logging In, a "Digg" like system, Blog, and a forum. I was thinking of using Ruby on Rails for most of these, other ideas?

4: A friend and I are thinking of getting a Server, (not just for this, but for other tasks as well. It wouldn't be a beast of a server, but something that we could manage and work with, for a reasonable price). What should I use on the server to host the website? We were thinking Ubuntu as an OS and Apache.

 

Other thoughts, comments, and whatnot. I don't really want to talk about the Theme of the site, that will come in time, but I do want help on where I should start. If you have questions, I hope you will ask and I will do my best to answer them.

[Suhail]

1. Choose Coda, When you write pure Hand Coded HTML it is easier to find bugs and fix them. Plus you learn more.

 

2. Explained above

 

3. Well I know there are PHP Apps for all the ones you want. Logging in: The Digg, Forum and Blog System have this feature. For the Digg bit I would choose Pligg. For the forum I would choose PHPBB or if you want a paid solution then Invision Power Board. For the Blog I would choose Wordpress handsdown

 

4. Unless you will have LOADS of people visiting your site per second, you won't need a whole server. Start of with a Shared Hosting or a VPS. Remember there is always room for expansion. Also if you don't know much about security on servers your site is more prone for getting Hacked

 

Good Luck

I do have modules on sale which merge the 3 systems I mentioned in point 3. These modules allow one login to be used throughout the site. For more information gimme a PM

[ozboi]

That's a pretty broad "question" you're asking.

 

1) Your choice. If you're doing a lot of Ruby coding then a WYSIWYG editor is probably pointless.

2) See above.

3) Do you know how to code in Ruby? If not you may need to find pre-made scripts for the blog/forum/etc.

4) If you're going to use Apache, and know little of Linux or servers, you should consider Windows XP with a LAMP setup. That includes Apache, MySQL as a database, and PHP as a scripting language (though can install Ruby too). While there may be more options for a Linux-based setup, most everything in Windows is easier to use and you can get better (I found) GUIs for Apache and MySQL. Using something like SimpleDNS as a Nameserver simplifies hosting more than one website on your server.

 

Just start somewhere and see how you go. Nobody can tell you what will work best, only you can decide based on your experience in the area and, no offence, if don't know what sort of editor you should be using then perhaps you don't have enough experience to be attempting something so ambitious. The best anybody else can do is tell you what works best for us. So in that regard, here's what works for me:

 

1) I only use WYSIWYG editors to get a general idea of layout before templating it to use in the rest of the site. Once that's done I work only in code to build individual pages. Even if you use WYSIWYG you still have to test in all the browsers just to know how it will really look, so it can only ever be a general guide for the look of HTML you write yourself.

2) I mostly use Dreamweaver to code sites because it has the most intuitive syntax highlighting I've seen when dealing with server-side scripting. The site-management leaves a bit to be desired, but works well for uploading to a remote server. Not sure about its support for Ruby code though.

3) I use straight PHP for coding. By structuring the site along the lines of an MVC structure (Model-View-Controller, like Ruby is based around) I can get fast development without having to learn Ruby (or another framework) and be limited by the large size o it.

4) I don't use a home server, I instead pay somebody else to do it. However when I was trying to run my own server a couple of years ago it took me a while to get my head around Nameservers and getting Apache set up right to use multiple domains. In the end I gave up because I just didn't have the time to manage these things myself.

 

Finally: Google is your friend.

[Suhail]

ozboi explains the problems about servers spot on. Also Ruby is not as extensible as PHP In my Honest Opinion. I found Ruby hard to grasp. Also there are many more PHP Hosts out there for real cheap. And unless you know Ruby I doubt there are many premade scripts. And lastly, Digg is coded in PHP

[~pcwiz]

Use Joomla. It rocks. Theres forum and blog modules and beautiful themes There is also user account creation and login as you wish, and using a plugin called Community Builder you can build an online community. PM systems are there too, like uddeIM. Works great, and no coding needed. Its what I use

[Suhail]

Yep, I agree PCWiz but he also wants a Digg System.

So the best bet with one secure login would be the following

 

Pligg with the IP.Board Login Module (From MySelf).

IP.Board and IP.Blog.

 

A very secure and 1 login combination.

[~pcwiz]

I bet there is a Joomla mod that allows for Digg functionality.