All professional elements and tools for business website?

Question

I'm going to build my online business website from a scratch. I've got just a few important factors at the moment in order to bring it real and live: the paid domain name with a reliable hosting company and finally the idea, which I'd been looking for 6 months, and tools. Please give me a suggestion for the best tools, software, programming languages which are the best in term of flexibility, re-usability, platform supported, database, security, developing and designing in "a long-term" investment and etc.

For what I have in mind:
Server side: PHP
Database: MySql or Access (what database is the best to keep tons of user's data and information?)
Designing tools: Dreamweaver

-Do you agree? I'm very much a beginner in this area (web design and develop) but I don't care how difficult it is going to be to deal with? Please guide me and give me pros and cons.
-What else I should know or prepare?
-What set of programming languages are the best to make a website about everything/anything and good from the root?

Answer 1

I suggest using PHP and MySQL. Don't use Access unless you are in a Windows server environment. MySQL is far more popular, plus it's free and more web software apps use PHP and MySQL.



1. You should know some basic design principles. Here's a KILLER article I found that describes several main things all designers should know when making their sites look professional. An absolute must-read! http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2879374/how_to_make_your_web_site_look_professional.html?cat=15



2. Languages you'll need to know:

- XHTML and CSS (obviously)

- PHP and MySQL

- JavaScript



You can learn these languages at W3 Schools: http://www.w3schools.com

Plus here's a good beginner's guide to PHP: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/04/15/php-what-you-need-to-know-to-play-with-the-web/



You also might check out some books at your local bookstore or library. The library books may be out of date, however.



3. Platforms. I recommend using a content management system for your site. I don't know if you've heard of content management systems, but they are a great way to build dynamic, database-driven websites. Popular ones include Joomla (www.joomla.org), WordPress (www.wordpress.org) and Drupal (www.drupal.org). There's also Concrete 5 which is great for beginners (www.concrete5.org). Check out www.opensourcecms.org to take many different content managment systems for a test drive before picking one.

Answer 2

PHP is a language. Since you seem to want to use a database you'll need to learn PHP but the fundamentals of web design are going to be learned in HTML.



I highly recommend familiarizing yourself with HTML to the point where you could design a simple page in Notepad -before- even starting to use Dreamweaver or you run the risk of completely skipping over learning the basics of web coding. Dreamweaver is nice because you can view the design in WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) mode, code, and a split screen between both. You can learn a lot from clicking on an object, such as a table, in the WYSIWYG view and then hitting the code tab and seeing its exact code (clicking the object will highlight its code in the code view).



MySQL can be used freely where as Access is a Microsoft product. If a host offers a database solution 9 times out of 10 it will be MySQL with phpMyAdmin as a web interface. That is the de facto standard, although there are other solutions available (which may incur an additional cost).



Most webservers run on *NIX type system, eg. Linux, FreeBSD, or other Unix variants. If you want to use ASP (kind of like Microsoft's implementation of PHP) you'll need to be on a server running Windows. This kind of hosting can cost more because it's more rare to find a host running in a Windows environment. I wouldn't worry about about it and only mention it as something to be aware off. You said you want to use PHP so it should run on pretty much anything.



If you're going to be creating your own media graphics most professional work is done in Adobe's Illustrator, Photoshop, and Flash. There are free alternatives to Illustrator and Photoshop but Flash seems to be pretty much proprietary. You won't need to learn Flash for a while though.



As you start developing your site you'll come across other code like JavaScript (not to be confused with Java which is entirely different), DHTML, CSS, and a ton of other stuff that should make sense after a quick read through - just look it up on www.wikipedia.org for a quick run down on its specific uses.

Answer 3

My recommended service:



http://www.threehosts.com/business/1st



This service was awarded the “Best Business Web Hosting OF The Year”.

Answer 4

log on to Yahoo and register your domain name,@ $ 1.99 for one year,Yahoo will give a free tools to create website for your products.You don't need the outside help,even if you need Yahoo tech support is there for you 24/7 So far to advertise the products Yahoo is a good company to advertise through them when you host with Yahoo.