homewardbound Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I was born in 1968. I know enough HTML to design simple websites but otherwise my computer knowledge stopped with the Commodore Amiga. However, I want to set up a website with a forum, some ecommerce and maybe a blog. A company called Serif has a software package that will let me do this. But I also want to have a presidential election game that I design myself to work on this website. I know AppleIIc/Commodore BASIC- essentially QuickBasic but if QuickBasic will work with Serif I don’t know enough to make it do it. I’ve included php scripts on my webpages before and all I had to do was download pre-existing scripts and modify them and put them within my html code. I have used such webpages on free web hosting without having to do anything but upload the pages to the web host. But any book I get that is supposed to teach you how to use the php language starts out by saying you have to configure your web server. I don’t have a webserver so I have no webserver to configure and I wouldn’t know how to configure a webserver even if I had one. And of course my computer never does what the how-books say it is supposed to do. So just how am I supposed to learn the php language let alone make it work? Does anyone who works cheap want a programming job? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Any decent book on the PHP language should firstly walk you through installing a http server locally for development. Also, there exist many pre-configured server options. Google WAMP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignace Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 So just how am I supposed to learn the php language let alone make it work? Just like you learned QuickBasic: practice. You have a webserver so you don't need to install one locally. Go and download Netbeans (the PHP version) and write a PHP script, Netbeans will assist you in code completion and what not, but most important, it tells you when it's valid. Once it's done and valid, upload it to your webserver (you can configure Netbeans to do this upon saving) and access it through your browser. Do this long enough and instead of copy-pasting the scripts from the internet you'll be writing these scripts yourself with ease Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 On a side note... A company called Serif has a software package that will let me do this. I was once asked to improve the SEO of a website that was made in that Serif (.. Plus is it?) and I have to say the mark-up it produced was horrible. I would avoid it if I were you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floridaflatlander Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I dont have a webserver so I have no webserver to configure and I wouldnt know how to configure a webserver even if I had one. And of course my computer never does what the how-books say it is supposed to do. So just how am I supposed to learn the php language let alone make it work? Also besides the docs there are videos on youtube that can help walk you through installing xamp and others on your computer. When you make a password for you mysql db make it an easy one to remember and never change it(this is for your local computer). If you don't know what your doing it can be a bear to fix if you change your pw at the control panel later on. Take your time, you can do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homewardbound Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 I tried for several hours this morning to figure out some way to use php. I eventually gave up on php because I simply don’t know enough about the net to figure out how to deal with webservers. But I have managed to download a compiler for python that is useable with my Windows XP without having to configure anything. And I have Michael Dwawson’s book Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner (but without the disk) and I have managed to write a few lines of code. But the book doesn’t explain how to deal with numeric variables so I am stuck again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM1 Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Like thorpe said above, if you want to use PHP on Windows, the easiest way to get started is to install WAMP - Windows Apache MySQL PHP. Here's a link: http://www.wampserver.com/en/ It will install the AMP on your W. Since you mentioned/hinted at hiring someone, if you get too frustrated to want to do it on your own, feel free to post in our freelancing section: http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php?board=8.0 Beyond that, I'm not sure what else we can do to help you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homewardbound Posted May 21, 2012 Author Share Posted May 21, 2012 I was once asked to improve the SEO of a website that was made in that Serif (.. Plus is it?) and I have to say the mark-up it produced was horrible. I would avoid it if I were you. Customer reviews on Amazon.com for Serif’s Webplus complain that if you know how to use html that Serif won’t let you use code you write yourself. So that alone means I may never be able to use Serif to run the game I want to design. But since I don’t know a thing about setting up a web forum or anything like Paypal and Amazon has webplus 4 for less than $20 I figure if I buy it and can never get my website up and running I won’t be out anything. Between congestive heart failure and my family’s crippling arthritis I am housebound quite a bit and since I don’t really watch TV I spend a lot of time on the computer. I can risk my time trying to set up a website, but I never know from one day to the next if the weather or the blood pressure drugs I am on will keep me in bed so I can’t risk spending a lot of money to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Customer reviews on Amazon.com for Serif’s Webplus complain that if you know how to use html that Serif won’t let you use code you write yourself. So that alone means I may never be able to use Serif to run the game I want to design. But since I don’t know a thing about setting up a web forum or anything like Paypal and Amazon has webplus 4 for less than $20 I figure if I buy it and can never get my website up and running I won’t be out anything. Well to be blunt, I think it would be a complete waste of time using a package like Serif Web Plus. Honestly it's really bad software. I'm not sure from what you've said if it's a game or an eCommerce website you want to create, but these days the visual appeal of a website is very important, and I know that Serif can't produce it. You could use a free template to get you going, and with a bit of time invested in learning HTML/CSS you could quickly start modifying it for your needs. They generally come with a small framework of styles you can use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM1 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Have you tried installing WAMP yet? Regardless of what packaged software you use (if any), if you're going to write/use PHP, you need an environment to run it on. WAMP is the simplest way to get started. Since you want to make something custom, you're likely going to need to write some code on your own. The best resource is the online PHP manual: http://www.php.net/manual/en/ You can skip past the part that describes installing PHP if you've installed WAMP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haku Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I think that's a good 5 people so far who have mentioned wamp... with nary a word of acknowledgement from the OP. He either doesn't want to learn, or is trolling us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoursurrogategod Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I was born in 1968. I know enough HTML to design simple websites but otherwise my computer knowledge stopped with the Commodore Amiga. However, I want to set up a website with a forum, some ecommerce and maybe a blog. A company called Serif has a software package that will let me do this. But I also want to have a presidential election game that I design myself to work on this website. I know AppleIIc/Commodore BASIC- essentially QuickBasic but if QuickBasic will work with Serif I don’t know enough to make it do it. I’ve included php scripts on my webpages before and all I had to do was download pre-existing scripts and modify them and put them within my html code. I have used such webpages on free web hosting without having to do anything but upload the pages to the web host. But any book I get that is supposed to teach you how to use the php language starts out by saying you have to configure your web server. I don’t have a webserver so I have no webserver to configure and I wouldn’t know how to configure a webserver even if I had one. And of course my computer never does what the how-books say it is supposed to do. So just how am I supposed to learn the php language let alone make it work? Does anyone who works cheap want a programming job? You're in good company . I've mentioned to this new guy some tips: http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php?topic=359352.0 XAMPP is your friend if you want a crazy-easy way to get a web-server going (I've used it to setup up Apache in Windows, Linux and Mac OS X): http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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