What is the easiest way to start your own website on a subject?

Question

I have learned of a need for a subject (medical) and the "coping strategies" people can use to overcome it. I am looking to start a site that can not only be informational but a social resource as well. What software or books is useful to start this up?

Answer 1

I started my first website in Microsoft Frontpage. (http://www.microsoft.com/netherlands/office/frontpage/default.aspx)
The program looks al little like Microsoft Word, so if you are used to Word you will learn working with Frontpage very fast.
Another possible program to start with is Dreamweaver. (http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/)

Both programs allow you to design your website approximately the way you do in Word, so you don't need to have the knowledge of scripting.

Both programs allow you to make your website offline.
When (a part) of the website is ready, you have to put it online.
Therefore you must have a hosting. (most internet providers will give you a little webspace)
You can upload your website to your hosting with an ftp client, such as Filezilla.

Answer 2

Hmm, a beginner web designer, huh?
The good news is, you don't need any books!

First, I'd advise you to learn HTML (if you haven't already). Good tutorials (with CSS) can be found here:

http://www.lissaexplains.com/

It's a color website, but very informative.
You can already start with your website now, but learning Javascript and VBscript can make your website much more interesting. For that, you can go here:

http://www.w3schools.com/

Now, for the software part... all you actually need is Notepad, but if you want there are some free HTML editors out there. Look through a list here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTML_editors

And finally, if you don't feel like learning programming, there are also WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors as well so that you can construct your site visually. You can also check them out at the link above.

Finally, you'll need a server to keep all of your files... There are a bunch of free web hosts and there are some which require money. Paid hosts are more reliable, but I'd suggest using a free web host until your site gets more popular.

http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/Hosting/Free/