Tech for new site?

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1

I’m in the planning stages for a new site I’m about to create. It will have usual features of a lot of community sites, including simple profile pages and instant chat built in. I’m not trained as a web developer (I’m a Flash AS3 developer by trade), but learning is no issue as I work for myself and have lots of time on my hands.

I was wondering what sort of tech I should build the site on? I see all these terms branded around, HTML5, JQuery, CSS3, Zend, Ajax etc etc. I’m planning on the site going live around end of this year. I would want to take advantage of some of the latest web technologies (to make development easier), but at the same time not create something which only runs on the very latest browser updates, what would be a good balance?

I’m also about to buy a tonne of books relating to these technologies so any suggestions in that area would be good too.

thanks for any advice.

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What you are probably looking for, first of all, is a content management system (CMS). This is a package of code that you upload to your server and around which you build your site. A CMS provides the kind of functionality that you are after—without which your learning curve would be far too high (at least in that timeframe) as you’d have to learn all sorts of complex programming.

The basics of web design are HTML and CSS—which are relatively easy to learn—so start with them first. Then look at CMSs, into which you can incorporate your HTML and CSS. I recommend ExpressionEngine, which costs a bit, or free alternatives like MODx or WordPress.

Then, if you want to spice up the front end of your site a bit, look into JavaScript. An easier way to approach JavaScript is to learn how to use a framework like jQuery, which does a lot of the heavy lifting for you and saves you from having to learn the most complex programming bits of JavaScript.

I was wondering what sort of tech I should build the site on? I see all these terms branded around, HTML5, JQuery, CSS3, Zend, Ajax etc etc. … I would want to take advantage of some of the latest web technologies (to make development easier), but at the same time not create something which only runs on the very latest browser updates, what would be a good balance?

You can tinker with HTML5 if you must, but really, it’s still in the womb and not ready for serious production. Little bits of CSS3 are ready for use in the most modern browsers, and are safe to use, as long as you aren’t attached to identical cross-browser rendering. jQuery offers some Ajax functionality, but don’t go overboard with this stuff. Remember that content is king, so only use fancy stuff to enhance that content where really needed.

Really, the web is a thin layer of cake (HTML and CSS) covered in a lot of icing (JavaScript, Ajax etc). A cake with no icing is fine, but a pile of icing with no cake is … well … a bit sickly and not much use, so make sure to keep a perspective on the basics. :slight_smile:

3

Thanks for the info. I like the look of JQuery, but I wonder if it’s still better to learn the basics of JS anyway? (JS looks similar to AS to me), and there seems to be lots of different versions of JQuery and I’m not sure which to target?

Regarding CMS, I’ve used wordpress and Joomla a fair bit did you mean those and then modify them? the site I’m working on is very specific and wouldn’t really fit into the Joomla etc frame work, so would much prefer to build it from the ground up.

The reasons I would want to use the latest web tech, is not to add lots of icing, but to make sure the underlying cake takes better :), lighter pages being the main reason I think via something like AJax?

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Certainly if you can, it’s much better to learn JS itself, and yes, it’s very closely related to AS, so you have a huge advantage there is you know that. Otherwise, you are biting off too much if you want to learn it all by the end of the year.

Regarding CMS, I’ve used wordpress and Joomla a fair bit did you mean those and then modify them? the site I’m working on is very specific and wouldn’t really fit into the Joomla etc frame work, so would much prefer to build it from the ground up.

Some CMSs are more flexible than others. I prefer ExpressionEngine because it doesn’t assume anything for you. It just comes with a lot of functionality that you can use or not, but it doesn’t get in your way if you don’t want it. Building from the ground up is a big job, especially if you are learning a programming lingo like PHP from scratch.

The reasons I would want to use the latest web tech, is not to add lots of icing, but to make sure the underlying cake takes better :), lighter pages being the main reason I think via something like AJax?

The more JS/Ajax you use, the more likely the page is to get heavier. The lightest pages stick to HTML and CSS alone.