I want to create my own high-tech website, what software & webhosting should I buy?

[silky-freckly]

Hello fellow forum users =)

I'm an artist and I want to create a website for myself. I want to create a high-tech website with stuff like Flash navigations, film clips and a shopping cart. (something flashy like www.kehindewiley.com )

I cannot afford to pay for web design classes or hire a web design firm so I want to do this myself. I hope this is possible considering I have a fast computer and scanner and good knowledge of computers and Photoshop/Illustrator.

So..

Question(s)
-What's a good, userfriendly webhosting option for what will be a complex website that's also somewhat affordable?

-What software must I purchase and use in order to create a high tech animated website on my own? (I was thinking Microsoft FrontPage and Macrodmedia Studio 8?) Any others?

Any replies, comments, or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

thanks
-Silky-Freckly

 

[StephanieCordray]

Macromedia Studio 8 for the simple reason that you would be getting more than an HTML editor.

 

[wensk]

Visit www.macromedia.com and download an evaluation copy of Studio 8 before you buy it to make sure its want you want. May I suggest www.webhostingstuff.com to help you find a hosting service. I'd stay a way from Frontpage...IMHO it adds to much extraneous code to your pages.

 

[kiko_friendly]

I use www.easyspace.com for web hosting, which I absolutely hate but I can host any file type there. I wouldn't know what to suggest though.

 

[StephanieCordray]

I use www.easyspace.com for web hosting, which I absolutely hate but I can host any file type there. I wouldn't know what to suggest though.

I do, I do... but... That's not why I'm here... not that I'd complain if I did get some from here, lol.

 

[citrus_cyanide]

Well first off it takes a good long time to learn what you want to learn. I've been with web-design for a few years and I only know HTML and CSS inside and out. What you want to do would take a lot of work and more than a few web languages. I'd suggest you start with www.w3schools.com. From there you can learn what you need if you are patient enough. I'd guess you'd need to know HTML, probably XHTML for clean purposes, CSS, JavaScript, and of course Flash. Then again there are much more experienced people to talk to than me.

 

[Vaelor]

silky, you're asking the impossible - a full featured, complex, reliable, user friendly web host, that's not expensive? And you want to design a highly complex, interactive, multi-technology website, without the skills to do it yourself or the money to outsource it?

Well sure, I'd like to fly with wings make of wax too, but we all know how that'd turn out, don't we! =)

Unfortunately, in every business, but internet services more than most, you really do get what you pay for. A cheap web host usually is not good, and a good web host is often not cheap. A good website is not easy to design, and an easy to design website is rarely good. Of course, like every rule, there are exceptions to these, but they are few and far between.

My advice - ask Stephanie about web hosting, since she's too ethical to use Ian's forum as advertising space, it seems, and consider what citrus said about learning several web languages to achieve the kind of website you described. Remember though, it won't be cheap, and it won't be quick - but it could be good! =)