Web design general questions

[Evesgallion]

Hi I'm making a website with a friend at the moment and I have a few questions which I have been avidly searching for on my own (and most likely there are many answers in the pages and posts I will be digging through later tonight) so anyways lets get this started.

First off I'm kinda new to web design and CSS in general. What I'm using to make the website is Adobe Dreamweaver 5.5 (newest version as it was an early christmas gift) and I've been struggling through tutorials on my own and through coding things on my own.

What I'm looking for are these basic things I will explain in details in paragraphs descending in order:
1. Search tool (personal site one not a search for google or a search engine)
2. Redirecting links to emails (not to sites but to an email address)
3. A patient person to help me through some basic questions as I continue with this project that is quickly flying over my head

Ok so the search engine is the big thing that needs to be done. The website needs a function so people can type in the name of a person or an address and then a page will pop up with general info about everything (the site has to do with renting houses.) I would prefer a search bar like function though any other solution is completely fine too.

Redirecting links was skimmed over in a tutorial I found (if you would like the website I'll post it) but it didn't mention anything about linking to email. Or would it be better to just leave the email on the information page and let the user manually copy and paste the address into emails?

Also I am fumbling my way through this and I would prefer to do it myself so that I can learn to make websites for myself and others again in the future as I really enjoy this. However I don't know of any good tutorials online or of a book or anything else that is really key to making a website for a first timer and would like someone kind enough to answer questions as I come upon more issues (which I'm pretty much certain will happen.)

Thanks for reading this long post!

 

[Phreaddee]

Real estate site isnt exactly beginner material.
Youll need a database, and probably a cms.
As ive been doing a lot of rental searches recently I can tell you a sitewide search isnt going to cut it.
You need it to be able to be broken down into suburbs, price, bedrooms, etc...
Id suggest researching joomla as its a good cms to build this sort of thing in.
Email just needs mailto: appended to it in the href, but that will bring with it a shitload of spam, so id suggest a contact form would be the best solution.
Bring on the questions!

 

[Evesgallion]

I know real estate has a bit more to it and I have a basic idea of the information that will be available but it's the subject that she wanted so I'm kinda stuck with real estate for this project. I told her I'd start working on it over christmas break since I'm out of college for a bit. I already have a database in paper form (it's alot of paper... like 400 pages right now) that I'll be digitizing for this. What I'm looking for right now is a way of getting a search bar or something nice and compact instead of having 400 links to 400 diff pages on the site.

Anyways thanks for the idea I'll definitely turn it into a multi site search process but I want to have a personal search bar that I can use to type in the address or landlord you would like to search and give you a explanation of the pros/cons of the house how the landlord acts and the neighborhood. Essentially it's going to be a cheat sheet like some of the other sites but it's going to give the info that cant be found.

Also once I have some questions I'll post them at the moment I'm about to hit the sack so I'll have them up tomorrow for you.