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Cynthia Wong
5,337 PointsBuilding a conference website.
I'm pretty beginner when it comes to web design and all that. Whereas I have a basic grasp of HTML and CSS and whatnot, I'm just wondering if there's anyone out there willing to point me to a good direction when it comes to building a website for a conference.
The conference website entails all information that you would probably see similar to an event website (i.e. music festivals and all not). Also, people can sign up to join the conference and so on.
I was wondering if I should be learning real programming language such as Ruby, PHP or Python in order to build a fully functional website. If so, which path should I go? I've heard numerous good things about Ruby and Python. I'm a dedicated individual that's willing to learn however said, since I'm a beginner I would like to know which path would be a good starting point.
I'm willing to provide more information regarding the website I'm trying to build if everything seems too vague and general.
Also, which CMS would everyone recommend to me?
1 Answer
James Anwyl
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Graduate 49,960 PointsI think what you need to do is first of all decide what functionality you would like the website to have. What information you will give to (and get from) the user, what you will do with this information etc. Then decide which tool you will use for the job once you have a clear understanding of what you are building.
For the front-end you could use a combination of HTML, CSS & Javascript. For the back-end you could use many different languages; PHP, Python & Ruby would all be suitable. There is no best language to use, it really depends on what you're most comfortable with. If I was doing it myself, I would use PHP as that is what I am most familiar with.
A lot of these languages share the same basic principles. They are based on a 'style' of programming called Object Oriented Programming. Some languages are better at performing certain tasks than others but the basic concepts are pretty similar. It is just the syntax (the way it is written) that differs.
I suggest you start by working through the Front-end web development track which mostly covers Javascript but is a great place to start learning programming. Then move on to the PHP development track.
Bear in mind that this is a pretty substantial task and it isn't something you will learn to do over night. It will take time and a lot of frustration!
If this is something that needs to be built within a specific time frame. You may want to consider using software built by someone else or hiring someone to build it for you.
I was at a conference recently called Internet World. They used this awesome app for the event which I really recommend taking a look at. As well as a website built with HTML, CSS and JS.
Also, if you are looking at other conference/event websites and wonder how they built theirs. Check out Built With its an awesome tool that will give you a breakdown of the software/tools used to build a specific site.
For CMS's the most popular seems to be Wordpress. You can get a site up and running pretty quickly with wordpress and there are many awesome templates and plugins to improve the look and functionality of your site. I've also used Joomla. They both have their pros and cons but if I had to recommend just one it would be Wordpress.
So there you go, apologies for the wall of text but hopefully there is some useful info in there. :)