I thought I would document my steps in building a new website for a client.  It’s in the same pattern as some others so it’s almost getting standard for me.

  1. The first thing we did was to reserve the domain name for the site with GoDaddy.  My preference is to have the domain registered in with a different company than the hosting company – so you’re not locked into a hosting company if things go bad (even something like them going bankrupt).
  2. We actually reserved more than one domain name for this site.   I then pointed those domain names to name servers of the hosting company.
  3. Then I connected to the web site from Dreamweaver – only to find it wasn’t working.  Fortunately the hosting company I have is good at solving problems – so I chatted with them and they created a ticket to finish the setup of the site.
  4. Next I created a MySQL database for the site – as I plan on installing Gallery2 and phpBB3 software.
  5. To set up the Gallery http://www.anlenterprises.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=381&message=12 photo gallery software
    • I created a folder for the photos outside of the web root – this allows the gallery software to serve the photos but not make them accessible via normal URL (this is useful when you want to watermark the photos so they’re viewable – but not really downloadable)
    • I upload the netPBM binaries also – as this is a component that makes Gallery2 work better
    • Next I uploaded the ZIP file of the gallery2 software to the web root of the site.
    • I log into a command line of the site using Putty.  This allows me to unzip the file – which will create a folder called Gallery2.
    • Then you simply go through the installer that’s built into Gallery2.  The only trick I’ve learned is that to install the plugins I have to refresh the page multiple times to work around memory limits
  6. Now to install the forum – using phpBB3
    • First I downloaded the latest version from the website
    • Then I unzipped the file and create a new ZIP file with the components to be uploaded
    • I uploaded this to a folder I called forum – as this is what I wanted it to be called
    • I then logged in via Putty and unzipped the ZIP file
    • I then went to the install folder and completed the install wizard
    • I then upload additional avatars and captcha images
    • I also updated an improved captcha plug-in to avoid spam
  7. Now I will turn my attention to building the “template” of the site – what the basic menu, logo, background, etc.
  8. Fortunately for me my client provided me with some graphical layouts of what they want – from which I can start from.
  9. The next most important item is the logo – I was able to pull this out from their graphic mockup.
  10. For this type of site I use graphical buttons – in order to use edgier fonts than those built-into web browsers.  So I create 2 sets of small graphics – 0ne set with a glow to use when the user hovers over a menu choice.
  11. I then started building a very simple template – for this site I’m still using tables for layout as it’s simple.
  12. I use a logo, horizontal menu and footer as these integrate easily with the gallery and forum software – as they have their own sidebars.
  13. For the gallery software I make a copy of the “theme.tpl” in a “local” folder in the “templates” folder of a theme (matrix is default).  I insert the table rows for the logo and menu toward the top of the file and the footer row to the bottom.  I also, in this case, inserted my script for the menu – you have to use literal tags for it to work.
  14. For the forum software I edited the “overall_footer.html” and “overall_header.html” files in the template directory – adding in the row like for the gallery software.
  15. I usually then build a sample page and have my client review it before I complete out the site.  In my case I have a lot of quality information from them so it’s working it page by page.

You can see the site live at www.muddersmagoffroadpark.com

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