A Web Design Lab for novices, Testing area of vets.

[Cythes]

I was building a basic web page today something of a testing environment on my computer. I got to thinking, what if you built a full on project to create like an XHTML playground almost. A place to go safely practice web design with out worrying about messing up anything you might have already. I guess in a way some one has already done it on their own. but this would be a community based project.

Here is what I am aiming for at least:
- Safe testing pages.
- A standard home page with links to all the "Labs" so to speak
- A built in documentation selection (Like pythons Documentation pages) Featuring an XHTML, CSS, JavaScript tutorial / Reference sections
- Maybe if we are lucky we can package it with something like bluefish or build our own Editor.
(Bearing in mind this is the basic idea. I'm sure as time goes it will get bigger.)

So if you like it: post here, email me, Carrier Pidgin, Something so we can get this rolling.

-Thanks for the time,
Cythes

[samriggs]

I think this idea has been done if not there is documentation all over the web on how to make websites (too many if thats possible) plus there are so many editors out there that has all this built in and are free (including linux) plus anyone can install xampp on there computer and use that as a testing ground before uploading, I been using it for years to test everything before putting it up on the web.
It might be a good idea but the editors they have out now do all this already (plus they have documentation built in and a debugger to fix your errors)
There are so many WYSWYG editors out there nobody even needs how to code anymore if they don't want to its all drag and drop.
xampp is a easy method to use your own computer as a server for testing that gives you everything you need and is easy to install and to run plus it lets you run php, mysql, apache and pretty much anything can be added to it.
I used to make websites from scratch in flash and php and write hundreds of pages of php files, nowadays I take the lazy route and save hours of coding and debugging by just using joomla which has tons of components and modules already made for you. It saves hours if not weeks of coding by hand.
To learn about xhtml, xml, php mysql, html5 etc etc etc etc, there are tons and tons of tutorials all over the place.
Just a thought.
Sam

[Cythes]

I'm a tried and true designer. It was beat into my head by a friend of mine that said "If you are going to do it. Do it the right way... Standards complaint from the beginning. Learn XHTML and CSS and hard code it." I took that to heart. Now for me coding other then a few things here and there is just natural. Either way I will be working on this if anyone wants to tag along feel free to join in.

The ticket about this is that it is designed to work off a hard drive... not a server. Everything in one place. Then again W3 schools does a good job of it.

Maybe i just want to do it so I know just how far my own knowledge goes.

[samriggs]

What would be really cool if it could be done would be to have a working server that doesn't have to be installed, php, mysql, apache then I could see this as an extremely useful tool, sort of a sandbox environment that could all be used for testing only.
Right now as it stands, you have to install apache, mysql, php as a server on your computer to work with it, which isn't too bad just work with localhost, and you dont have to be on the net to use it. now to have all this in one program, a drag and drop IDE with these capabilities with all the xhtml, html5, css javascript etc etc built in now that would be interesting, with the capabilities to have the database that could be dumped and uploaded along with a ftp built in to dump the whole site uploaded also.
Half of this has been done over and over again with dreamweaver and so many more, the other part that's missing that I never seen (maybe it is out there) is have the server built in also with the database, I seen it with microsofts crap database but not mysql and apache.
Dont know if that could be done but it would be nice

[Cythes]

Now we are talking. Granted I don't know much about coding like python or things of that nature but it certainly gives something to strive for. I like the idea of the all around in house server to be used (Xampp if that is possible for localhost working) but I think another awesome thing to do once I get some money is to actually build and host a site out of my own server for use like that. Featuring a full member login as well as a free access area (Not that any of this would be Pay to Play but rather a "Lets test the water" kind of thing). Something along those lines. Maybe for something of this scale it would be better have a hosting company for it. Its something to kick around no less.

[samriggs]

Ya the how to do it I am not really sure, xampp would be perfect I use it now on my computer but how to sandbox it into a program itself would be difficult (probably why it was never done yet as far as I know), plus the mysql would have to be available within the program itself as would the php and apache.
Probably something like eclipse for an IDE except for web development I know eclipse does have some things that does this you can add to it, although I use joomla so not much coding is involved anymore for me, eclipse also has a plug in for joomla or at least they use to.
But to come up with an IDE that is just made for all this stuff would be amazing with the option to add debuggers and color codes for different languages, most of them that are out there has this option.
Quite the project if it can be done.

[Cythes]

Well I think it is worth a shot. for most of my coding I use bluefish though. So using Eclipse might be a bit of a learning curve for me but if it gets the job done then I guess it works. I just finished installing XAMPP on this computer. Good stuff. I'm sure in the computer world if there is a will there is a way. Either way, I'll be in after I go get dinner. Maybe talk more then

[steveking9174]

Hi Cythes,

Sorry for being behind the times on this post just noticed there was a projects part to this forum, I am very interested in this idea. There are of course some platforms like this out there, the one one springing to mind is the Mozilla Thimble which is useful but of course doesnt support scripts of any kind. The best bet for this sort of thing is a virtual machine really I guess? Or possibly an application that starts an emulator within itself? I have been working with android alot recently and a very talented member of that community is creating an android theme changer which allows you to change the theme of an android on your desktop with a live preview. This seems like the sort of thing you would be after? Originally he coded it all to work into windows but after a couple of b**ch slaps i got him to recode it so it would work in Linux. He built it using java mainly then using xml files to create the live preview.

What would work is something similar so you code the website which the goes into an xml data sheet and you can view it in the preview area. each site you can preview via loading a different option (xml sheet)

Forgive me if I am thinking on a tangent there, but that is just what i made of the post.

This would be pretty good to get going, as I use bluefish myself and have noticed how annoying it can be. Luckily I have dual monitors so bluefish on one and browser in the other so I can see a live preview straight away, this however doesnt work for scripting languages live php and asp.net.

If you require any help with this project please let me know as I am very interested in this and would love to help out. I cant promise java coding (abit beyond me) but I can see where I can fit in and help where required.