HEY Okay so my college a capella group, Baldwin Charm, is really trying to kind of update and such. Just last year we got a website (yeah, we're way behind) The problem is that our webpage really really sucks. That and we (and I use "we" but I have nothing to do with it :D) used tripod.

So out website (Baldwincharm.tripod.com) is, as previously mentioned, really bad. Of course, we don't have all of the profilea and such set up yet for this year's members, which is why I tihnk it's a good idea to ask now, so we don't have to go back and undo a lot of stuff.

We're not exactly the most computer literate people in the world, keep that in mind. Is there anything better that we could use and/or are there any "tricks" or cool little things we could do with the current site?

I'd be much obliged. Thanks in advance

Its not THAT bad!
That doesn't mean it doesn't suck.
Cause it does. Ask around the teckie forums.

If you, yourself, want to learn things like HTML & CSS (which you'd probably only need to know to make your website), I highly recommend picking up these two books:

http://www.amazon.com/HTML-XHTML-Definitive-Guide-6th/dp/0596527322/sr=8-7/qid=1158988682/ref=pd_bbs_7/104-5275506-7227911?ie=UTF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/Cascading-Style-Sheets-Definitive-Guide/dp/0596005253/sr=1-3/qid=1158988715/ref=pd_bbs_3/104-5275506-7227911?ie=UTF8&s=books

That'll teach you EVERYTHING you need to know for this. I've used these books instead of going to class, and received an A in the course.

Now, if you want to be able to update the content without actually editing the HTML code of the site itself, you'll want to learn about PHP and MySQL, and I doubt Tripod supports MySQL.

we want it to be nice and all, but I don't think there's a single one of us who has the time to devote that much time to buying books about web disign, reading and figuring it all out. We all have majors, lots of us have double majors, classes and other activities and really busy schedules outside of Charm. I mean it's important to us, but there are other things that come before making our website look cool.

Have you tried contacting your school's CS, SE, or IT department? They'd probably have students who'd do it for a nominal fee.

Your website fails to describe what this group actually is. It only explains that it's some type of group. I have absolutely no idea what is going on here...

/?

That's funny, that seems to describe what it is completely...

If guys want to do it yourselves but feel you don't have the time to learn coding the HTML (and from what I've gathered, you don't as you don't have time) I would suggest getting your hands on the latest Dreamweaver software. Its easy to use and you'll get your page done and looking nice with out having spends long hours actually learning the code.

Obviously I'll get people on this forum will tell you "Oh god don't use it, it adds crap to your code and is dirty, etc."

I doubt you guys are going for a full budget production and aiming to win the 2006 Designer or Programmer Awards so I wouldn't worry to much about a little crap in the code. A little photoshop and dreamweaver leaning and you'll get somewhere.

As for the current site... my eyes just commited seppuku on me. I'll sue you once I get on AIM

Have you tried Wordpress? ( http://wordpress.com/ )

Its a fairly simple blog management system, and if i remember correctly you can host off of their site.

Incorrect. It fails to describe what a "Pop a Capella group" is. One shouldn't have to consult Google on such matters. My girlfriend was a music major for 2 1/2 years and I never heard the term. There are going to be a few million other people that won't know it either. While they're obviously designing their website with music-oriented folks in mind, there are going to be some very confused people that stumble upon that website.

If you can't figure out WordPress, give Google's page builder a shot.

Buy books? I mean, there are plenty of guides online. It's pretty easy to self-teach CSS and HTML, IMHO, without any monetary investment.

I, personally, find it nice to have an offline reference tool like a book. It's easier for me to read than a page, and I know O'Reilly publishes quality books, and there's no gaurantee of the accuracy or quality of said tutorials.

W3schools.com only gets you so far.

I use O'Reilly books for my web design too.

I find it easier to use the internet than books. Generally I dont want to follow a tutorial I just want to know how to do something in particular to acomplish what i'm trying to do.

When I started programming I diddnt think "I want to learn to program" I said to myself "I want to make a program that does..." then learnt how to do it. I've never followed a complete tutorial or read more than a few lines of code from a book in all of my programming experience. Learn by doing. For me it's the easiest way. Set a goal, figure out how to achieve it then next time you can set a harder goal.

Of course everyone learns differently. I'm just too impatient for learning from tutorials or books :p

well especially since none of us have the time nor the inclination to completely learn how to program.