how easy or hard will it be to create and maintain an icon website that lets people use them msn messenger or any messenger and also allows them to create their own and submit their own

please list uk prices

what does this type of site require

ok so ow does that explain my question

but yes a good starting point but i want my own site

Sorry, I misunderstood what you wanted.

I am a little confused as well.


You want to create a websit which lets people upload small pictures and then be able to refrence them from forum's and messenger applications?

If yes....then fairly easy.

okay not meaning to confuse people

but i want my own site like this http://www.dollidol.com/index.php

http://www.buddyiconeditor.com/this has links to loads of them

i guess i really need to learn html as i want one of these sites and my own online business


if it is easy can you advise what i need to do to get started and what other technical stuff i would need to know

To make a site where people can download or submit avatars is pretty simple. But if you want to start letting them create them from scratch or edit them it becomes much more difficult.

However I think the most difficult part of the whole project would be getting the content. Do you have a source of 1000's of avatars yet?

my friend nick i am a complete novice

no i dont have anyavatarsyet

im trying to find out starting point

allowing edits etc can come later on once i have some sort of established site


what do i need to begin besides domain name

Ok well you can do this two ways then:-

1. Start creating the site. If you do or don't get any icons you would have still learnt about making sites and would have gained something at least. Its likely though that if you don't get icons fairly soon you will lose interest.

2. Wait until you get a source of icons and then develop the site. Keep in mind you can't just copy them off another site. You either have to get them made for you, make them yourself or find somebody who has made some free to distribute.

Either way you will want some sort of dynamic site and ideally connecting to a database to keep track of all the files. A quick thought I had was that you could use something like this:-

http://gallery.menalto.com/

Its a photo album software, but theres no reason you couldn't use it for an icon site to just get a rough idea whether your idea is feasible. It has the 3 main areas that you require:-

1. image upload
2. Image preview
3. Image download

Then when you have a more precise idea about what you want, you can either look for another piece of software that best matches what you are looking for, or get/pay somebody to write it for you.

To get it up and running you will need a web host with PHP and MySQL, I'm guessing you will be looking at around £5 - £10 a month for that. Alternativly, I can set you up with some free space on my server here at home. I can't guarantee 100% uptime every month, but for testing it should suit you fine.

thanks for the info

im gonna read up on that site tomorrow

you've given me good info as always

i will have more questions

would any of these books help in learning

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...900525-5771841

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...900525-5771841

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...900525-5771841

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...900525-5771841

Maybe, for me personally I would just use free online tutorials. Once you get the basic idea then just experiment yourself. Best way to learn.

Theres 2 main parts you need to learn with what you are trying to do.

HTML
This is the simple part, very easy to learn. But it only produces static pages, no use on their own for what you are doing.

PHP & MySQL
This can be very complex, although you can learn it. You will only fully understand it if you can understand the logic of programming. The language itself is easy to learn. Its like teaching somebody to paint, you can teach all the various techniques and skills, but if you don't have that trait in you, you will always find it very hard to paint a picture.

But on the up side, did you look at that Gallery software. All the above is all done for you. Just install it an go.

ok so i will look into html php and my sql

my head will be hurting by the end of it all

no pain no gain

http://www.w3schools.com/

was told about this site for web knowledge