Nebuchadnezzar

I don't know, I have always thought television was evil, brain rotting stuff. Didn't know it might shorten your life though lol! I grew up without it (well most of childhood anyway). Of course, back then I thought I was cruelly deprived when I went to school and the kids were all talking about the great shows I missed, etc. Now I thank all the gods I didn't have it, because it made me read more books instead. More sedentary behavior lol--except the mind is working...

Wow, great post! And thanks Calianna. And Infiltrator for your words of wisdom in PM. Thanks to all who replied!

Hey thanks, I will check it out! And certainly no offense taken to the idea of getting those books 'for Dummies' lol! I'm a relatively smart guy, but I know my limitations. I don't know jack about this stuff, not yet. And it is obviously not the kind of thing you can just pick up in a couple of afternoons.

Thanks! I'll look for them on Amazon now.

Yeah when I did some searches with Google, and almost everything that came up had more terminology that I didn't understand by far than that I could, I knew I had a lot to learn!

V Didn't think it would make me a hacker, as I said above I have my doubts as to how much time and effort I can put into it anyway. But I do think using some simple programs can teach you a lot. No, I don't have crap for computer background knowledge. Thanks for the idea/tip about MIT. The one thing I have going for me is I am not stupid, lol. Hey wow thanks for listing the websites, I will check them out for sure! I found this excellent forum by doing a Google search lol. Searches are indeed a great way to learn, as well.

Or maybe easy to use programs? I have learned a lot about other computer challenges just by learning to use certain programs.

Is there somewhere I could go for a simple introductory, step-by-step guide on how to learn the basics? Or at least get a general background idea of the processes involved, so I can teach myself. I look at these threads and topics and some of the pages I have found from doing searches on the topics, and I can't understand more than half of what they are talking about, usually. I'll never be a consummate hacker, I'd rather hire one than go through that much trouble to learn it all--but it would be nice to learn how to crack simple passwords, etc. Many thanks in advance for your time!

Hi, first post here! I used to do graphics and illustration for many years, then became a stripclub DJ after those many years' frustration at working for cheap bastards built up to the point where I couldn't stand drawing anymore. That may seem beside the point, but it's not (sorry to seem obtuse lol). I had always dreamed of starting an erotic website, and finally got started just this month. But despite my years of experience with hand drawn graphics and illustration, I was entirely ignorant of how to do it on a computer, or how to build a website. Basically, I have taught myself how to use Photoshop and Dreamweaver in a double crash course. I have had to hurry to prove to this model that I could back my talk by doing the walk, or whatever, and get her to sign the damned model release forms and get them back to me pronto--like a damned fool, I have paid her a couple grand for videos without the release forms. I was a little too trusting. I don't think that's going to be a problem now, because the preview website I built looks pretty good, with two pages, a front and a preview page, with some pretty snazzy graphics if I do say so myself, and links to three preview videos. Obviously it's going to take a lot more than that to produce a money-making website, but after what I have learned so far, I think it will be doable without too much more effort. I bought a somewhat dated book on Photoshop, that helped a lot. Dreamweaver was pretty tricky to teach myself quickly, but I found that by using the w3c tutorials, and combining that with Dreamweaver, I was able to get it done, after a lot of trial and error (and much loud cussing lol!). It's pretty easy also to do a google search for tricks on how to use Photoshop. One bit of advice, there is a way to save your completed Photoshop project for web use--you definitely want to do that! I would also highly recommend you use Hostgator for your domain name and hosting--their technical assistance is so much better than you can imagine! They really helped me get through the first rough nights trying to get it all down. Their page editing feature is also fantastic--they have a code editing option, and also a very simple to use interface for webpage creation. Basically I used all of these programs in combination in a mashup that somehow worked for me through trial and error, and when I got frustrated (which was frequent at first!), I would do a search or try what I was doing on another program. Another bit of advice--copy the html code that Dreamweaver will produce for you and look closely at how it's structured. I still don't understand a lot of it--but for instance by finding where the 'center page' command was located in one page I had Hostgator help me with, I was able to enter that section of code in all other subsequent pages I made and thereby center the pages myself. Etc, etc. Good luck! Don't get too frustrated lol...