Question about starting to build websites

Raven

Registered
Hi,

I'm just starting withg HTML and web site development... I'd like to hear suggestions for good "how to's" or good links on getting started on Mac (including the Apache part, php, java, etc... idealy even using it with SQL further down the road) ... I know that for the PC side there is www.w3schools.com, which is real good for the programing part, but not for the machine setup part... I'd just love it if there was a site that had both...
 
Learn HTML. Download a program like SubEthaEdit, which allows you to create/edit an html file and preview it without having to mess with servers, whether local (i.e. your Mac) or remote (i.e. your website). Once you become good at it, see about getting a webhost (icdsoft.com and asmallorange.com seem like good deals) and uploading your stuff for others to see and maybe give you some feedback. As to learning how to deal with Apache, PHP, and Java... no need... focus on your HTML skills. Learn how to code using HTML 4.01 and css. When you become quite good... make the jump to xhtml 1.0.
 
I'd suggest just going ahead and learning XHTML from the start. It's not much different from HTML, but it's the future and it's a lot easier to grasp when you haven't been clouded by the 'old ways'.

Reference sites can be found in this post: http://www.macosx.com/forums/showpost.php?p=332607&postcount=3

Books by Jeffrey Zeldman and Eric Meyer are also a good idea.

MySQL has packages available for OS X, just go grab a copy from their site (about 3/4's down the page).

Apache 1.x is already installed in OS X. Server Logistics has Apache2 and PHP in package format.

This site might be of some further help with PHP on a Mac: http://www.phpmac.com/
 
Ok, so I installed Apache 2... Looks real nice, good documentation... opther installs such as MySQL and PHP went over well too. I was able to acces the locahost file through Safari.. All was nice in happy land. Then I restarted... And now Apache 2 will not even startup. Even if I use the prefpane it will look like its statrting and then, nothing... the start button just becomes available again and nothing else happens.
here is the system log from my last boot sequence:

Nov 1 15:21:59 localhost ConsoleMessage: Starting Apache 2 Web Server
aped[185]: Attach denied: super-user process, for SecurityAgent[346]
Nov 1 15:22:06 localhost SystemStarter: Waiting for Apache 2 Web Server
Nov 1 15:22:07 localhost SystemStarter: Apache 2 Web Server (338) did not complete successfully.
Nov 1 15:22:07 localhost SystemStarter: The following StartupItems failed to properly start:
Nov 1 15:22:07 localhost SystemStarter: /Library/StartupItems/Apache2
Nov 1 15:22:07 localhost SystemStarter: - execution of Startup script failed
Nov 1 15:22:07 localhost SystemStarter:
Nov 1 15:22:07 localhost SystemStarter: The following StartupItems were not attempted due to failure of a required service:
Nov 1 15:22:07 localhost SystemStarter: /Library/StartupItems/MySQL
Nov 1 15:22:07 localhost SystemStarter: Startup complete.

Can someone help ?
 
I've had this problem before. The prefpane looks like it's starting and then nothing happens - correct? If I remember correctly there is a bug with the preference pane itself. I think what you need to do is go into the terminal and start Apache manually - have you tried that yet?
 
Ok.. so can you give me an idea ? Just that I'm not sure how to procede... I basically know how to kill processes, but not start them up... or which one to sttart for Apache 2... One question though.. will I have to start it manually each time I restart the computer ?
 
Hi Raven. I have just had a look through my notes to see if I can find the instructions needed to start apache through the terminal. I couldn't find it so I'll take a look through my other notes to find where I have written it down.

I know you shouldn't have to start it manually each time you restart the computer, once its running it should stay that way unless you were to disable it.

Ian
 
Back
Top