Hi All

I'd like some advice on designing a website if I may

I've been asked to re-vamp our company website and it's years since I tackled HTML and websites.

Basically I'd like your opinions on the best/easiest route to a finished website that has the following features...

Ability to log in to view documents (pdf's)
Possibility of adding a forum or blog
Updatability (but doesn't have to be CMS as I might be the one updating)

That's it really, I'm just unsure and out of touch with current design technologies!

I'm looking at a web creation package at the moment called 'websiteX5 evolution' so even anything like that would do the trick if any of you learned people have used one!!

In case anyone wants to look at our current company site, it's at spi.co.uk

Thanks for your time and help in advance

First I'd recommend brushing up on your HTML, and if you've never dealt with CSS before, make sure you learn that too!

Here's two books that were a great start for me:
Sams teach yourself HTML in 10 minutes:
http://bit.ly/apYNzo

Sams teach yourself CSS in 10 minutes:
http://bit.ly/cGUbGA

As for not needing a CMS, you're probably better off getting to grips with one if you're planning on adding a blog / forum aswell as having a login system.

Try learning a system like Wordpress or Modx for this bit.

Then there's always the visual side to web design! Sitepoint have published a few books to help with this.

Unless you were planning on continuing with web design it wouldn't really be worth learning everything I've mentioned as there is so much to learn.

It may be cheaper for your company to hire an existing website designer to do it for you, like me

It seems that the coding does not show up on your page. If you go to: ..... Do you have a bit more code for the CSS random image? .... I'd like all of the images to be seen once before it starts again. ... I'm brushing up on my web design stuff and teaching myself some php to get back into my old coding stuff;