Recently a client asked me if I could point her in the direction of a good site that could show her how to build up her website. I don’t really keep track of sites for beginners, but I remember a site I Stumbled Upon last week that really caught my eye.

The website I stumbled is Web Design From Scratch. The range of information on this site is wonderful, from the basics of a website to javascript and DHTML. He doesn’t just tell you how to code a website (HTML) but he also teaches you how to plan your website, how to create the graphics, and how to pull a design together.

I’ve been looking through the site myself to find ways to help me to improve my own websites. Looking at his ‘My Workstation‘ page I see he has some wonderful things I never thought of, namely the noise cancelling headphones and the crib sheets.

His basics section includes the information you need to understand before getting started. Some of this info is essential and not necessarily common sense. If you’re interested in starting your own website or blog for the first time, or taking over your own website from a designer/consultant, I definitely suggest reading this Basics page before doing anything. A lot of people will suggest to just sit down and jump into it, but that leaves gaps and will cause you issues later. Better yet, pay the 1GBP to download the page and print it off, review it on your own over coffee.

For my readers I also want to point out a section I’ve downloaded and begun reading, Business of Web Design. If you’re interested in making as much as you can from your blog or website you’ll be interested to read this section. He shares a lot of good information, again, some I that hadn’t even occurred to me. This is for web design, however, you can apply a lot of it to your own website no matter what the topic.

Please let me know your thoughts on this site, and make sure to Stumble it if you like it.