Do you need programming skills to own a website?

[Henrywrites]

Setting up website for blogging or forum purposes can be a tedious task when you have zero programming skills. However, do you think it is a must to have such skills before owning a website?

 

[Cedric]

Nowadays with content management systems like WordPress or the premium forum scripts like XenForo, there is no requirement to have programming skills. So no, I don't think we need it. Is it advised to have them? Absolutely. It makes things much easier to understand when a server error occurs.

 

[Arantor]

I've always believed you should have *some* skills. In the same vein that if you drive a car everywhere you should know how to do the most basic of maintenance (changing a tyre, changing the oil, nothing super technical). But the more you have, the more it helps, and it also means that if you don't have enough knowledge, you can go to a forum or a vendor and ask for help and get a sense if you're being fed a line or not, because you know just enough to be able to assess what you're being told.

 

[Tracy]

Programming... no.
HTML/CSS knowledge... yes
The reason of the latter.. it allows you to do some customization of your site easily. And I personally don't consider HTML/CSS programming.

 

[Arantor]

And I personally don't consider HTML/CSS programming.

That's because it isn't. Until either of these languages becomes capable of describing a *process* rather than annotations for documents, they're not programming, but coding.

 

[Fait]

You don’t need to get advanced but in my opinion we should have basic knowledge.

I’m good with PHP since most of my sites run on it so I taught myself how to code in it.

 

[Tracy]

That's because it isn't. Until either of these languages becomes capable of describing a *process* rather than annotations for documents, they're not programming, but coding.

Yes, but people incorrectly associate it as programming. Those of us that have been around awhile realize it is not. The phrase coding is used for both also.

 

[Matt C.]

Yeah as long as you have a good script, and can figure out cPanel/FTP, you're good. Do you NEED html/css? No, but it's dead easy to learn.

 

[Altair]

Programming... no.
HTML/CSS knowledge... yes
The reason of the latter.. it allows you to do some customization of your site easily. And I personally don't consider HTML/CSS programming.

Do you NEED html/css? No, but it's dead easy to learn.

People stop needing something that is easy. It's easy once you know it. My most hated phase ever.
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I know html/css. I'm also having a hard time learning to customize IPB.

 

[Tracy]

People stop needing something that is easy. It's easy once you know it. My most hated phase ever.
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I know html/css. I'm also having a hard time learning to customize IPB.

Sorry... it's not really THAT difficult to learn html/css... especially with all the guides and references out there. It didn't take me that long to learn some of the ins and outs when I first got into forum scripts... and I'm FAR from a rocket scientist.
One of the reasons you are having a hard time learning to customize IPS (IPB no longer exists) is the fact that the script developers have taken away the old way of CSS customizations (which was fairly easy).... and simply made it harder. Their templating was not the best in the world either back when I was running 4.3.

In XenForo, it's not that hard.. in fact, I have 4 LESS templates that are nothing but modifications to the site. Pretty sure IPS no longer allows you to do similar.

 

[Matt C.]

People stop needing something that is easy. It's easy once you know it. My most hated phase ever.
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I know html/css. I'm also having a hard time learning to customize IPB.

What you’re describing is actually the main reason I don’t use IPS. Their templating system “sucks” in my opinion. XF is far superior in terms of ease of use and customization.

 

[Uncrowned]

This is one of the best parts of running websites. You can choose! Granted most websites are dealing with coding and not actually programming skills.

Some setups are 100% programming and some are zero programming or coding. Most websites generally require some basic coding skills and guide you along the way. However, if you want to go from the ground up or design the site as a fully functioning web app, you can use your programming skills. However, if you're going to spend zero time figuring out coding and want nothing to do with servers and files, then you can also find solutions that will be great.

I feel like the best way to describe websites is kind of like owning a car. Yes, you can build your own from metal and parts or you can never open the hood for the life of the car, but most owners would say that having the basic skills to fix minor problems or alter minor components is the best solution for most users of cars. And I'd say that is essentially how most modern website systems look at coding today.

 

[Cedric]

Found something perfect.

 

[Ravenfreak]

We've got services like Squarspace and even most hosting these days offer free website templates that you can easily set up so I don't think it's necessary to know programming, but it could help you fix problems you may come across. It could also help you save money since you can design your own forum theme and don't have to commission another person to design it. (Though designing is slightly different, but having the HTML and CSS knowledge along with Javascript can help you design a good looking and functioning site.)

 

[Altair]

Sorry... it's not really THAT difficult to learn html/css... especially with all the guides and references out there. It didn't take me that long to learn some of the ins and outs when I first got into forum scripts... and I'm FAR from a rocket scientist.
One of the reasons you are having a hard time learning to customize IPS (IPB no longer exists) is the fact that the script developers have taken away the old way of CSS customizations (which was fairly easy).... and simply made it harder. Their templating was not the best in the world either back when I was running 4.3.

In XenForo, it's not that hard.. in fact, I have 4 LESS templates that are nothing but modifications to the site. Pretty sure IPS no longer allows you to do similar.
View attachment 491

That is good to know about IPS.
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A subject might have ample resources, but that does not make it easy to learn. Some people will not find it difficult to learn, and some people will not. Just because you found it easy does not mean someone else will. I stand by my original statement that people need to stop saying the phrase "it's easy. Once you know something, you find it easy.
You can of course have your opinion.

 

[Cory]

Being part-programmer myself I don't think it's 100% necessary, but it sure does help. Building a website from the ground up will at least require HTML and CSS knowledge unless you use some of the aforementioned services or some type of website builder. I think it's a great thing to know if you build your own website because you have full control over everything that requires such expertise. I probably would've never learned JavaScript if it weren't for learning jQuery first, so there are always some different ways to approach learning to program than just the vanilla language. It's basically an added bonus to know to program when running a website, but there are so many tools and software nowadays that let you do so without knowing how to program that a lot of people don't even necessarily try to learn how.

 

[synpastel]

I think knowing very basic html and CSS is needed mostly because if something goes wrong, you have at least some knowledge on how to try to even begin to fix it.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

There are no-code solutions but you can also code it up.

I believe databases are a must though.