Point me in the right direction please?

[Riggamortis21]

Hi everyone, I am just getting into building my first website. So far I have been doing courses at codeacademy and I'm fairly comfortable that I can handle the HTML and CSS side of things. The website will allow users to login with a shared login for their particular group, upload an image, add what will more or less be stamps to the image and then save it for others to view. The only part I really need advice for at this stage is how to code for the stamp applicator. It needs to work on smartphones and tablets probably even more so than on desktops. So my questions are: 1. will it be easier to code 2 separate pages, one for mobile and one for desktop and have the correct one load for the device rather than trying to rearrange all the elements with CSS? 2. What language do I need to learn to code the stamp applicator? Given that it must work on phones and tablets? Thanks in advance for your time and help!

[Vapr_Arts]

I do not understand what you mean by stamps nor what you want to do with them/it.

I can however say it is much better to code the site to be responsive rather than have separate pages for each.

As far as the stamps go, maybe someone else can figure it out, or maybe you can show me an example and I will see what I can do to help.

What you should know is Css and Html handle the very basic aspects of a website. Not that they are not important, just that most functionality is done by languages like Javascript and php(or a php alternative)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[heike]

As Vapr_Arts said, responsive is better than doing two separate sites.

Generally speaking, developping a mobile website is worth it only when the size of your site/audience is big enough. Responsive is here for the rest.
For instance, Google or Facebook dont have a responsive website, but one that is for mobile and one for other devices.

For what you`re talking about, a simple CMS might be sufficient. Let`s take Joomla or WP for instance. With some plugins and little to no knowledge of PHP you should be able to create a site where users can login, upload and share stuff etc.. It`s better than learning PHP/HTML/CSS/JS and then doing that stuff on your own. Think about hiring a developer (webs like Elance or Upwork might do the trick) if you dont want to do it on your own.
And buy yourself a theme. On Themeforest.net they have hundreds of millions of billions of WP theme. Not seriously, they have a lot of them.
Will save you time on developping own design, which is useless..in a sense.

[Riggamortis21]

Hi guys, thanks for such fast responses. I typed the first post up quickly on my lunch break so I apologise if I was unclear. I've drawn up an extremely rough example of what I mean to hopefully remove any confusion. The blue area represents the uploaded image and the black outline buttons the "stamps". Clicking/touching on a button would activate the next click/touch to place the relevant "stamp" on the image.

Mockup.png

Point taken regarding responsive vs dedicated mobile version, the reason I asked was the fact that a smartphone will have no room for elements other than the editor unlike the desktop version and I didn't really know if it would just be easier to do them separately.The website idea is based around a game that is an app for smartphones and tablets hence my priority being complete functionality on those devices.

I did look at wysiwyg editors at first but I couldn't see a way to implement the stamp functionality with my own custom stamps. There is a pretty good (huge?) chance I simply didn't look hard enough however, so if you can recommend an editor and a plugin that I could alter to suit my needs I will be eternally grateful! If not, I am a fast learner and logically minded so I don't mind doing the hard yards to learn. So now that you (hopefully) have a better idea of what I am seeking to achieve and assuming I cant use wysiwyg, would you use php or java? Or something else?

My idea is completely original, well, at least google wont find me anything even remotely close to what I want to do and assuming it is received well I would be looking to get an app version out there too. I don't know if that has any relevance to my question but the app database would need to be linked with the website database so I thought it might. Again, thanks in advance for your patience and advice!

[Vapr_Arts]

Java and javascript are not the same.

I dont like WYSIWYG editors and do not use any prebuilt cms so the only approach I know would be to code it yourself.

Do you mean you want to drag/drop the stamps onto the blue? Will multiple stamps be present on the blue at a time? Do the stamps go in a predesignated spot or is it up to where the user wants it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Riggamortis21]

I would prefer to code it myself anyway, I'm looking for a career change (into IT) and having a website that I've hand coded on my CV could only help.

Will multiple stamps be present on the blue at a time?

Yes, quite a few potentially.

Do the stamps go in a predesignated spot or is it up to where the user wants it?

The user needs to be able to place them wherever they please (on the image of course).

Do you mean you want to drag/drop the stamps onto the blue?

Drag/drop would work, but due to the multiple stamps being applied, activating a stamp by clicking its button and then all subsequent clicks on the image placing a stamp until another is chosen or the user is finished would be better IMO..

If there is a significant difference in difficulty of coding, I could be twisted into the drag/drop method though!

[Vapr_Arts]

The reason I was asking about drag and drop was that you could have used jQuery to a lot of the heavy lifting for you. They already have a drag/drop feature. The only problem is from what I understand is that a single stamp can be placed in multiple locations. I am not sure how jQuery's drag/drop feature would handle that. You may still be able to implement some of it into your own but it wouldn't be as simple to do. What exactly is the end result? What happens once the user is done? That also may make a difference.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Riggamortis21]

The user saves the image with their additions and it is then either made public for everyone to view or saved privately for only their team to view. The edited images are essentially a plan for others to follow. Like if the image was an NFL field and they were drawing up a play. The stamps being the players and the direction they should move or pass for example. Hope this helps!

[Vapr_Arts]

The user saves the image with their additions and it is then either made public for everyone to view or saved privately for only their team to view. The edited images are essentially a plan for others to follow. Like if the image was an NFL field and they were drawing up a play. The stamps being the players and the direction they should move or pass for example. Hope this helps!

In that case my theory is Php and more specifically Php GD library. Ive never used a programming language to create/alter an image and it may be possible a different way but Php is the only one i know does for sure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Riggamortis21]

Ok I'll have a look at the GD library and see what I can do, thanks for all your help!