Been enrolled in Web designing contest, need help

[thewisecrab]

As the title reads
I've been enrolled in a web designing contest (being the most computer-centric person among the class)
The rules are:
1)Make a site using any FOSS or Script it on your own (CSS.XHTML,etc)
Topic will be given on the spot
2)Upload it onto a free web host with domain
3)Should be functional in 4 hours

Now the problem is:
1) I know basic HTML, nothing else. What more should i learn?
( The contest is in 20 days)
2) Does Wordpress fit the bill?

I'm banking on Q1 as the FOSS that I found are relatively weak (Kompozer,Scribus,etc)
Also, WP being a heavy internet based app will be handicapped in the dialup internet they'll be providing
What should I do?
I know the timeframe is small, but any help would be appreciated

[victor_rambo]

Wordpress won't be heavy for dialup if you optimize it. You can easily have a static page as your home page and some another page for posts. Also, instead of showing 10 posts per page, you can reduce it to 1 so that pages will load faster when compared.
Ofcourse WP has fabulous themes! So go ahead with wordpress

Also, since they have given you the option to write the scripts on your own, if you know PHP-MySQL, XHTML and CSS, you can write a basic engine in 2 days! I think they will prefer hand made scripts instead of ready made.

Also give some info about your competition. How e-literate they are?

[thewisecrab]

Not much from what I can fathom (and by what my seniors tell me)
But they can make out ready-made from hand written
Also the circular categorically states that NO paid software can be used
This rules out Publisher and Dreamweaver.
Also, the site (the pages including the home page with images) should NOT excede 4 mb
This means the scripts cannot be more than 4 mb ikn size, not the size of the site on the host.
I'm keen to use WP, but I think it'll be pretty slow to customize on dial-up
So I'm looking for any language help possible
(WP workarounds,if any, are appreciated )

[victor_rambo]

ok,so u mean that individual scripts cannot be graeter than 4 MB? but all scripts taken together can be greater than 4 MB?

[thewisecrab]

no no
the site folder containing all site scripts and images should not exceed 4mb
is it too little?
and
i do know basic html
what other langs can i learn in 15 days?

[victor_rambo]

4 MB is too little for wordpress

Also, have they allowed you to use databases?

[thewisecrab]

I have no idea about that (databases on websites, I heard this for the first time)
Forget wordpress then
What languages should I learn in the next 15 days?
CSS, XHTML, etc.?
which one should I learn for making really good and presentable websites?
Again I'm saying that I have knowledge of HTML

[victor_rambo]

Learn XHTML markup(HTML with minor modifications and defined standards, easy since u know HTML)and CSS.

Then download a open source template from http://www.oswd.org and modify it

[thewisecrab]

Got it
Should w3 consortium do the trick for XHTML, CSS?
And will i be able to finish the language on time????
(difficult to answer, I know, but an estimate would help )

[victor_rambo]

As you said you know HTML, learning XHTML will be a piece of cake for you. Don' spend more than 15-30 mins on learning rules of XHTML. There are very few btw! And do get your code validated.

For CSS, even thats easy if you how to use the 'style' attribute in HTML.
Eg:

<div id="my_div" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; padding: 5px; border: 2px dotted #00FF00;">
Hello World!
</div>

In CSS, you create a 'link' element in the HEAD and point it to your .css file. The CSS file simply contains the re-written code as

#my_div{
font-family: Verdana;
font-size: 11px;
font-weight: bold;
padding: 5px;
border: 2px dotted #00FF00;
/*there is a shorthand technique too but first get it the long way*/
}

[thewisecrab]

OK
Thanks man
Any other suggestions are welcomed
I'll keep posting here if I encounter any roadblocks

[thewisecrab]

Q1) Does the How can I define the image in background? I mean, should the image that I want to use be in root folder or should I specify the entire directory of the picture?
Q2) Is it preferable better to have one ".css" file and then link all the heads to it?
Q3) There are some commands that W3C says that it wont work in IE. How to workaround this?

[mehulved]

Originally Posted by thewisecrab

Q1) Does the How can I define the image in background? I mean, should the image that I want to use be in root folder or should I specify the entire directory of the picture?

You can use absolute path or relative, IMO relative is preferred so that it doesn't break while moving project from one place to another.

Originally Posted by thewisecrab

Q2) Is it preferable better to have one ".css" file and then link all the heads to it?

Yeah, it's a good idea to have a common css file site-wide so as to give a consistent look and feel.

Originally Posted by thewisecrab

Q3) There are some commands that W3C says that it wont work in IE. How to workaround this?

First make your code standards complaint then add exceptions to fix it in IE.

I am not an expert in web desinging, but my answers are based on what I have observed while fiddling around with some templates obtained from the web and customising them.

[thewisecrab]

OK Thanks Man