[chris.p]

The 2 most common approaches to building a website are to build it in the traditional HTML webpage style, or the dynamic webapp way.

To do it the HTML page way, you can write the code or use a wysiwyg editor. Each page is built separately although you can use one as a layout master and clone the rest from it. Using a visual editor, as 99% of people do, in theory you don't need to know any code. In practice it helps a lot because you will always be coming across code examples and if you know what they mean it is a big positive. This method allows the greatest freedom to create every single page looking different, if you need that. But it isn't a great solution once you get over 20 pages, it's too much like hard work.

The other popular way is to use database-driven server software. This is how many sites work now, like CMS, ecommerce, blogs, forums, wikis, directories and membership sites.

With this method you definitely don't need any coding knowledge as you never see any code. However if you want to get under the hood, then you can have as much code as you like.

As far as WordPress is concerned it is the easiest and fastest way to get a site online, and you don't need to know anything about code, websites or anything else. All you need is to be familiar with computers and to have patience, because you will need to learn how to run a website, at least in basic mode.

So - yes, WP is a one-click install (more or less) if the hosts advertise an auto-installer. If you want to get legal about it, then there's maybe 20 or 30 clicks and it will take you half an hour if you never did it before. But to put it into perspective, it could be done in 10 minutes or less by someone who has done a couple.

But you will need a little patience as you have to learn something about website management. If you can't spend a few minutes on that, then perhaps your best solution is to outsource that in some way. Find a service that does it all for you, for a few bucks.

The long-term answer for anyone that wants to get involved with sites in any way is to learn simple, basic webmastering, as unless you comprehend this stuff your life will either be tough or cost more.

Quick advice: get organised. Create a folder in My Docs or C Drive called Websites. In that, create another with your site name. Inside that, create some individual folders for gfx (graphics), page masters (docs and other stuff used to build a page), and site info.

Also in the main Websites folder, create a folder called webmastering (stuff that helps with running a site), and build up some info on running a site.

You will also find some other software useful: a simple FTP app, a good text editor, a handy gfx app - these are all freeware, you can find the best ones on this site.