Need some pointers on how i can accomplish my idea for a website

[agentc0re]

The idea that I'm trying to archive is, lets say for example i wanted
a taskbar style at the bottom of my page. One of the buttons i would
want to act very similar to how the "start" button works for windows.
You'd click on it, get the menu, go to the submenu and see your
option. I'd actually be trying to get it to look very much like how
KDE 3.5 looks. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that I will
probably need to know javascript to be able to get something like that
that acts very dynamic. Any pointers on things i can focus more on
learning (if it is java or whatever it is) would be the best of
help.

Also, the other thing is that lets say you've clicked on my "start"
menu selected Multimedia and in there selected an app, IE GTKPOD.
Once you click on it, it would open a box in the browser. Not another
tab, or another browser session but a box. I've seen them used when
you want to see a larger preview of a picture. They usually only show
a close button if your mouse is highlighted over them. And in that
window you would go through pictures that would be steps on how to use
the program.

I know this kind of post might stray away some because it might take
more than just a few words to tell me what i should be looking to
learn but thats all i'm really after. Really any help would be very
awesome!

 

[dorayme]

The idea that I'm trying to archive is, lets say for example i wanted
a taskbar style at the bottom of my page. One of the buttons i would
want to act very similar to how the "start" button works for windows.

Remember that people would not know about the bottom of your page till
they got there unless you somehow told them at the top of the page. You
might as well provide a facility at the top while you are at it. perhaps
a dropdown menu might suit you. Google up Suckerfish.

 

[richard]

The idea that I'm trying to archive is, lets say for example i wanted
a taskbar style at the bottom of my page. One of the buttons i would
want to act very similar to how the "start" button works for windows.
You'd click on it, get the menu, go to the submenu and see your
option. I'd actually be trying to get it to look very much like how
KDE 3.5 looks. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that I will
probably need to know javascript to be able to get something like that
that acts very dynamic. Any pointers on things i can focus more on
learning (if it is java or whatever it is) would be the best of
help.

Also, the other thing is that lets say you've clicked on my "start"
menu selected Multimedia and in there selected an app, IE GTKPOD.
Once you click on it, it would open a box in the browser. Not another
tab, or another browser session but a box. I've seen them used when
you want to see a larger preview of a picture. They usually only show
a close button if your mouse is highlighted over them. And in that
window you would go through pictures that would be steps on how to use
the program.

I know this kind of post might stray away some because it might take
more than just a few words to tell me what i should be looking to
learn but thats all i'm really after. Really any help would be very
awesome!

Nothing new actually.
Best if you put the "start" button on the top part of the page.
What if my screen doesn't show your bottom?
It will always show the top.

Now have fun and spend lots of time looking for stuff like javascript
menus and navigation systems.
I did and found something I could use on one site purely by accident.

But be warned, many of the top notch script sites are ancient and the
scripts may or may not work on today's browsers. Trust me, if you can
think of it, it's already out there.

Of course, you can spend the next five years learning the script and
do it yourself.

BTW, java is totally different from javascript.

 

[Neredbojias]

The idea that I'm trying to archive is, lets say for example i wanted
a taskbar style at the bottom of my page. One of the buttons i would
want to act very similar to how the "start" button works for windows.
You'd click on it, get the menu, go to the submenu and see your
option. I'd actually be trying to get it to look very much like how
KDE 3.5 looks. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that I will
probably need to know javascript to be able to get something like that
that acts very dynamic. Any pointers on things i can focus more on
learning (if it is java or whatever it is) would be the best of
help.

Also, the other thing is that lets say you've clicked on my "start"
menu selected Multimedia and in there selected an app, IE GTKPOD.
Once you click on it, it would open a box in the browser. Not another
tab, or another browser session but a box. I've seen them used when
you want to see a larger preview of a picture. They usually only show
a close button if your mouse is highlighted over them. And in that
window you would go through pictures that would be steps on how to use
the program.

I know this kind of post might stray away some because it might take
more than just a few words to tell me what i should be looking to
learn but thats all i'm really after. Really any help would be very
awesome!

You can create a bottom, always-showing bar with css. The dynamic stuff
you want probably does require javascript although some dynamic actions
can be done via php scripting as well. IE 6 will most likely require
special solutions for it to function similar to more modern browsers.

 

[agentc0re]

Remember that people would not know about the bottom of your page till
they got there unless you somehow told them at the top of the page. You
might as well provide a facility at the top while you are at it. perhaps
a dropdown menu might suit you. Google up Suckerfish.

From the research i've done so far, suckerfish sounds like what i'd
need to pull off a startmenu.
I also found a cool script called, lightbox2. Thats exactly what i
was looking for once you click on an item from the start menu to go to
the howto section of screen captures.

I think a problem that i'm going to run into is that when i started
out thinking about this i bought my domain through google when i
signed up for google apps/google sites. I don't think i'm going to be
able to accomplish any of this using google sites. Can i get some
suggestions of a good place for webhosting? I know i can search for
any, but i figure that most of you have been around the block and know
all the good, hidden ones.