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Learn more about Newbies Paradise

So you are nosy and you want to know more about Newbies Paradise? :)

You would like to know who made it, who run it, who wrote the courses (and who invented such a stupid name)...
All the answers are on this page, and there is even more: I will sum up quiclkly the history of the site and give you exclusively my grandmom's recipe for gravy how to make a tutorial for beginners ;)

Here are some questions you often ask me:

You can read them in the order you want, but if you have time, it is better to read them in the right order (yes, just like the courses :p)

How long has Newbies Paradise been existing for?

Newbies Paradise (NP for its inner friends) precisely opened on February, 11th 2007. It is the English equivalent to a famous French website, called "Le Site du Zéro". This one opened on... November, 10th 1999! It has had so much success in France (and French-speaking countries) that we decided that it would be a good idea to translate it into English, so that all English speaking people around the world could enjoy our beginners tutorials!

Because NP history is short, I will tell you more here about its french equivalent, "Le Site du Zéro".

At the very beginning...

And yet, it wasn't really famous at that time. Just me, some of my friends and a few guys who had lost themselves on the Internet... not enough to play a tarot game.

Actually, that's not surprising: the website had just opened, it was a bit empty.
The story really began on Christmas 1998. I had been offered a book about HTML and I thought to myself the best way to train would be to make a website... Great idea, but what could that website talk about?

I thought the book was pretty good in a whole but I actually disliked a few passages. Sometimes I couldn't understand very well, and then I thought that if a few chapters had been moved and some things had been made deeper, the book could have been much better.
That's how I found what my website was going to talk about: my first website would explain to beginners how to create a website with HTML, which was a way for me to practice that language (as you see, I was already crazy at that time :D)

So the website opened with a tutorial to make a website with HTML. I wanted everyone to be able to understand, that was the main goal of my course. I tried to explain everything I did, from the beginning, i.e. from zero.

By the way, I had to find a name for my website. I couldn't make a website with no name.
After a deep reflection phase of about 15 seconds, I thought to myself that if the courses began from zero, I could call the website "Le Site du Zér0" (Newbies Paradise in French). It didn't mean a lot, it was ugly, but it was enough to begin. I thought that I could change it later anyway

Big mistake. Years later, it's still the same.
Why? Because the website became famous and I didn't want to change the name because no one would recognise it after. It was too late, so I said myself it didn't matter anyway: "I'll have to deal with it." ^^

But what happened before? How did the website become famous?

Rise of the Website

No, that wasn't because of the HTML course it became famous (and actually "famous" is quite a big word!). In fact, it took me a few months to write the HTML course but it didn't bring more visitors. At that time, I guess there were about 200 or 300 viewed pages on the website (I often count with "pages / day")

After writing my HTML tutorial, I had a sudden addiction to a software: Worldcraft, recalled "Hammer" thereafter. It allows you to create 3D levels for one of the most popular games in the world, i.e. Half-Life (and Counter-Strike).
Good french tutorials about that soft were rather scarce on the Net at that time, and I thought that it was really worthy of becoming more famous, although it is a bit arcane at first appearance. Thus I started writing a big tutorial about "Mapping", i.e. about how to create 3D maps for that game

That was unintentional. I didn't expect so many people to read it and I actually didn't know neither about the success of Half-Life and Counter-Strike. Many gamers began to visit the website and quickly there were more than 1000 viewed pages / day.
I even got in touch with famous game websites in order to bring in more gamers. I offered them to create a mapping course for beginners on their own websites in return for a link to mine. So I created new mapping chapters for them (which was long too!). However, that did increase the number of visitors (about 4000-5000 viewed pages / day)

The Tutorials Writing Order

What happened after that is not really interesting. I had troubles with one of those two big websites who appropriated the course I had written for him without writing nor a link to my website neither my name. I won't tell you which website it was, I'm too old for that kind of things, now ;)
That said, I swore I would never make promotional partnership anymore and I still deliver that promise today.

So I decided to keep developing the website all by myself. In fact, I must say that working for other people to finally be threw away like that was not really motivating :/

The tutorials I have written for "Site du Zéro" can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Indeed, it takes me several months and sometimes even a whole year to write one. I created them in the following order:

  1. HTML
  2. Mapping
  3. PHP
  4. XHTML / CSS (replacing the old HTML course which had become useless)
  5. C / C++

And here we are. Today, I'm beginning to write the C / C++ tutorial which will definitely be the longest and the hardest one to write for me. We'll see if I can cope this time ^^

I haven't done any promotion since the mapping course. I just keep writing my courses and I think that if people do like my website, it'll work whether I do promotion or not.
And indeed, it works pretty good by word of mouth! Some Internet users communicate out address on forums, but they also pass it on at school or at work.

Today, there are hundred thousands viewed pages / day on "Site du Zéro", which means... millions a month. And apparently it keeps growing o_O
We're far away from the 200 pages / day I used to have at the beginning!

The Different Versions of the Website

The website began as a personal website with a personal design (and even worse if you know about my "artist skills" ^^)

Here are the different versions of the website:

  1. Version 1.0: yellow-orange "design" with some kind of a menu on the left.
    You're lucky, I still have a screenshot of it:

    Version 1 design
    The first version of the website
    Laughing is strictly forbidden

  2. Version 2.0: a design kindly made by a visitor. A light-blue color, rather flashy which is actually not really fine for the eyes ^^. That version didn't last long, only a few months, I think.

    Version 2.0 design
    Version 2.0
    Sorry, some pictures are missing

  3. Version 2.1: not many things have changed - colors and the menu are almost the same. Actually, another visitor has simply made a nicer design.
    Version 2.1 lasted several years and the website became famous under that design.

    Version 2.1 design
    Version 2.1, the most famous one
    The website had this look for a very long time

  4. Version 3.0: This is the version you are in right now. It's definitely the most wrought one. Before, we used to spend about two weeks working on a version, but this time, it did take us 2 years! The web site was entirely recoded and visitors are now able to change designs and even to create their own!

    One of version 3 designs
    Version 3 on which we spent a lot of time
    This is just one of the possible designs!

In the following part (Who created Newbies Paradise?), we're going to talk about the people who lead Newbies Paradise to the place where it is now :)

Who created Newbies Paradise?

As I said previously, the web site had many versions. Many people helped me to create Newbies Paradise, but most of them worked on version 3.

The web site pioneers

Let's sum up the people who helped us through the different versions:

The team of Newbies Paradise version 3

So many people have worked on version 3, which was our biggest project (2 years of work, remember!)
Everyone hasn't worked as much as the others but all of them do earn a lot to be named here:

Once again, thanks a lot to all of them. If they weren't here, the website wouldn't be what it is today.
By the way, I only named the developers / designers, but I shall also name the beta-testers of the website. The list would be longer but since those people are mostly validators or moderators, they are already in the "team" part, further.

The team who keeps the website hand-to-mouth alive

On the list above, only Karamilo, winzou and M@teo21 are still working on Newbies Paradise code today.

However, other people also make the website survive, but they're not coders or designers this time: they are people who "administrate" the website, who make it alive.
It's an everyday work.

There are different sorts of people who work for Newbies Paradise. They are called the "NP team":

The website team list is automatically updated on this page.

Which technologies do you use?

Warning: this section contains technical information. I especially wrote it for webmasters and nosy people who wonder how the website works.
If you are a real Newbie, it is possible you don't understand everything that's going to be said here. ;)

During its evolution, Newbies Paradise was coded with different languages. The very first version was only written with HTML with the Windows notepad.
The second one used PHP, this time, mostly to do includes or short scripts like the MCQ at the end of each chapter.

However, we used much more technologies for the third version of the website. Every language we use here has its own "function".
Here are the different languages Newbies Paradise "runs" with:

How do you write your tutorials for beginners?

Many of you also ask me how do I create the courses of the website.
How many time do I need? Do I write them alone? Why aren't there more tutorials?!

First of all, know that we're going to talk about the website official tutorials, even if I don't really appreciate that name. Those are the tutorials that made the website famous, I told you about them previously:

Time and Passion

All these tutorials were written by me (i.e. M@teo21). Yes, that's a lot but writing tutorials doesn't take most of my time, but administration does.
Indeed, during the website rebuilding for version 3, I worked more on the administration system than on the tutorials themselves.

Does that mean I write my tutorials quickly once I begin?
I think it does, but beginning is not easy. I have to be motivated and the tutorial topic must be a passion for me. If it's not, I won't manage to write a whole tutorial about it.
So this is one of the reasons why there are so few tutorials:

With such conditions, it's not easy to write a bunch of tutorials. I wish there could be more than 24 hours in a day, but I'm no magician :magicien: (that's it, I finally used this smiley once! :lol:)
Now you understand why I can't write tutorials about Flash, Photoshop or Javascript although many of you would want me to: I suck with Photoshop (I'm the one who needs tutorials!), it's the same for Flash and concerning Javascript, I'm not currently interested in it.

Yet there are other themes I like and I wish I could write tutorials about them but I don't have enough time.
I won't tell you about all the ideas I have (otherwise my mail box will be overcrowded with mails asking "When are you going to write a tutorial about blablabla?" ^^). But be sure that when I find the time, I'll work on it. However, remember that writing a single tutorial may last several years for me. And that's not the only thing I have to do ;)

The tutorial writing HOWTO

I write my tutorials a very special way.
However, that's no guarder secret. In fact, if everyone could write good courses with it, I would be really happy :)

  1. Finding the course topic: that's the easiest. The topic has to be a passion for me and may become one for the others.
  2. Realizing the course layout: it's the main point, the essential point. No mistake must be done, and that's not a cup of tea. It takes a lot of my time (more than one could know): I have to think about the chapters linking order, their titles, the information they'll contain.
    I have to spread the hurdles, introduce things step-by-step. And by the way it's becoming a habit for me to write "broad" titles for my chapters, instead of "hollow" titles:
    • Example of a broad title: Code with the right tools!
    • Example of a hollow title: Installing and configuring an IDE
    These titles are corresponding to the same chapter. But one of them is understandable by a beginner, surprising, aims to interest the reader. The other one is sadder, formal.
    Notice that I try to do that as often as I can, but sometimes I don't. Sometimes because I can't find a broad title (it's harder!), but also because it can affect the summary readability. So the whole thing is a matter of proportioning :)
  3. Writing the chapters in the right order: for that, I've just got to thrust with no fear. I have a precise tutorial layout, I know what I must say and also what I mustn't.
    I try to give a nice and easy tone (we're here to have fun by learning, not to make ourselves sh**), I speak with the readers to make them feel like I'm with them along the whole course. This way they do not feel abandoned, which is motivating factor to keep reading the course.
    So don't be surprised if the text sometimes looks "novelised", it's just like I'm telling a story, after all
  4. Reading the chapters again and make them reread by "testers": of course I must reread what I've written, that's obvious, but some people still don't do it ^^ Once a chapter has been reread, it shall not contain any spelling mistakes anymore (even if it may still happen)
    Then I usually ask some people I know to reread my chapters. There are actually two kind of "beta-testers":
    • Beginners: they are Newbies who don't know anything about the related subject, which means they discover everything that's in the chapter. They tell me if everything seems clear to them and if there are no misunderstood spots.
    • Professionals: they are also Newbies who already know about the subject of the chapter, this time. They can tell me if I made mistakes and they may advise me to talk about things I had kept apart.

Well, that's all I guess ^^

A few elementary rules

I've just told you about how I organise myself to create a tutorial. I try to follow this method as much as possible, but that's not all. Indeed, I didn't really give a lot of details about the way I write, which is however a crucial point.

So here are a few rules I always have in mind when I write a tutorial:

Lie to cope

There's also a technique I must tell you about. It's my very own technique and it is criticised (and criticisable, I understand why).
It sometimes happen that I hide things from you in the tutorials.

How dare I doing a such thing? o_O
Actually, sometimes there are just too many things I have to explain in the same time. And overwhelming the reader with information is not a good thing, that's why I sometimes leave some details out.
For instance I can say "it almost always works this way", whereas there are exceptions. But if I had talked about all the exceptions inside a hard chapter, most of the readers would've probably given up.

So, only in this chapter, I leave an inaccuracy. This inaccuracy will be corrected later, when the readers will have a higher level and enough hindsight to understand why I had "hidden some things from them".
I thus do what it takes to "stuff the gaps" later, by giving more details when the reader is ready to hear them. In the end, that implies you have to read all the chapters in the right order for all my "settlements" to be done.

Let us make things plain: I do this as rarely as I can. I only do it if I have no choice and if I know I'll be able to "repair" the inaccuracy further.
In outline, it allows me to make some parts of my course lighter so as many people as possible can understand. I'm definitely sure it is better than explaining everything at the same time, and being sure that some readers will give up.

You too can do it

... and we cheer you to!
We've developed an entire system in order for everyone to be able to write their own tutorials. It's the "Your Tutorials" section.
For some practical reasons, you have to subscribe to the website to be able to write a tutorial. But if it is validated, everyone will be able to read it.

The tutorials that are written by Newbies are sorted by category in the "Unofficial tutorials" section (once again, I don't like that name...).
But the thing is we don't want people to mix them with the official courses, because we cannot guarantee everything that's written inside those tutorials is true and accurate. We reread them in order to avoid mistakes as much as we can but that's not easy, and don't forget I also make mistakes (yes, I do!) :p

However, an unofficial tutorial could perfectly become official some day. It justs needs a lot of work, no spelling mistakes at all, and many readers must also like it (yep, that's all :-°)
This way, anyone's tutorial can be put forward on Newbies Paradise!

How can I contact the team?

If you wish to contact a member of the team especially, you just have to go to the team page, click on the person you want to talk to, then click on "Send a PM". This way you will send a PM to the related person and he will receive it in his personal mail box at Newbies Paradise.
Please note that for some practical reasons (for us), you have to be registered to send a PM.

Finally, know that we receive a lot of messages. At least I do, and I know I spend a lot of time reading them and answering back, but it reduces the free time I have to write tutorials (case made ;))
Of course, if your message is important and about me, do write it. But if it's a question about one of the courses, you'd better ask it on the appropriate forum. You will get an answer more quickly and more than one person will be able to read your message.

So please think twice before sending a message to M@teo21, please do, for the health of my message box ;)

How can I help Newbies Paradise?

There are many ways to help us:

As you see, there are many ways to help. It's up to you - it's yours to decide what you're going to do today: organise a treasure hunt on the forums, write a tutorial about a programming language, make the demand of becoming a newser or simply help a lost Newbie on the forums? ^^

I've got some questions about a course: who can help me?

It depends on the course you've got questions about:

To post on the forums, you'll have to subscribe if you haven't done so yet.
We understand that it's boring to subscribe at every website you visit, but it's our only way to manage the visitors inflow. We used to allow anonymous posts on the website but of course it quickly caused a lot of problems.
You must know that it makes things much easier to moderators, who already have a lot to do ^^

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