I want to set up a simple web site-need adivce (1 Viewer)

[Tim L]

I would like to set up a simple informative web site- but not sure how to go about it. If I design it or have someone design it- how would I make it active? Is there a legit place that will host the site for me for a monthly fee and I supply the design-images etc (no flash or anything fancy). Also I would find out if a domain name is taken- is there a way for me to check this? Thanksin advance
Tim

 

[Chris_Morris]

www.netsol.com

 

[Carl Miller]

Tim,

Any domain registration service will let you check for available domains...Dotster is one, and while they're not the rock bottom price registration service, they have good customer service in the off chance you ever need it.

A good cheap web host which I use for one of my sites is Westhost . Also not the cheapest but still really inexpensive. But they have outstanding customer support and reliable servers.

Site design...lots of options. You can use something like MS FrontPage which does the coding for you. It's sloppy, ugly code but will do the trick for a novice quite well and without much of a learning curve. There are plenty of other programs out there similar to FrontPage, such as GoLive or Dreamweaver, but those two are more expensive and have a steeper learning curve because they're better in many ways.

You could also purchase one of these software programs and then buy a template which is just a pre-designed site you add your own content to. Very easy. A Google search of "web templates" or "frontpage templates" or "dreamweaver templates" will find yield plenty of choices.

You could even go an easier route but with less control over the look of your site by using Yahoo/Geocities or Tripod/Lycos for free web space.

Hope this helps some!

 

[Tim L]

thanks for info and links-looks interesting. Even some of the preset templates aren't too bad. If I designedit or had it designed-is it easy to upload my design files onto their site-so they could host it? I guess thats my biggest question- how do I get my design onto their site and what dimensions (pixel ratio of my template) do I use? Sorry for all the questions-just trrying to understand the whole process-thanks again.
Tim

 

[Ari]

Check out doteasy.com....they'll host your website for free if you register your domain name with them. Pretty reliable so far....

 

[Alf S]

My wife and I have had great success with www.1and1.com

For $5 a month they host a site and have a great Website Creator program (easy to use).

$4.95 package

 

[Scott L]

Some good advice here:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=235189

As for your question on template dimensions, 800x600 is still the most popular resolution to design for just because so many people are still using old monitors. Make your width about 780 pixels for some breathing room and length is up to you as the user can scroll down.

 

[Citizen87645]

You will need an FTP program to upload your files. I imagine some services provide a web interface to do the same. When you sign up they will give you the login info, etc.

Do you have any Web space provided by your ISP? If so, you can play around with that in the meantime to understand the process.

 

[Kyle McKnight]

http://www.dreamhost.com

You can also read reviews on different hosts at http://www.webhostingtalk.com

 

[Carl Miller]

Tim,

Like Guo said, an FTP program is used to upload your site to the host server. After setting up the connection to upload, it's very much like navigating through your hard drive on your home PC...same concept, with folders and files.

When you sign up with a host, they'll e-mail you with all the details you would need to set up your FTP program including where the files go, which is usually in a "www" folder which takes your html files, and sub folders like "images" which hold your pictures.

A web publishing program like FrontPage does most of this stuff for you..You just have to set up the upload connection, as it already has FTP built in.

The whole thing is actually pretty easy...you'll be surprised how easy it is once you get rolling.

 

[Tim L]

wow, thanks, lots of good information to digest. I have not picked a host company as of yet- still sifting through the different options. It sounds like I need a good FTP program (fetch?). I was going to try and use Photoshop (mainly becauseI already have the program) to create headers and manipulate images-I'm hoping this will work? As for programs like frontpage or notepad-don't I have to know code for this to work? This will create my html files-or I could save them in photoshop as html files? sorry for all the questions-I suppose I'm pretty late in life getting into the whole web building stuff-should have learned it years ago. Thanks again for all the good advice and information-it helps with all the aggravation of being a novice,
Tim

 

[Carl Miller]

Tim,

Programs like FrontPage will do the coding for you. These programs are limited compared to hand coding, and they don't produce "clean" code as you could by hand...But they get the job done and serve their purpose well for the novice, and/or for people who don't need complex sites with tons of bells and whistles.

My site for example was created with FrontPage, and is augmented with a few goodies here or there like a small Perl script. I can hand code fairly well, but have little time for it and no need for many bells and whistles...So it suits me for this particular site.

I think the key to deciding how to do this is to decide what you need, and how interested you are in learning to code. If you want to learn to code, then you're better off getting a book on HTML because a program like FrontPage, while it will code for you, isn't a source you generally want to learn coding from because it produces a lot of Microsoft-centric code which is useless and bloated.

On the other hand, if you want to get a site up quickly, with minimum ease, and hands off coding, a program like FrontPage would serve you well.

Hand coding will give you maximum control over the design of your site, FrontPage or similar programs will reduce that control somewhat. Dreamweaver is probably the best of these types of programs but it has a steeper learning curve and costs more than FrontPage.

You can do any of your images in Photoshop and then insert them into a FrontPage generated web site. FrontPage is a little finicky about placement of images, which is a big reason why I say you don't have complete control with a FrontPage type program. It's better than it used to be, but far from perfect.

I have Photoshop, but I don't know if it can be used to create html pages...It's primarily an image program for grahpics so I don't know if it goes beyond getting images ready for the web.

Notepad can be used, but yes, that's a program that would involve strictly hand coding.

FTP programs...lots of good ones out there. Fetch, CuteFTP, Bulletproof FTP and others...Take em' for a test spin to see which you prefer. Some are bloated with stuff you'll likely never use and with FTP programs it pretty much comes down to finding a program that is comfortable to use because they all generally do the same primary task. I ended up using CuteFTP because when I first started creating a web site back in 1999 or so, it reminded me most of navigating Windows Explorer. I don't know how it compares today to other FTP programs because I haven't upgraded or looked closely at other FTP programs in a couple of years.

I definitely want to see this site of yours when it goes up!

 

[Citizen87645]

I think starting with Photoshop 7.0 creating an HTML page from your design is a feature. But like the other programs it's not exactly a clean code creator. But the slicing feature is nice for image heavy designs.

Photoshop also comes with Imageready, which is geared toward optimizing images for the Web. I use this feature a lot.

 

[Tim L]

From the info I've been gathering it seems getting everything ready in photoshop and then on to something like dreamweaver seems to be a very popular route. I suppose I should learn how to do this the right way from the beginning-I have photoshop-so getting dreamweaver or using a trial version for 30 days seems the best way to go- it will just take longer (learning the software). There is so much info out there (very overwhelming) just going to have to get a good beginners book for dreamweaver and give it a go. Know any good books?
Tim

 

[Citizen87645]

Definitely learn it right the from the beginning, especially as CSS and XHTML are going to be all that's supported by browsers. These are basically new web coding standards that are 1) more powerful from a design standpoint and 2) much cleaner code and 3) less tolerant of sloppy code. The good news is the latest version of Dreamweaver integrates XHTML and CSS, and if you don't pick up any bad habits from the HTML days (e.g. using tables for layout or font tags for text formatting) you won't know the difference.

I suggest picking up Dreamweaver MX 2004 Hands on Training by Lynda Weinman.

http://www.lynda.com/info/books/dreamweavermx2004/

For CSS, the acknowledged guru is Eric Meyer. He has several books out on the subject.

http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/books/css-tdg/

For a straightforward book on HTML and XHTML/CSS:

http://www.peachpit.com/title/0321150686

The learning curve is going to be steeper of course than using Front Page, but if you're really serious this is (one of) the ways to go.

 

[Citizen87645]

I updated the link for Eric Meyer to his first book on CSS.

 

[Tim L]

I ended up buying the dreamweaver and flash books by Lynda. The selection was obviously huge at the book store- but I like the way these were written with tutorials- and started from the beginning for novices like myself. Now it looks like I have some serious reading and learning to do (feel like I'm back in school).
Tim

 

[Citizen87645]

Great! Just be sure to check her site for any errors/typos in the book. I know I've run into a couple that have made things a bit confusing going through the tutorials.

http://www.lynda.com/info/books/drea...04/errata.aspx