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Old January 29th, 2008, 06:57 PM
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badger badger is offline
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Creating a website

Does anyone have experience with this? What are the best places on the net to create a website? I don't mind paying (a bit) but it must be easy to use, I'm uncommonly thick and don't have html skills (learned them once and promptly unlearned them). I'll be putting up photographs and a little text, or maybe alot of text if I get a bee in my bonnet. But graphically speaking, nothing fancy. How do I find out if the name I choose is taken?
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Old January 29th, 2008, 09:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by badger View Post
How do I find out if the name I choose is taken?
they tell you when you sign up for your domain name. You need to pay for domain AND web space. And some places have webpage builders so that you don't need to know HTML.

you can get an HTMl editor and in most cases they're pretty easy to use and don't require html. But Html is pretty easy to use once you have the template going.

Why not set up a blog?? they're easier to use. Unless it's for a business or a professional thing I don't think paying for a website is necessary. It's a waste of money. I've done it and i recently cancelled my account. I used dot5hosting.com . They're pretty cheap.
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Old January 29th, 2008, 09:49 PM
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I have a few using www.bravenet.com

They are reasonable in pricing, so far so good for me.

I hope it is ok for me to post that.

Diane
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Old January 30th, 2008, 08:44 AM
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Hi dmc123,

Although we aren't into self-promotion we are totally into information..so of course, members can post useful links.

Badger,

You should know that there is indeed a learning curve with building and maintaining your own website or blog. BY NO MEANS is it rocket science, but there is a curve and you will need a book, course or guide 100%. It would be good to have as a reference... I can't comment on bravenet but it is likely to use a generic interface where you don't need to see any code..Since the code is not that hard, I recommend a basic book - maybe something from the dummies series..

Blogs are a good idea as well and are easier in general than a full on website (some, like Blogger are SUPER SIMPLE)....but not always as suitable for your needs.

I could easily give you some good tips on this if you like....there is just too much to write...feel free to PM me.

To see if your name is taken you can check with a registry - there are thousands of them. Here's just one.
http://www.register.com/
Thx
Marko
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Old January 30th, 2008, 09:01 AM
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CearaQC CearaQC is offline
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A friend of mine runs his web design and site hosting business from Toronto.

http://www.lastdigital.ca/

Normally I wouldn't promote something like that, but my friend has done some AMAZING work graphically. I just love his style.

On their London website, you can see some of the portfolio of past work.

http://www.lastdigital.net/

For domain names,

Go here

http://www.whois.net/

Even if your chosen name might be taken as a dot com, you might be able to choose a different extension, like dot ca or dot us, etc.

However, if you choose to go with a design/host company such as my friend's, they will take care of the domain for you.
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Old February 5th, 2008, 12:40 AM
Hogansma Hogansma is offline
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Another way of setting up the actual pages is to use a template. There are lots of free ones and also lots for sale on the internet. You just look for one that is similar in style for what you want to do. The free ones usually have a link to their website in small print at the bottom and they ask that you leave that on the page. You download the template and then proceed to change the text and pictures. I do use html to do the updating. To find a template, just search for "free templates" and you'll get lots of sites.
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Old March 14th, 2008, 06:52 PM
Rick C Rick C is offline
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I used Microsoft Front page to create www.goldentales.ca

Nothing fancy but, if you get into it, creating links to navigate from anywhere in the site, you get into hundreds of cross-connections

Essentially, you want each page to be able to download in probably 30 seconds or less (our photo blog page is way over that) and be able to navigate to any page, including the index page, from any other page.

Microsoft Front Page has its detractors. I can't say I'm against it since it's the only thing I used and I'm not particularly computer literate.

So . . . the good news for you about Front Page is that I don't really know much at all about computers but I created a website with its own domain name . . . . and it gets messages on its guestbook from around the world.

Rick C
www.goldentales.ca
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  #8  
Old March 14th, 2008, 07:43 PM
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zyweb.com is good for first time users since they offer help with graphics and sop forth - Tripod is also free but has so many popups that you really are better off finding a good ISP that does not charge too much. Speaking of which, many many ISP's offer at the very minimum 5 megs of free web space- certainly Aliant or Sympatio does. If you have this ISP, check it out.

HTML is quite easy actually - it is just code and there are future plans to do away with the codes , the < amd > that you see when you View Code which will prove interesting. Some ppl jazz up their sires with JavaScript - not to be confused with Java which is a full fledged object oriented programming ;language but you can create Java Applets as well that are not difficult. I really like a program called Ace HTML Freeware which has many of the typical JavaScript or VBSript or other such items one might use (like menus on the side for example) so you do not have to reinvent the wheel and especially if you are just beginning!

Some WYSIWYG editors are used (like MS Frontpage) are useful but I hate them because you cannot easily edit them in terms of programming. I am an old style programmer at heart I suppose. I use Notepad to be honest - an updated one with spellcheck but Notepad nonetheless and the aforementioned AceHTML for useful and usual scripts.

To use some more complicated issues- like say a guestbook or a sign in feature, you may need to create a cgi-bin and that sometimes costs a bit more and is not provided in the free space of your ISP. I do believe Tripod and =Yahoo provide it but I am not altogether certain about that. In any case, there are free guestbooks available to newbies until you get it figured out anyway.

Whatever you do with HTML ALWAYS provide a way for people to find your main page so they do not land on some page of yours and not know how to get to the front. Some ppl will just see the front and erase the rest and find the main page that way. Ex: take this url http://www.pets.ca/forum/newreply.ph...ote=1&p=563205 and then just type in pets,ca but it is a sign of good navigation that you provided a way for people to find their way around your site. That is why some ppl create trees or menus on the side or the top of the page.

There are basics and htmlgoodies.com is an excellent place to learn. I also really like Laura Lemay books which I use in teaching other medical ppl HTML and JavaScript - a few yrs for fun and excitement (haha), I edited the HTML Writers' Guild faq sections on JavaScript and Java. Sadly, tho Laura has an interesting blog - some of which is about her beloved cats - she no longer writes HTML books, There is one online for free though and when I am finished typing this, I'll post the url.

As mentioned, you can register your site thru Internic or a Canadian company. There are various ways. Internic- the main co. won't get you a .ca domain but I may be wrong about that. ,info is now available though. And other ones good for non profits are .org or .net

Once you build your files, you have to make sure they work on all the different browsers (ie now all tags work on all browsers - it is about competition- not sure what will happen now that Netscape is no longer supported, a sad day indeed, sigh!) and then you need a good program to upload them tho some programs provide a way to upload files online. I prefer WS_FTP which is used by many programmers. It is an oldie but goodie.

Just type in WS_FTP to find it.

That's all I can think of for now.

Good luck!!!
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Last edited by CyberKitten; March 14th, 2008 at 07:48 PM.
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Old March 14th, 2008, 07:47 PM
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CyberKitten CyberKitten is offline
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Here sis the Laura Lemay book - it has almost everything - except some of the changes like css protocols that are used so often now.
http://docs.rinet.ru/PublicPauk/

WS_FTP is found here: http://www.ipswitch.com/
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Last edited by CyberKitten; March 14th, 2008 at 07:49 PM.
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