Building a web-site?

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Building a web-site?

Postby dtpitts » Tue Jan 17, 2012 11:19 am

Does anybody have any suggestions for where to get started on building a web-site? In searching the web, it can quickly become over-whelming. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Teresa
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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby VernonRobinson » Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:55 pm

Teresa,
What type of site are you looking to build? Have you selected a host? A lot of them have templates that you can use to build your site. I would recommend the template approach especially if you do not have great skills in HTML, Flash, and the like. You can find a good looking template, fill in your content, send it to the hosting company and you are on the web. In order to help further a few more details are required. This would include how much time do you want to spend in maintenance? Is it primarily a static info site or will you be dynamically changing content? Do you require an e-Commerce solution? There are a lot of questions, but as in a lot of things in life....it depends.

-Vernon

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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby Bart_B » Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:36 pm

Teresa,

I am no web site pro by any definition but awhile ago I made the decision to create my own. I do not have tons of time to research out all the alternatives, nor do I have an interest in spending countless hours figuring out who can do what and who does it the other way and what all the possibilities are. So for nine bucks a month plus the cost of a domain name with no cost to me until I took the website live I signed up with http://www.weebly.com and so far have created two websites. Go take a look.

http://www.designsforlivingbylee.com

and my personal business webpage

http://www.bbusick.com

They offer great templates, very easy to use, very intuitive. They offer you the capability of making fairly simple websites which are very clean and look great. They don't offer the capability of creating really complicated, sophisticated pages. I have been delighted. So take a look at what I've done, it'll give you an idea of what can happen.

If you have questions feel free to ask away, glad to help if I can.

Bart

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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby jskintauy » Tue Jan 17, 2012 7:07 pm

If you wish to build your own I have some suggestions. There are many good hosts. I am using Hostgator, but many do very well (Go Daddy, 1&1, Ipage, others)
You should consider what software to use, have a basic knowledgel of HTML and CSS and patience.
See the following site for free tutorials
http://www.w3schools.com
You don't have to be an expert! Go through the basic tutorials then start doing it. Don't outthink yourself, there is so much help available on the Internet.
Next get an HTML editor that gives you auto-complete. I decided on Microsoft Expressions Web for its obvious power and great price. Coffee Cup Software makes a wonderful HTML editor you could consider. The industry standard for professional developers is Adobe Dreamweaver, but it is very expensive.

The advantage of doing your own is you learn how to do your own changes and have flexibility.You can do more complex pages and create a customized layout.

There are several disadvantages. It is more expensive upfront than using pre-built templates (html editor costs a small amount) and takes more time / effort to learn.
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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby Tonel » Wed Jan 18, 2012 1:34 am

Teresa

As Vernon said, what type of site are you looking to build and how much time do you want to spend on maintenance? There's also the question of how much time you want to spend learning html, css, php, etc., etc.

To dip your toes in the water I suggest that you try both of the following free website building sites.

http://www.drupalgardens.com/

http://wordpress.com/ (Primarily for building a blog site.) (Site blacked out 18 Jan 2012 in protest at legislation.)

They each provide free hosting space (the amount differs) with on-line help and support. IMO They are an excellent way to get started and progress. You're likely to want to stay with whichever one you finally choose. The main advantage of using them is that they take care of the maintenance side freeing you to concentrate on content and presentation. You do everything on-line and don't need any web building applications on your computer. You will need to get into html and css but can do it gradually as the need arises. You can easily create a website without knowing anything about coding.

Just register with both and build say a two page site (so you have a menu) with some images per page and a small photo gallery. You'll be able to compare how you and they cope with doing it.

There are others but I'm with both of these. I've almost filled up all my free space (39% 0f my 50MB) on Drupal Gardens (you can see how much content this is at http://jtp.drupalgardens.com/) so I need to decide if I want to pay for additional space to grow that site.

Tony
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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby dtpitts » Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:15 am

Wow, thanks so much! What I am trying to do is help my son build a site for his current landscaping business. He will have photos, and a blog. I have always wanted to build myself a website for family photos ( and montages of course), but for now I will direct my time to helping him with this project. We are working on the content of the site now. With the relpies, I will start taking a look at all that was suggested, just wanted to say thank you for helping me figure this all out. I will post again when I have gone through the sites suggested, I am very sure I will have more questions. Thanks for being so helpful!

Have a great day!
Teresa
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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby MG - Admin » Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:35 am

Teresa:

If your son wants to include a blog I would recommend Wordpress. It is very easy to set up, and there are a ton of templates, both free and for a fee, that will allow him to create a web presence that has a unique look to it without the hassles of trying to create it from scratch. He can make it look like a normal business site, or he can make it more like a blog with business info, or something in between. His imagination is the only limit.

Mike

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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby AMD » Wed Jan 18, 2012 11:41 am

Teresa,

I agree with Mike. I have two blogs with WordPress and they were really easy to set up.

Ann

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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby jskintauy » Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:32 pm

Hi Teresa,

I am starting to develop websites for other (not offering service here, plenty to do...) and I tend to agree with other posters about Wordpress. With some learning and effort you can customize these as much as a custom made website. It's just a different way of accomplishing a similar goal and it is easier to get started. Further, you may be completely satisfied with what you can do with Wordpress without any serious customization.

Good luck with this.

The best additional advice I can give is to not be intimidated by this at all. If you can make nice slideshows with Proshow you can build your own website in a short time through any method you find practical. It's not that hard. If it were, I would have had alot harder time!

Jim
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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby Anna J » Sat Jan 28, 2012 6:08 am

Teresa,
I use this software http://www.serif.com/webplus/ recommended by a Forum member and it's very easy to use. They offer templates but it's super easy to design your own with this software. You don't have to know any coding at all. They also have a very helpful forum. My son recently found version 4 at Office Depot for $14.95 but I think you can even download a free (older) version from their site. Amazon has it too.

Here are a few I've built...which may or may not be up-to-date :D
http://www.tennesseestaging.com
http://www.bizeeboy.com
http://www.734albar.com

This software easily incorporates Producer shows you've uploaded to YouTube (http://www.734albar.com/bellevuetn.html)
Or you can insert Producer shows as flash shows also.

I host some sites with GoDaddy and some with Host Gator.
Anna

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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby Merlin_AZ » Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:07 am

I use Xara Web Designer, which is very nice and inexpensive.
http://www.xara.com/us/products/webdesigner/
It comes with a lot of templates that are drag-and-drop easy, and works very nice.

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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Feb 04, 2012 1:43 pm

I use the same software as Anna (and am the culprit in recommending it to her), but after having just now looked at Xara Web Designer, I'm thinking it's just as easy to use, and the price is certainly right!

However, Wordpress is a super way to go. You can start out with a free site hosted at Wordpress.com, and as time goes on, you can always go for a "real" site. You may find you never have to go the more expensive route, particularly if nothing will be sold on the site and if it's simply used for both advertising and information.

Bart, you're paying too much. My site costs under a hundred a year at my current host (A2 Hosting), and it was about the same when I was with GoDaddy.

Barbara
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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby Bart_B » Sat Feb 04, 2012 2:10 pm

BarbaraC wrote:Bart, you're paying too much. My site costs under a hundred a year at my current host (A2 Hosting), and it was about the same when I was with GoDaddy.


For a buck a month difference, I'm thinking I'll stay put. But, what I am discovering is that I'm having problems with Google searches finding these websites. Keywords all over the place, SEO has been done and to the best of my knowledge I've done about everything I should be doing. I am now left thinking that who I am using has Dynamic IP address rather than a static IP address. Somehow someway a Dynamic IP address changes all the time confusing search engines searches. So if I figure out that is indeed the case, for a dollar a month I will be changing.

Bart

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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby Merlin_AZ » Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:07 pm

Barbara, if you (or anyone else) decides to try Xara, these might help if you run into trouble.
http://www.talkgraphics.com/forumdispla ... esign-chat
http://board.xara-users.info/viewforum.php?f=8

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Re: Building a web-site?

Postby BarbaraC » Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:19 pm

Bart, I shouldn't think it would make sense of a web server to have a dynamic IP address. My ISP uses them for its customers, but I'll bet their mail servers are static along with the servers that have allotted space for customers.

Barbara
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