Setting up a web page.

[Mychael]

Not a Win7 specific question but I was thinking I'd like to have a go at creating a web page but never done one before.
Can anyone give me some advice to get me started?

Basically it would be about the story of my Triumph sportscars with photo's & video clips and text. Maybe some hyperlinks to other usefull/relevent sites.

 

[draceena]

Firstly, you will need somewhere for your web site to be hosted. There are hundreds of sites out there that are Free to use (usually they place adds in your page) or Paid hosting.

Maybe have a look @ Webs : http://www.webs.com/ *I have not used this company myself* They do have Templates where the bulk of the page is designed for you and you just have to fill in the blanks so to speak.

 

[roban]

What program should you design in. There are gazillions to choose from and I use several depending on the type of site I want to design. All have their limitations but I'll suggest Dreamweaver to start with as it has an intuitive interface and a small-ish learning curve.

Another type of site would be the kind you design using the Internet and most hosting companies have programs such as Simple Scripts that allow you to set up a site quickly and log into an Administration panel where you can edit and design quite easily using a WYSIWYG editor.

If you're using the latter type of site you'll already have signed on with a host so there's nothing to do but if you're using an off line editor you will need some place to upload your files to. A free host can come with baggage you won't necessarily be happy with and if you're serious about your site you may want to move your site to a paid host down the road. There are so many out there that it is not an easy choice and when you find one that you are happy with stick with them. I use Bluehost for my sites and my client's sites. The minimum you'll pay is $107.40 a year and domain names are free to start and $10.00 a year thereafter.

Choosing a domain name is arguably the single most important decision you make at this point. It should be descriptive of your site and short enough so people going to your site do not have to type a small novel and, of course it must be available.

 

[Mychael]

So if I used Dreamweaver can I create a lot of the content offline and save it on the pc then do a single upload or is it something I have to work on online all the time?

 

[Ian]

If you want to dabble for free (i.e. hosting and sub-domain) you can always give Google Sites a shot - it gives you a WYSIWYG editor and some basic templates that you can customise to create your own site:

http://sites.google.com/

It's quite good for a freebie!

 

[roban]

You can create all of your content off line and upload to your server. Dreamweaver also has a site option that will upload your files using the FTP protocol.

A word about images. When you add an image to your site Dreamweaver will add the path to your image so make sure that this path is the same on line. For instance if your images are in a folder called 'images' on your computer you must have the same folder on line or your images will not show up.

 

[etalmar]

Hello Mychael, You'll most likely receive a wide variety of opinions about how to approach building a personal web site, so I'll throw my three cents in as well.

First, insofar as purchasing a domain name, Go Daddy is one of the least expensive and most reliable services available. You can also use their Hosting Services directly through their site as well, which makes it very convenient. You can create virtually all of your site content offline, then upload it all at once.

Second, regardless of which hosting service you go with, try not to overkill with Flash content and other bandwidth consuming files like video clips. It has been my experience that once most people learn how to work with Dreamweaver and start creating web pages, they tend to put too much on one page, which makes their site load very slowly and appear cluttered looking in terms of visual appeal, which serves to annoy and frustrate their visitors. Always keep in mind that not everyone has a fast laptop or desktop that can easily download everything on your page within four or five seconds. If you try to keep your Flash content and media files to a moderate amount, more people will enjoy their time spent visiting your site!

Also, whenever possible, always use an FTP client to upload your images and HTML files. FTP is a real time saver and you can easily compare file content to ensure that it matches. A very good (and free) FTP client is Core FTP LE.

Have fun creating your site!

 

[draceena]

You might also want to look into a Blog rather than a Website. Wordpress ( http://wordpress.com/ ) is a great place to start and if you have the free Windows Live Writer, it can link directly to your Wordpress Blog making the work even easier as you can design "offline" and then post when you are ready.

For example, here is my Origami Blog: http://draceena.wordpress.com/ and I've Linked in my Flicker Photos as well as have Links to other similar Blogs and Websites on Origami.

 

[Mychael]

Hey, I like the idea of a blog. Never considered it till you suggested it. Might suit me as a beginner much better.

 

[Core]

A word about images. When you add an image to your site Dreamweaver will add the path to your image so make sure that this path is the same on line. For instance if your images are in a folder called 'images' on your computer you must have the same folder on line or your images will not show up.

I haven't found this to be a problem, since in the site settings (in Dreamweaver) you can define a default image directory, and anytime you add an image you get asked to save it there, if memory serves. Dreamweaver is really good about tracking links. It automatically converts them to online links. I wouldn't use relative links, though.

 

[roban]

I have to say that I prefer to design in css or php. I use Dreamweaver sparingly.