Hi Folks - decided that I'd like a website to post photos, ideas, etc.

Haven't the foggiest about this branch of computing, so would welcome ideas FOR A BEGINNER on this topic.

As inexpensive as possible, please.

Oh, and thanks Jamie for your help.

Most email (SP) providers let you have a bit of room for a website which would probably enough for you, if you only want to put up pics etc

For example I am on freeserve at home and I understand that they would let me have a bit of space for a website if I wanted

That being the case you would have to go to the home page of your ISP (AOL or BTinternet or whoever) and search around on the page for a link or a reference to them hosting your website.

That is the easy part, and it is usually free with the fees you are already paying. Then you have to find some software to load it all up.

A total amateur can use something like Microsoft Front Page

Otherwise if you dont mind someone else's display formats, I once had a great site for photos of forum members, on another forum, with a company called Tripod.

That was also free and you load it all up according to one of their preset templates.

I expect they are still around, Google for them

HTH

Thanks L - apart from needing general guidance - does anyone have experience with 1and1, or can anyone recommend any other inexpensive 'host' providers?

I asked 1and1 some technical questions regarding moving my domain to them and they never got back to me.

It would be good to have at least a basic knowledge at HTML. HTML isn't really very difficult to learn, and it would help if you need to start tweaking the layout.

I also wouldn't recommend Frontpage, Dreamweaver is much better.

Or if you are ok at basic word processing, design your webpage just like you are designing on a piece of paper. Microsoft Word lets you save the results as HTML.

Or, if you don't have Microsoft Office, download OpenOffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org). It is a very good Office package and is completely free.

I hate to say it, but Microsoft Publisher is still the best program for newbies. Don't delve straight into a program like Dreamweaver, it's much too complex.

If you need any more help and advice on design and software, let me know, I'm a web designer by trade.

Originally posted by alchresearch
I hate to say it, but Microsoft Publisher is still the best program for newbies. Don't delve straight into a program like Dreamweaver, it's much too complex.


Front page surely?

I really detest dreamweaver :P

(Check my Sig for my site :))

Originally posted by Sidla
I also wouldn't recommend Frontpage, Dreamweaver is much better. Dreamweaver costs £360. It is aimed at professionals with the time to learn to use it properly so even if you have no qualms about using a pirate copy it's not the right tool to start out with.

If you are starting from a base of no knowledge you have 2 choices.

1> If you want to get to grips with the underlying code and try to learn all about it so you will eventually be able to do clever stuff get a decent program that lets you do that.
There are plenty of free or shareware products like FirstPage 2000 http://www.evrsoft.com/ or ACE HTML from http://www.visicommedia.com/ (they are quite keen to move you from free to paid version).

2> If you just want to get your stuff on-line and don't really care too much about finding out about HTML, XML, CSS, PHP etc... then
just use the "save as HTML" function found in a lot of office-suite or DTP products (even the cheap/free ones) - they usually generate horrible underlying code but that's OK (as long as you don't look at it!) the pages "work".

1and1 hosting - looks a bit expensive, the basic stuff for £2 a month looks less good than the free space you get with most ISPs (or go somewhere like http://www.tripod.lycos.co.uk/if you don't get any). If you want PHP and MySQL, 1and1 want £9 per month.
However I am making the massive mistake of just looking at the price - of course a paid service is likely to be more reliable, offer better levels of support etc. The free/cheap solutions are fine for messing around and trying things out.

My recommendation ....

Create ur site with Dreamweaver ...
Dreamweaver is great ... nice user interface and you don't need knowledge of HTML coding etc.

Puschase your domain name direct from that godaddy link I sent you.

You'll be able to direct your domain name to your current ISP provided webspace ... we have the same ISP by the way and I'm sure they provide you with ad-free web-space.

You'll also be able to set up email *@carlwarler.com etc ...

The main bulk of the work (above) is creating your web-site ...

my advice

get easyHTML it is FREE and in my personal opinion is a helluva lot better than dreamweaver.
I went from not knowing how to insert a url into a post to creating a 30+ page website in 48 hours.

Toniarts (http://www.toniarts.com)

You could always start out by having a msn community - they are free require minmal html programming and have lots of tools and photo albums and such.
There are lots of free webspace packages out there most with pop ups - bravenet do a good one.

Moon

Thank YOU - all you helpful guys and gals - for rallying to my need. With all the different hints and suggestions offered - You have given me much to think about - Much appreciated. :lol:

My 2 penneth

Learn a bit of html, it will always come in handy if you need to do a bit of tweaking as Sidla says.

There are plenty of sites out there,
Lissa Explains it all (http://www.lissaexplains.com/) is very good for a complete beginner and Html Goodies (http://www.htmlgoodies.com/) once you get the jist of things.

I tried using some web authoring progs including Dreamweaver but I always go back to note pad as I find it gives you more freedom when creating a web page.

PS when your site is up get yourself a guest book so we can all sign it ;)

Dreamweaver is much too complex for a new user. There are far too many buttons and options and features that need to be set before you can start.

Frontpage (NOT Publisher as I mistakenly said earlier!) is much easier because it has the same layout and interface as Microsoft Word, which most people have used.

Our school has replaced Frontpage with Dreamweaver and the kids are finding it tough going.

Thanks A - and I do have a copy of Frontpage - and am familiar with MS Word and MS Publisher.

You can download a free trial of Dreamweaver here (http://www.macromedia.com/downloads/?promoid=home_short_trial_082403)

Does anyone have a copy of WebActive#5 - there's an article on web-building that I'd like a copy of?

I tried the back-issues dept, but that one is unavailable.

Please e-mail or PM me if you have.

Originally posted by alchresearch
Dreamweaver is much too complex for a new user. There are far too many buttons and options and features that need to be set before you can start.

Frontpage (NOT Publisher as I mistakenly said earlier!) is much easier because it has the same layout and interface as Microsoft Word, which most people have used.

Our school has replaced Frontpage with Dreamweaver and the kids are finding it tough going.

Get Dreamweaver. Get "Visual Kickstart Guide to Dremweaver". Get Dreamweaving. It's great. Frontpage is nice and quick but kludgy.

CarlWarker, if you have a domain name in mind, then I can roll up the whole thing into a hosting package for you for £00.00 (if you like). You get full control and my telephone number for when things go belly up!

A good place for free webspace is http://www.freewebs.com . You get 50mb for free with no pop ups.