This blog is about solutions to website problems, but, before you have solutions to problems, you really must have a website. So, how do you go about getting a website when you know absolutely nothing about them?
Help is at hand for the completely uninitiated.
First of all, there are many ways of getting a website, free, already designed and just waiting for you to complete a few formalities. Try googling "website, free" and the first few results will show you that weebly, webs and google feature prominently. They will give you a flavour of drag-and-drop methods, but will leave you with a website that is a sub-set of their "bigger" scheme of things and rather basic and simple. In other words, you're not totally in control of what you're designing. Which brings us to the question "How do I make a simple but fully controllable website - something that has my choice of layout, colours and content?"
To get this sort of control we'll look at the requirements for building a website.
1. You'll need a website domain name
2. You'll need to register it
3. You'll need a host for it
4. You'll need someway of putting it up there on the "Web"
5. And, you'll need some way of paying for it as these things are not free
My website name is www.robertdingwall.com. I was lucky that my name was available. Try searching for a website with your name - type www.yourname.com in the address bar of your browser. If you find a website, you're out of luck, but if you get something like this
you're in luck, especially if your name is gooble-de-gook! This means no one is using that name at the moment. You might find that someone has already registered the name and wants some money for its use. Unless you're really keen on using that domain name, try something else as these businesses that register popular names are just there to take your money.
My web host (1&1) provides a service, as do most, to find out what website domain names are available - click here 1&1 website search and type in the name you want for your website domain. If it's available, you'll be given several options - you'll probably be offered a selection of website domain names ending with .net, .co.uk, .org, .eu etc and if you accept them all you'll make sure that no-one else uses a name that is very similar to your own. To do this will cost more, but I don't really think it's necessary.
After you've registered you website domain name, you'll need a hosting package. This is normally done through the company that you've just used to make the registration. There will be a variety of options, the simplest probably being the best to get started. If needed, you can upgrade to a bigger option later. Some of the options will be for businesses and, unless you want to run a business from your website, you won't need that level of sophistication. It takes about one day or less for your website domain to be registered in your name.
Now, your web domain is registered and you have a hosting package, you'll need someway of editing your website pages and loading them onto your domain. The hosting company will probably offers a method of up-loading your pages and content like photographs, but you might want something a bit more sophisticated and buy an editor like Komodo Edit and a FTP client like Transmit - which I use. BUT, there are many options available, lots of them free. If you have any questions about this - feel free to post a query here.
And last, but not least, paying for all this. A credit or debit card is normal, but when my wife and I lived in China and had neither of these my wife and I turned up at a Hong Kong hosting company's office and convinced them that cash would be OK, given our circumstances at the time! They very kindly obliged and I used them for over 7 years until we moved back to the UK to live! I can't imagine that happening now.
Any questions? Post them here.....
Next up will be a brief, simple description of what HTML and CSS are - note, I said simple as these topics can become very complex. If you follow my guidelines, hopefully, you'll not end up wallowing in the mire. There are many very expensive books published on HTML and CSS, but there are also very many free options available on the internet - I'll point you towards them when necessary.
Help is at hand for the completely uninitiated.
First of all, there are many ways of getting a website, free, already designed and just waiting for you to complete a few formalities. Try googling "website, free" and the first few results will show you that weebly, webs and google feature prominently. They will give you a flavour of drag-and-drop methods, but will leave you with a website that is a sub-set of their "bigger" scheme of things and rather basic and simple. In other words, you're not totally in control of what you're designing. Which brings us to the question "How do I make a simple but fully controllable website - something that has my choice of layout, colours and content?"
To get this sort of control we'll look at the requirements for building a website.
1. You'll need a website domain name
2. You'll need to register it
3. You'll need a host for it
4. You'll need someway of putting it up there on the "Web"
5. And, you'll need some way of paying for it as these things are not free
My website name is www.robertdingwall.com. I was lucky that my name was available. Try searching for a website with your name - type www.yourname.com in the address bar of your browser. If you find a website, you're out of luck, but if you get something like this
Sorry, the website www.gooble-de-gook.com cannot be found
you're in luck, especially if your name is gooble-de-gook! This means no one is using that name at the moment. You might find that someone has already registered the name and wants some money for its use. Unless you're really keen on using that domain name, try something else as these businesses that register popular names are just there to take your money.
My web host (1&1) provides a service, as do most, to find out what website domain names are available - click here 1&1 website search and type in the name you want for your website domain. If it's available, you'll be given several options - you'll probably be offered a selection of website domain names ending with .net, .co.uk, .org, .eu etc and if you accept them all you'll make sure that no-one else uses a name that is very similar to your own. To do this will cost more, but I don't really think it's necessary.
After you've registered you website domain name, you'll need a hosting package. This is normally done through the company that you've just used to make the registration. There will be a variety of options, the simplest probably being the best to get started. If needed, you can upgrade to a bigger option later. Some of the options will be for businesses and, unless you want to run a business from your website, you won't need that level of sophistication. It takes about one day or less for your website domain to be registered in your name.
Now, your web domain is registered and you have a hosting package, you'll need someway of editing your website pages and loading them onto your domain. The hosting company will probably offers a method of up-loading your pages and content like photographs, but you might want something a bit more sophisticated and buy an editor like Komodo Edit and a FTP client like Transmit - which I use. BUT, there are many options available, lots of them free. If you have any questions about this - feel free to post a query here.
And last, but not least, paying for all this. A credit or debit card is normal, but when my wife and I lived in China and had neither of these my wife and I turned up at a Hong Kong hosting company's office and convinced them that cash would be OK, given our circumstances at the time! They very kindly obliged and I used them for over 7 years until we moved back to the UK to live! I can't imagine that happening now.
Any questions? Post them here.....
Next up will be a brief, simple description of what HTML and CSS are - note, I said simple as these topics can become very complex. If you follow my guidelines, hopefully, you'll not end up wallowing in the mire. There are many very expensive books published on HTML and CSS, but there are also very many free options available on the internet - I'll point you towards them when necessary.
