How to build a WEB site

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dermot
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Dermot

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First of all let me thank everyone who contributes on this forum…..everyone gets a pat on the back….but I would like to give Mike an even bigger pat on the back….his input and patients with us is commendable.

I’m very impressed with what Ron is doing and it has prompted me while I have a little time on my hands to attempt to develop a small web site……..

I’m more concerned with simplicity and up keep, than the up front expense of getting the site off the ground…..its the on going maintained and development which concerns me more…..I’m of the school of thought that the updating of a web site should be an in house job just the same as an advertising/promotion program should for the most part be an in house program….

For those of you with XP Publisher……I found this nice guide to creating a website from Leeds University http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk:8082/lco/publications/pdf/it/qg-43.pdf

Any comments on using XP Publisher for a web site development.

I have XP Publisher and I also think I have Front Page at least that’s what’s on the packaging, what are the advantages and disadvantages of both or they more or less the same….

I’m making some progress with a site I need with XP publisher and it seems to work pretty well….though has anyone got any idea what will happen when I try to up load to my IP provider using XP Publisher….and as the site develops will XP Publisher cause me problems!!!!!

Asides from my IP provider I think I can get a dedicated host company form about €12.75 + 21% Tax per month….at least the tax element for a business is an offset tax against sales….

Any comments greatly appreciated..

Rgs

D
 
Dermot, can I assume you're talking about Microsoft Publisher?

The web hosts I've used allow you to use an internal editor with templates to quickly develop a simple site. My current host, iPowerWeb, has an editor that toggles between WYSIWYG and HTML mode. The WYSIWYG mode appears to be pretty limited, but makes it convenient to type in text and do simple formatting. It's also very easy to add pages, change the order and rename the pages as needed.

In the HTML mode you can have some fun, although this host doesn't appear to support all the tags. For anything beyond basic, I open the page I want to edit in FrontPage. That's not everyones favorite web editor, but it's very powerful and not difficult to use (at least the way I use it.)

I would also have the option to develop the site from scratch in FrontPage and upload it to my host. If I become disenchanted with the "template-look", that's what I'll do.

I've had limited experience using Publisher with web pages, but it appears to be pretty straight forward. Our PPFA chapter newsletter is developed in Publisher and it would make sense to also use Publisher to make an on-line version of the same newsletter. We'd still ave the option to use FrontPage or another editor to fine-tune it.

BTW, iPowerWeb charges about $95/year for hosting a site with more capacity and bandwidth than I'll ever need and they include the domain registration in that price. I am trying them because of economy, simplicity and fairly high ratings for reliability. I wouldn't call this an endorsement at this point, since I've only been using them for a couple of weeks.

For some folks, it might make sense to think of web-development the same way we look at our accounting procedures. Have a professional set up the system and then take responsibility ourselves for day-to-day maintenance. One of my personal pet-peeves is websites that are updated about every two years - especially when they have time-sensitive information.

I've reached the point where I'm making only minor changes each day. My next major change is a more ambitious feature than I've incorporated and I'm stalling.
 
Hi Dermot

Congratulations on this big step. The web has been our best draw for new customers, and yet the cheapest one. (less than $5/month, including tax) We find that many folks go online and search for the item they want to frame, and pick a framer based on what comes up. ex: "sport jersey framing" or "ri picture framer"

I'm not familiar with XP Publisher, but FrontPage is certainly a very popular webdesign program.

Once you generate your HTML files, you can either upload them to the server with the edit program -or- any standard FTP program. (cuteftp, flashfxp, etc) Many of these are shareware.

Your files are stored on an ISP (internet service provider) server, which is rented space. You assign your new domain to their server, and your files will be displayed when someone types it into their browser. Most ISPs offer web hosting, dedicated webhosting, and reseller webhosting programs. The cheaper of the 3 should suffice, as long as you can use your own domain.

The domain itself remains your property and costs about $6/year to maintain, through a registrar of your choice (www.tucows.com, www.godaddy.com, www.netsol.com, www.hostway.com, etc)

After its all set up and running, you have to build links to other related sites within the industry and get it submitted to the various search engines. (Google, Yahoo, MSN, DMOZ, etc) Unless you're willing to pay hundreds to submit to each, it may take a while before they get around to listing you. (up to 6 months) Search engines also offer optional "paid placement" where you can pay to be listed as a sponsor - near the top of the listings. You pay a flat fee for each click, and bid on the ranking. (ex: 50 cents) I have never paid a dime for any of my sites and they're all pretty well listed within their respective industries - so it's possible.

You'll want to make sure the content reflects your target keywords in the title of each page on your site, in the body of each page, and the invisible meta tags.

John Ranes is THE expert in this field, and offered a class at the recent Atlanta show. Hopefully he will join in with some better suggestions.

Let us know when it's ready, so we can visit!

Mike
 
Yes Ron Microsoft Publisher......this is all new for me....

I’m with you on the account bit….and intend to have a professional Rosaleen my super back up for most computer problems I have had, she has published a few web sits for people I know……..

Example www.glenroefarm.com I see this site was changed from the last time I looked, Lucy and Ivan were on it with the Easter Bunny and I was Santa Claus……

I just need to give her the bones of what I’m trying to do so that it wont be to complex for me to keep up to date …..I’m getting there…I’m more concerned about forward going issues than getting it up and running…..
 
Dermot,

This is a little ahead of where you are at this point, but when you finally decide on what company will host your site, (and there are thousands!!!), consider that a few will automatically renew your domain name each time so you’re not stuck with forking over $20 or $60 a year every year. There is a nifty host search site if you’re interested.

I’m not necessarily plugging One-on-One Internet (my host) but they not only renew it but renew it for free as long as I host through them.

Since this is, after all, the World Wide Web, the geographical location of your host won’t matter a whit as long as they have a reliable source of electricity (Namibia or Guam should probably be excluded). So don’t necessarily require your host to be in Ireland or the U.K. or America. Australia has some pretty good deals I have heard.
 
Oh, yeah, I forgot.

Some other resources you may wish to explore are

http://webdesign.about.com/ and http://www.webreference.com/

Most of the articles are written for dummies like me and are very easy to understand although the sheer quantity of them may seem overwhelming.
 
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