-=PCTechTalk=- Re: Web site building 101?
- From: GMan <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2008 23:33:50 -0500
Anitra,
First of all, I know that this reply is going to be a bit long-winded.
I'm trying to give you a lot of info in a short amount of time so that you
have all you need for the decisions you'll soon be making. Remember that
you're not going into this all alone, as I and the rest of the website
creating fools here will be able to provide you with whatever info you need
at almost any time, night & day (someone's always awake somewhere, right?).
The best thing I'm hearing is that all of the content is there. That
would be the stuff that's impossible to recreate, especially since access to
your old site at Earthlink is no longer available. So, now we come to the
place where you choose between your options for recreating the site. Before
you even consider any of the options, I will STRONGLY suggest that you
locate that Word document and make a copy of it. This will largely
eliminate the chance of losing the content from file corruption. Save that
copy to somewhere other than your hard drive and it'll protect it from the
possibility of a hard drive crash, as well. I don't mean to sound like a
worry wart (that may just be a local saying), but I always feel safer about
my most important files when I know they're safely backed up somewhere.
Now, in order to post a site to a non-templatized (yeah, I made up that
word, but it makes sense) location such as your own domain, there are
several things you'll need. First, you'll need a web host. A web host is a
company that will supply the actual server space you'll use to hold all of
the files that make up your site. When someone types in the address or
clicks on a link to a page on your site, that request immediately goes to a
DNS server that will look up the actual location of that requested page.
The DNS server will then forward the request to the web host server above
and then that server will 'serve up' the requested page to that person. In
other words, the DNS server operates as a sort of traffic cop in that it
tells our browser requests that http://www.anitra.com can be found at
http://wwwmywebhost.com and that http://wwwmywebhost.com 's real internet
address is 123.456.78.90. This is how almost all web traffic is routed
about the internet. The host you choose should take care of setting up the
DNS routing for you (they will inform the powers that be that your domain
leads requests directly to your rented space on their server). It's also
not expensive at all to have a host store & serve the files for you, but
shop and ask around for recommendations.
Of course, you could download web hosting software and try to set up
your own server, but your site would only be available when the server and
this software was actually running. It's not something I would suggest that
someone run on their main system, because web traffic will require a bit of
the computer's system resources. I'll further add that it's not a simple
matter to set up any kind of server. Unless it's a private server with
username/password access, you're definitely going to have to keep up on any
and all security issues to keep the crackers from breaking into the site.
Adding security software to protect the site will also cause a performance
hit on a typical home server. If it sounds like I'm trying to steer you
away from this idea, you're right. In most cases, it's much cheaper and
less frustrating to let professionals with LOTS of equipment do the hosting
for you.
Another thing you'll need is to have all of your eventual page elements
available to you as individual files. That means every image that you want
to include on your site needs to be an individual file on your hard drive.
Most likely, the template server at Earthlink provided you with numerous
images that you could use in the making of your site there. Unfortunately,
their use was provided for as long as you were using that template and
letting Earthlink host the page(s). Since they are most likely copyrighted
by Earthlink, you are not permitted to use them anywhere else. This means
that you now have the opportunity to redesign the site using more unique
images. There are lots of places that will provide you with 'royalty free'
images that you can use &/or you can make your own. As needed, I will be
happy to guide you to some excellent software that will allow you to create
whatever you might need (banners, buttons, image maps, etc.). There are
also lots of software that will let you incorporate other elements (using
various types of scripts like JavaScript, java, etc) into your site, but
that's probably more than you need to think about right now. Just remember
that getting started and completing a site is not difficult at all. And,
you can always expand your horizons (and your site) if you should ever
choose to go that route.
Now, onto some of your options:
1. Since you have Word installed, do you also have FrontPage? FrontPage
is what's known as a WYSIWYG web site editor (See below * for a more
detailed description) with some pretty powerful abilities and it's offered
as part of certain older versions of MS Office 97, 2000 & XP. MS stopped
making FrontPage after OfficeXP, so it wouldn't be available if you've only
installed Office products newer than that. Even if you have upgraded from
one of the older to newer versions, it may still be available on your system
since the newer upgrades should not have removed the older FrontPage.
2. There are many freeware and open source WYSIWYG web site editors
available that can be downloaded and tested as you see fit.
3. I have numerous files that detail and explain how to write your own
HTML code and would be more than happy to share with you whatever you might
need/want (as copyrights allow, of course). Since you've recently found
yourself without as much work as before, you might consider learning to
'code by hand'. If you're intention is to develop anything resembling a
Major site (lots of traffic and worshipp, errrr, I mean interested viewers),
knowing how to control elements by directly editing the code (and being able
to scan other site's HTML code when looking for ideas) should become a
serious goal. Some WYSIWYG editors (including FrontPage) also have a
control that will switch your own work over to an 'HTML code' view where
you'll be able to learn this topic as you go.
4. You could also hand over a copy of your Word file to a web designer
type and have them do the work of converting it to the full site plus
support files that you'll need to make your new location work.
Above all, take your time and try out different things to see if it's
right for you. There are too many options available for you to 'settle'
with anything that almost does what you need it to do. If you're not sure
what else is available or if all of the stuff above is kind enough to bless
you with some questions, just give a lil' yodel. ;O)
* A WYSIWYG website editor allows you to work on web pages as you're
audience would see them. You can highlight and then use drag & drop to move
things around until you are happy with the arrangement of various page
elements, somewhat similar to the way you worked with Earthlink's site
creation templates. Except that you'll have even more control over what
goes where. Most WYSIWYG editors also include numerous Themes that you can
apply to every page of the entire site at once, regardless of how many pages
are involved. the primary difference between a WYSIWYG website editor and
those templates is that you'll be working on your site right there on your
hard drive, instead of through a web interface. This means you'll need to
upload your files to the new site when you're ready to 'publish' the site
again. I have often used this feature to upload partially finished sites
just so I could test how they look in different browsers. Many WYSIWYG
editors include an option to upload the site and some of those will allow
you to specify if it should include all files or just those that have
changed since the last time the site was uploaded. I'll also add that
working within one of these types of editors is a LOT of fun (and highly
educational). :O)
Peace,
GMan
http://reddit.com
"The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask!"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anitra" <anitra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 7:56 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: Web site building 101?
> All pages are copy/pasted together into *one* Word file,
> and saved. The full content is there minus the background.
>
> I'm beginning to feel optimistic! But it's still a riddle to
> me ;)
>
> Anitra ~
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