-=PCTechTalk=- Re: Web site building 101?
- From: "Anitra" <anitra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 12:23:20 -0800
I'm here. I'm not dead in the water, but slowly picking my
way.
The easy part: The file is backed up to a stick AND your
email is, as well :)
Next: I do understand the "middle man" in web hosting,
as you explained it. I'll be working on finding one. I
could not possibly host from this aging machine in front
of me ;) Maybe my ISP plan includes web hosting - I
have to ask them. I don't get billed since this is a trade
for tower space, and I can't remember more than five
years of free internet.. is it called wi-fi.. I think? Maybe.
I have all my images. Earthlink (Trellix) did not provide
anything that I used, just the templates, and I didn't like the
restrictions of them.
My site is small, simple and *very* non-commercial.
I do not have Frontpage. Yesterday and today I have found
and downloaded a couple of programs that may or may not
be similar. Alleycode and Nvu. I opened the both and felt
vaguely faint ;) I'm as bad as a man when it comes to
reading instructions :D But will get to it.
About learning HTML from scratch: Yes, I could do that,
and I'm familiar with seeing it. My downfall is bad typing.
My pride, and current lack of money (and having no real
*need* for a web site) prohibits me from giving this project
away to a pro - and I do like learning new things.
So, in closing - for now.. - I just have to get into the soft-
ware and see if it's what I think it is. Then I'll get back here
with what I learned and what I did not yet. Thank you so
much for hanging in there with me!
Anitra in Pioneertown, California
----- Original Message -----
From: "GMan" <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 8:33 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: Web site building 101?
> 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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