I own a domain name. Short of paying a small child to do it for me, how do I set up a website ? Let’s assume I have bought the hosting space from my domain name registrar.
I am not even in the slightest bit interested in learning HTML or any of that malarky, although if it’s absolutely necessary I will consider it. What am I saying ? No. Surely there’s a program I can use ?
And no, I can’t be arsed to wade through the thousands of pages of shite on Google. Maoman, maybe I should just ply you with drink one evening and squeeze it out of you. (Hey, it was fun the last time, and we didn’t get caug
Hexuan,
Who did you get the domain name from?
I’ve been trying to build a website over the past two days. I have no interest in learning HTML, so I’ve been playing with two different guided non-HTML systems; yahoo’s geocities and lycos (tripod). They offer free hosting but have those annoying ads. Should you change to an add-free site, the cost iis rather poor-value compared to other hosters.
My computer has been playing up so my website-building adventures have been hellish. I would rather just throw money at someone and have them build it for me.
Strangely enough, Microsoft Frontpage is reasonably easy to get the hang of and takes care of quite a few things for you. It can maintain internal and external links, and automatically update menus; stuff like that. There’s a tutorial site for it here; fgcu.edu/support/office2000/frontpage/
If you had a Frontpage site and subsequently wanted to edit it with another package or manually, though, I think it would be complicated as the program puts stuff in various folders and names it in non-obvious ways.
It takes care of your mail, it’s a browser, it has a built-in pop-up stopper, and it has a thingy called composer for building websites that is easier to use than MS Word. All the instructions are in English, it will display chinese characters if your computer can handle them, and there’s absolutely no need to use html.
But you can add code if you so wish.
Hexuan, I’ll give you a tutorial on the basics on my laptop at the bar of my choice and expect you to buy at least the first three drinks.
I second stragbasher’s suggestion. Netscape Composer is a decent alternative. You can also do a search for “WYSIWYG HTML editor” on google. I haven’t used one in ages, so I can’t give you any recommendations.
[quote=“hexuan”]I own a domain name. Short of paying a small child to do it for me, how do I set up a website ? Let’s assume I have bought the hosting space from my domain name registrar.
I am not even in the slightest bit interested in learning HTML or any of that malarky, although if it’s absolutely necessary I will consider it. What am I saying ? No. Surely there’s a program I can use ?
And no, I can’t be arsed to wade through the thousands of pages of shite on Google. Maoman, maybe I should just ply you with drink one evening and squeeze it out of you. (Hey, it was fun the last time, and we didn’t get caug[/quote]
I don’t know any HTML or anything like that either, and I’m not interested in learning. Like you, I got the domain name (hosted on doteasy), and then used a free template from blogger.com. My website was supposed to be a regular communication to the friends and family back home, but I got frustrated with my old template because I screwed up the archiving. Wasn’t until yesterday that I finally fixed the problem - the new templates are even easier to use… Let’s see now if I can actually post regularly.
I would like to add a few things to this website, but I don’t know how to do it. MapoSquid, if I plied you with drinks, maybe you could take a look? Hell, forget about websites - let’s just ply each other with drinks!
I’m using http://mywebpage.netscape.com, it provides 20Meg free space and works with a software called Webpage Designer which is dead-easy to use but of course has certain limitations in the tools & functionalities provided. But you can insert html-elements if you copy the code from somewhere else … Xpet.
In this case, I recommend NetObjects Fusion. You can download a trial version at their website. Simply follow the user guide and you’ll be able to make a nice website in a few days (or maybe a few weeks?). BTW, for most purposes there’s no need to use the latest version, NOF 7 bought cheaply on ebay will do (don’t forget to update, though). And don’t ever mess with the HTML code.
However, keep in mind that NOF was designed for fixed width layouts. If you want to do a “liquid” layout (adapts to the width of the browser window), NOF is less useful.
Another WYSIWYG editor is Actual Drawing from PY Soft. It is really really easy to use, you can get a free trial from http://www.actualdrawing.com/, you can type text or add graphics anywhere on the screen and the app will convert it all to html for you…
Only downside is registered version is USD59 so at that price you would almost be better off learning the basics of Frontpage (you don’t need to know html for that either).
If you don’t have Frontpage, then you can try CoffeeCup. This used to be freeware but is now shareware. You can always go to the Tucows website, CNET’s download pages or Google for more information on freeware HTML editors.
Netscape is a good suggestion. But, actually, all you need to make a website is already on your computer. You can just use Notepad, type the HTML code*, save it, change the extension of the file from “.txt” to “.html”, then you’re set.
*I know you didn’t want to learn HTML, but learning HTML isn’t difficult at all. It follows a system that doesn’t take long to learn (maybe an hour, if that, to develop a working understanding of its fundamentals).
If you use Notepad to create a website, you can have a lot of control over what you see on the site, which will give you a less cookie cutter virtual home for people to visit.
I second jwar’s suggestion. HTML is really easy, and you need a basic understanding of it to use automated tools. For automated tools, Netscape is a good free choice. These days I would go with the Composer component of Mozilla.
Lots of people like a commercial product called Dreamweaver, but this might be overkill.
I personally would advise against learning HTML. You can get frustrated rather quickly unless you have a lot of time to mess around with stuff and a patient friend. I first learned HTML about 6 years ago because I did a lot of web design back then and had time to experiment.
I’m looking at doing a web site now and gave Dreamweaver a test. It’s an amazing piece of software (except for the price) and makes it incredibly easy to make a very nice looking web site.
Makes jwar’s comments sound a bit silly, but the truth is that learning a bit of html is not hard - search on ‘html tutorial’ and see. Then go back to using composer!
I PM’ed you.