How do I go about altering website?

keigcf · 29 July 2010 at 10:48PM

:oHi, I bought a domain name a few years ago and got a website set up, by a friends husband. I have streamline hosting it, and I can log into their site... How do I however alter this website, it needs updating. I don't know anything about websites etc and said husband has left said friend

Lil306 · 29 July 2010 at 10:55PM

keigcf wrote: »

:oHi, I bought a domain name a few years ago and got a website set up, by a friends husband. I have streamline hosting it, and I can log into their site... How do I however alter this website, it needs updating. I don't know anything about websites etc and said husband has left said friend

When you're editing websites, normally you make the pages offline, then upload them to your webserver via FTP / File Manager that is normally in the website control panel options. Some control panels you can get are cPanel (Common), DirectAdmin, Helm, etc

To edit the pages locally on your machine you need a program capable of writing the code, this can be done with so-called WYSIWYG editors such as (Dreamweaver, Frontpage, CoffeeCup HTML Editor) or you can write the code into the site through simple text editors like Notepad and Notepad++ with the relevant knowledge.

If you're new to editing, considering googling for HTML tutorials for a bit of advice. An example of a SIMPLE basic HTML file would be as below, copy everything inside the box, and paste it into Notepad in the start menu (start, programs, accessories, notepad), then save the file as Index.html and when it's saved double click on it. You will then see what it looks like.

This is the basic principle of creating a file that you could upload to your website.

Also, if you want to understand how it's created, go to view - page source on this website. This is considered web code that was created in a WYSIWYG editor.

<html>
<body>
<h1> Sample HTML </h1>
<br>
<br>
<p> This is a simple HTML page, that can be uploaded to a webserver directory to show the user how webpages are created</p>
</body>
</html>

keigcf · 29 July 2010 at 11:24PM

I do remember the pages being uploaded... How do I find out thou the website to get into the control panel... Would it be the place where I got the domain name from? After looking at streamline I'm sure I didn't buy the name off them.. Next time I'll make sure I write these things down rather than go with a friend!:o
PS Have looked at website, as sometimes I've seen on sites " created by XXXx" so was hoping for a clue

Lil306 · 29 July 2010 at 11:37PM

keigcf wrote: »

I do remember the pages being uploaded... How do I find out thou the website to get into the control panel... Would it be the place where I got the domain name from? After looking at streamline I'm sure I didn't buy the name off them.. Next time I'll make sure I write these things down rather than go with a friend!:o
PS Have looked at website, as sometimes I've seen on sites " created by XXXx" so was hoping for a clue

What is the website address?

You can find out who is hosting it, by putting the address on the domain dossier section of http://centralops.net/co/

Normally where you buy the domain from, is the company who hosts your website (i.e Fasthosts, 1&1, Nominet, etc)

BTW, the "created by" is normally the web designer who created that specific webpage.

keigcf · 30 July 2010 at 8:45AM

www.churchhousefarm.net

I bought the site for mother in laws campsite, got it created so to speak to show her 4 years ago.
We now have built new toilet, shower and utility room, and I am trying to promote it... therefore want to use the website

(Tucow inc Registrar after looking on your link) It had everything about me on their!

magpiecottage · 30 July 2010 at 9:28AM

There are various books on building websites. I used the Haynes one.

Nvu is able to write a website for you and is free.

It is also normally possible to download the existing page, edit it in Nvu and then put the new one back in its place.

Your (web) site also lacks photos of your (camp) site - putting some in will make it far more attractive.

I recently organised a camping trip at the other end of Wales and chose this site on the basis of what its website showed me.

Without wanting to be rude, yours is not really telling me I want to go there.

23n1th · 30 July 2010 at 10:37AM

Try this site http://www.the-web-book.com/index.php it lets you download a free ebook/pdf thats explains most things you need to know.

Nvu is not developed anymore Kompozer took over from it in 2006 I think. Anyway personally I'd go for http://www.w3.org/Amaya/

Lil306 · 30 July 2010 at 10:42AM

keigcf wrote: »

www.churchhousefarm.net

I bought the site for mother in laws campsite, got it created so to speak to show her 4 years ago.
We now have built new toilet, shower and utility room, and I am trying to promote it... therefore want to use the website

(Tucow inc Registrar after looking on your link) It had everything about me on their!

OK,

Tucows are the ones who registered your domain details. Normally if you don't want your details on the web you contact them and ask to be Opted out of the registration data. I'm not 100% sure if it's still the same for businesses, but I should think it's OK and they merely put their own contact information in for that section

Your webhosting (where your website files reside) are on the servers of Streamline hosting. Streamline hosting have servers in the Fasthosts network, or use Fasthost servers (probably a reseller)

Now, to modify the files, the website is written in simple HTML, this means it's easy to modify...

To modify the design you are going to need to change 2 files, it's best to download the files from Streamline locally to your machine and modify them before you put them in a live environment incase anything is messed up.

You need to logon to your File Manager Control Panel (streamline) and download the files main.html, and a file to modify such as about.html

Right click on the main.html, open with - notepad, you will see lots of code, similar to when you go to view - page source on this page.

http://www.churchhousefarm.net/main.htm

To add new rows, you would use the <tr> tag, if you want to add a cell in that range <td> is the tag you would use basically just copy the line above from the main.html file, then put in a new file name as the destination (i.e toilets.html), and a new link name (i.e Toilets), then using the aboutus.html as a template, modify this file and rename it to toilets

Hope that didn't confuse you. BTW, with tables, here is how they are constructed (see below), HTML tags always open and close

The tables are read left to right, so when you see <tr>, until you see the </tr>, all that code is being used to create a table spanning left to right, if you look at the below example, you will see the code..

This code creates a table, it has TWO rows <TR> of which are 3 cells in each row <TD>, everything you finish with a cell you close with the </> tag.

When you go to your website and go to view - page source, you will be able to see the code.

<table>
<tr><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr>
</table>

Hope that gives you a bit of an insight. Give us a shout if we can help

nowtsquared · 30 July 2010 at 11:26AM

If it works for you then you should avoid a site redesign - it only needs a simple change to the facilities page. Have a go - how hard can it be ?

Looking ahead slightly you could grab a free google sites page(s ) from sites.google.com and play about with that - only cost is your time - lots of help in the group - Once you have it looking the way you want you can either use the new pages as is, redesign your current site to match the google sites pages or you can make the new pages part of your current site -this might cost £33/pa

HTH

keigcf · 30 July 2010 at 3:54PM

magpiecottage wrote: »

There are various books on building websites. I used the Haynes one.

Nvu is able to write a website for you and is free.

It is also normally possible to download the existing page, edit it in Nvu and then put the new one back in its place.

Your (web) site also lacks photos of your (camp) site - putting some in will make it far more attractive.

I recently organised a camping trip at the other end of Wales and chose this site on the basis of what its website showed me.

Without wanting to be rude, yours is not really telling me I want to go there.

It was set up as an example to show mother in law, I agree with the photo's etc and now we have upgraded the site I need to show this off. Before there was nothing there at all, just a field....
Thats why now I need to update, and then advertise the site.

keigcf · 30 July 2010 at 4:25PM

I've logged into streamline, and got to control panel, and found download, its asking for FTP username and password.... tried the streamline log in details and got error message, I will keep trying!

How do I go about altering website?

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