Build your own website.

wheresthegin · 8 December 2010 at 3:34PM

Is it very difficult to build a website? I'm toying with the idea but don't have a clue where to start. Am just mastering the compter.:p

esuhl · 8 December 2010 at 4:28PM

It's very easy to create simple HTML pages. You just create the file in a text editor and save it with a .htm or .html file extension. Once you have created the HTML, you can host it on a web server for the world to see. I get free web hosting from zoka.cc.

HTML is just the beginning (although, along with CSS, is all you need for a basic website).

An HTML file consists of plain text and tags that control how the text appears (or specify some other useful information). As a quick example, if I wanted a word to appear in boldface, I would enclose it in the "b" tag like <b>this</b>. The tag opens with b enclosed in "triangular brackets" and is closed by preceding the b with a forward-slash.

There's a really easy, useful HTML tutorial at w3schools.com. Once you've mastered that, have a look at CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), which allows you to keep the design and layout separate from the content (a bit like created styles in MS Word).

You can validate HTML files (to make sure you haven't made any errors) using the W3C Validator. W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium) are the organisation that develop web-standards.

In case it helps, here is an example of some (oversimplified) HTML:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html lang="en-gb">

<head>
  <meta name="DESCRIPTION" content="Example Web Page">
  <meta name="KEYWORDS" content="example, web, page, html">
  <meta name="AUTHOR" content="esuhl">

  <meta http-equiv="content-language" content="en-gb">
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8">
  <title>Example Web Page</title>
</head>

<body>

<h1>Heading Level 1</h1>

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

<ol>
  <li>This is item 1 of an ordered list (OL)</li>
  <li>This is item 2</li>
</ol>

</body>
</html>

stone7 · 8 December 2010 at 7:35PM

By far the easiest way to get your own website up and running is to use these.

LINKY.

You can be up and running in an hour and it was free for 2 years (£10 per year thereafter).

No technical knowledge required whatsoever.

ETA: My linky no worky. Copy & paste this: http://www.!!!!!!!!!!.com/free-website?xid=c2logo

ETA(2): the bit that is censored with !!!!!!! says office live, all one word.

How strange.

redcard · 8 December 2010 at 9:50PM

I've heard good things about http://www.squarespace.com/

jennihen · 8 December 2010 at 9:53PM

LOL I must come over here more often - I want to set up a website too!

I thought it would be too difficult and I'd have to pay someone.

Really great help you guys - thankyou

poppy10_2 · 8 December 2010 at 10:04PM

stone7 wrote: »

ETA(2): the bit that is censored with !!!!!!! says office live, all one word.

Wonder why they are censoring officelive, it's a reputable site from a big company (Microsoft), and its free - hardly some fly-by-night scam operation

spud17 · 8 December 2010 at 10:19PM

I also post this as a basic intro, it enabled/prompted me to have a go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=channel&v=NG15HHwAtwU&gl=GB

googler · 8 December 2010 at 10:35PM

Google for

HTML 101
Beginner website building
Setting up own website

or similar terms, or ask Father Christmas for the 'Dummies' book relating to the topic.

Do you have Frontpage or a similar website builder program already on your PC? If not, investigate getting one.

What's the real goal behind building the website? Advertising? Providing Information? Commerce? Blogging? There must be something you want to do with it, and this may influence the path you take.

juliand · 9 December 2010 at 10:19AM

In the interests of openness (and I wouldn't want anyone to say I was spamming): I have a working relationship with this company, but I personally think the product is quite good.

Please make your own mind up and don't click the abuse button :-)

http://www.terapad.com/

paddyrg · 9 December 2010 at 10:22AM

Just be aware, almost I without exception, that home made web sites will look very 1995, until you really get flying. But also look out for Wordpress or Blogger which are easy ways to make prettier, yet still quite simple websites without having to learn HTML. I'm a purist, I'd rather see ugly sites written in pure HTML, but the reality is most people don't want to learn how to code it and just want a simple blog- based site, so I mention these for completeness...

downhillfast · 9 December 2010 at 12:58PM

Now I am quite a techie person in some respects, but have only ever been a computer "user" rather than knowing the ins and outs of how they work and programming.

Just under 2 weeks ago, knowing pretty much nothing about creating a website, I set about setting one up.

My first step was to decide on a domain name... the is the www bit that you site will be addressed to. There are loads of sites where you can check if the name you are thinking of is available to buy... and these site vary greatly in price. You will also need to have your domain hosted - this is the server space that stores your content and makes it available 24/7. After a bit of Googling I came across good feedback of a UK based company called www.tsohost.com - (this is not an affiliate link!) Their basic package seemed to be just what I was looking for so I began going through the checkout when I spotted an "offer code" box (Ding went the lightbulb!) did a quick google again and located an old code for £35 of their £50 a year premium package... making it cheaper than the basic and also qualifying the domain name that I was registering through them to be free! Bargain. Transaction complete!

TsoHost have a quick install button to install wordpress (a blogging package) onto your webspace so I went through and did that... and within a few minutes I had an intuitive website interface to work with.

After a few days of going through "templates" for wordpress I eventually came across something I liked that functioned in the way I needed. It's called Flexibility 3 (free template).

Have been working on content and monetising since then, and tweaks here and there. I'm now pretty happy with my first efforts :T

I'm not allowed to post a link in here to my website but if you want to take a look the details are in my profile!

Hope this helps :cool:

Build your own website.

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free