Starting a Web Site

[ethwash]

I need help, I have never set up one before. Could someone please let help me.

[areidmtm]

This is a pretty broad question....what do you want to have?

[Nick Manley]

Have you considered using a free host first maybe and learning the ropes before you pay for hosting? There are a lot out there, like Angelfire (http://www.angelfire.com), Geocities (http://www.geocities.com) or you could even use 50Megs (http://www.50megs.com) which is the free hosting company that Matthew Heaton (CEO of Bluehost) originally started before selling it to another company. There is no reason to pay while in the learning stages as the free hosts will provide all that you need to get started. You could even set up your own server if you like. I would recommend Abyss (http://www.aprelium.com/abyssws/download.php) for a beginner or Apache (http://www.apache.org) if you really want to learn how the pros do it.

What you need to do however is start learning a markup language called HTML. Basically you can type this HTML code into notepad and then save the file as index.html. There are also free programs that can provide things like syntax highlighting and other neat features. Learning a graphics program like Photoshop or The GIMP can help if you want to make some very nice designs although it is not required by any means. Javascript can be used to get interactive stuff on the client side and PHP is a language that allows for dynamic server-side scripting so you can do things like access databases or create a user management (login) system.

[silentcollision]

Are you serious, that he started 50megs?

That was my first ever webhost. Kind of scary that I've progressed, and ended up signing up for another hosting company of his.

As for how you create a website, if your completely new, and have no intention of maintaining your knowledge, you could get away with just learning Dreamweaver or Frontpage. If its more of a long term goal, then I would look at learning HTML, and perhaps some CSS.

[Sinkrate]

Are you serious, that he started 50megs?
Yep, Its true. Matt started 50 megs. Ive seen it written alot of places, so i guess its true.

Michael

[JoeP]

Depending on your level of experience / comfort with installing and configuring programs on your personal machine, you might consider installing a web server on you own machine. It'll let you experiment and test things before putting them on a live server.

Regarding "setting up" a site... At the most basic leve, if you put an HTML file called index.htm in the public_html folder, that file will be displayed when someone visits your site.
You create the HTML content by hand coding or with a WYSIWYG editor. You can even create the file on-line using the text editor portion of cpanel.

If you create content on your personal machine you'll need to FTP the file up to the server. The host will give you the necessary info required to access your site via FTP.

If you do a default install of Apache and don't change the file structure around, then the htdocs file on your home machine will be the same as public_html on the server.

on your home machine, with Apache installed and running, you'd open a browser and enter the url http:\\localhost to get to your test version of the site.

I use Apache, PhP, and MySQL on my home machine for testing.
I use FileZilla to FTP info up to the site.

hope this helps some,
joe

[Phanatik1]

User wants to know how to build his/her first website or even webpage and a few replies down we're asking them to setup their own web server! lol Gotta love it! But then again, I am a firm believer in throwing the inexperienced to the wolves! No better way to learn really!

-=Phanatik1=-

[Resonant1]

Yes, I second the amazement at telling an HTML newbie to setup a dedicated web server, something I would think twice about myself even after 20-some-odd years of web development. :confused: The whole point of having hosting companies is to avoid that process. We don't want to make the OP's head explode, now do we? :eek:

Odd also that no one has pointed out the use of web site templates, which are usually available in most HTML editors, even free downloadable ones, and on many web sites.

Last but not least, a good beginning HTML book will have simple examples and exercises.

There's even a page wizard right here in this very hosting system on the user's control panel. ;)

[Nick Manley]

Yes, I second the amazement at telling an HTML newbie to setup a dedicated web server, something I would think twice about myself even after 20-some-odd years of web development. :confused: The whole point of having hosting companies is to avoid that process. We don't want to make the OP's head explode, now do we? :eek:

No one ever said s/he needed a good fully loaded and optimized web server. Infact you don't need a server at all if all you are doing is HTML. Just a browser to view the files locally. Although setting up PHP and MySQL is a snap these days. Abyss is the easiest web server I have come across. It's no Apache, but for creating a testbed or just something for localhost testing it gets the job done. You should be able to atleast get a working install if you just follow a step-by-step guide in 30 minutes or so.