Getting started

[Autismne]

OK, I've registered, I have a domain name, downloaded the blue host software. How do I start building my website? Seriously. I'm that lost.

[redsox9]

I'm not sure what you mean by "downloaded the BlueHost software." It sounds like you may have leapt before you looked, but all is not lost.

What is it that you want to accomplish with your account? Are you looking to host a business or personal site? You need to give people here at the forum a few more clues before you can get an answer.

[Ferdinand]

If you want a simple website, I would start with the page wizard inside Cpanel. It's very very basic, but better than nothing.

If you are interested in having a blog I would recommend to install Wordpress via Fantastico (see inside Cpanel).

[Autismne]

I'm not sure what you mean by "downloaded the BlueHost software." It sounds like you may have leapt before you looked, but all is not lost.

What is it that you want to accomplish with your account? Are you looking to host a business or personal site? You need to give people here at the forum a few more clues before you can get an answer.

It's an educational site. Not selling anything. I need a homepage, and 10 additional pages to link to. The page wizard only offers business templates. I was told that BlueHost offers more choices than that.

[Autismne]

I'm not sure what you mean by "downloaded the BlueHost software." It sounds like you may have leapt before you looked, but all is not lost.

What is it that you want to accomplish with your account? Are you looking to host a business or personal site? You need to give people here at the forum a few more clues before you can get an answer.

I tried using Fantastico, but got this message:

Install Templates Express (2/3)
The installation can not be completed:
- You cannot install more than one script in the root directory of a domain.
Click on the browser's Back button to fix reported errors.

[Autismne]

I think part of the problem is the BlueHost does not support Macintosh. I wish your sales dept. told me that.

[areidmtm]

I think part of the problem is the BlueHost does not support Macintosh. I wish your sales dept. told me that.

That wouldn't matter. Fantastico is telling you that you cannot install more than one script in your main public_html folder. Each installation has to be installed in it's own folder. public_html counts as one, public_html/new_folder counts as two etc. When installing a script in Fantastico, it will ask you where to install the script. Tell it to install in a folder within public_html. It should create it for you.

Something to remember about this forum. This is a user to user forum. Generally bluehost employees do not come here.

[Early Out]

I think part of the problem is the BlueHost does not support Macintosh. I wish your sales dept. told me that.

This is a user-to-user forum, and none of us has a sales department.

BH supports Macintosh to pretty much the same extent it supports PCs. With either platform, they don't offer much hand-holding when it comes to developing your web content. BH is a hosting service, and they provide lots of tools for managing your content, but not much for generating web pages, per se. What BH provides is largely platform-independent. Anything you install on the server side, of course, is running under Linux/Apache - whether you're using a Mac or a PC is irrelevant.

You need some page-creation software. Not being a MacPerson myself, I'm hard-pressed to recommend a package, but a good cross-platform choice might be Nvu, which is open source, and free.

[Ferdinand]

As Earlyout said, it has nothing to do with Apple or PC. It seems that you had a wrong idea what Bluehost is offering and furthermore that you don't have the slightest idea how to develop a homepage. But that shouldn't big a too big problem for you. I began like you last summer.

If you need your page urgently I would recommend to ask someone to help you with your project or you start to learn and to read about HTML and later about CSS.

Or you choose another way: you install Wordpress and use the "pages" function of Wordpress to install one or more webpages and you hide the blog function with the posts by making a "page" (and not the posts) your start page. You can do this with plugins easily. With the "blogroll" function of WP you can add as many links you want. Also there many template available** and I am sure you will find one which you like and/or which can redesign for your needs.

Either way you choose you'll need to read and learn.
Good luck!

**Just make sure that it is compatible with the latest version of WP 2.3 which came out last week.


PS: Don't have Mac's the ability to create simple webpages and upload them to your server?

[Autismne]

I've installed WordPress in a folder called WordPress. I still don't see how I'm supposed to build a webpage. Where is the software? Sorry for the cluelessness, but BH sales made this sound simple. It's not.

When I go my URL/wordpress, I get a parked page with a bunch of ads. What's that?