Setting up a website

For xmas, a group of friends of mine are purchasing a domain name from Gandi for one of our friends. Thing is, once we buy the name… Uhm… What do we do? I’m sort-of internet illiterate. How does one go about setting up a site?

Many Domain Hosters will provide website design tools. I use Lycos/Tripod. Yahoo has one, AOL, lots more. Many of those are simple point and click set ups - no HTML code knowledge necessary. And once you’ve designed your site, you can set up domain forwarding, so (for example) if someone types in arrmatey.com, they are automatically redirected to arematey.tripod.com/main.html

check out Tripod

Any reason why you’re going with Gandi? It doesn’t look like such a great place to buy a domain name from, in my professional opinion.

Go to www.godaddy.com to get your domain name. While you’re there, pick up some of there “extras” - namely, hosting. Hosting comes with email so your friend can have MyFriend@hisdomainname.com. They have a $3.95/mo package that looks just fine for a little personal site for some folks that are just starting out. Or, you can JUST get email - which means no space to host a web site but your friend can still have email using that domain name.

Or, if you think your friend might have his/her own host or would want to shop around later for a host, just buy the domain name and “park” it with GoDaddy for free. When they do get a host, the friend will need to find out from the host what the nameservers will be and edit that info with GoDaddy.

Once you have the domain name set up, and have purchased hosting, and nameservers are all pointing to the right place, start creating a Web site. Since it won’t be a commercial site use whatever you want. Anything from Notepad to GoLive to FrontPage to Dreamweaver. If you use FrontPage though, you need to make sure the host has FrontPage extensions (most folks here, including myself, highly discourage Front Page…but, whatever floats your boat).

Best thing to do is visit some HTML help sites, use Notepad and your image editor of choice, build pages, and upload them (and graphics) via FTP. I use Core FTP, which is free from www.download.com

There, easy as pie, right?

Just don’t go with that Gandi place. It looks creep-tastic.

A functioning web site requires:

  1. A domain name.

  2. A web host (The place where the web files actually exist).

  3. A personal computer (Used to create web pages and graphics).

  4. Creation tools (Software on your personal computer that you use to to create web pages and graphics).

  5. FTP tool (Software that allows you to copy the created web pages and graphics from your personal computer to the web host. Some web creation tools have built-in FTP capability).

  6. An Internet connection (Provides you the ability to FTP your files from your computer to the web host. Once done, you use your web browser to view the web site via that same connection.).

Oh yeah forgot to mention (anyrose reminded me) that GoDaddy DOES have “site builders” available for their hosting clients. It’s not free, but there’s all sorts of “packages” where say hosting is free with the site builder, or the site builder is free with hosting, or the domain name is $2 with hosting, etc etc.

This would keep you from needing a HTML design editor or learning HTML using notepad (not that that’s not the best way to go…heh)

  1. agreed
  2. agreed
  3. very helpful indeed - but if doing everything on line, timeshare at the library may be enough
  4. not necessary if your host has online building tools like Tripod
  5. again not necessary if your host has an upload feature built in (for photos and other graphics)
  6. forgive me for sounding snide but if one is reading this post then one has an internet connection :D:D:D