noticed there are a lot of you with pages or even sites (either purely about locost or a bit more diverse)

being a bit of a curious chap, i am interested in starting my own, but i am not sure where to start...

so i am coming to the forum to ask you all for advice on where to begin...

there are a few proviso's:

1, its gotta be free to do, need the money for other projects...

2, being new to it all, its got to be relatively easy / straightforward to get up and running....

3, would be nice to get some 'easy to use' software to get me going for free, untill i can get to grips with this copy of front page i have

any ideas???

as always i bow to the superior knowledge base out there on the forum

Get a proffesional in!

Just kidding. Your ISP should provide you some webspace free, so cost shouldn't be a problem. Front page is pretty easy to use, maybe do a search for an online tutorial?

Use the page wizard and you could have a page up in minutes.

Or send me a cheque.

Cheers

Chris

Certain versions of Office come with Front Page. Alternatively, you could build your entire site in Word, and use Windows' FTP client to upload it onto your ISP's server.
There's a lot of free tutorials, help and add-ins out there for Front page.

I used word to start with, until i realised that it really makes a meal of it, i.e. pictures are a lot larger file size than need and loads of extra code is put into the page that you don't actually nee.d, hence the pages can be a bit slow to down load on a dial up connection. It is a good way to get started though and build the basic stucture of your site. I now use word to add all the text and formatinig and netscape communicator for inserting all the picture (icons) and links.

For webspace, speak to chris who runs this forum, a few people (including me) have our pages hosted for free by him. As there is only 20mb of space available, i have another free site from my ISP where i store all my pictures, and my locost hosted site points at those.

Keep (or reduce) the pictures on your site to below 200kb otherwise it takes ages for dial up users to download your pics.

Also don't under estimate the time it takes to keep the site up to date, i sit down once a month and cover everthing i have done over the past month and it takes me quite a few hours.

Austen

If you want more space just ask! Plenty available (within reason!)

Chris

cheers, i have only used 2meg of yours so far, as all the big stuff is on the my ISP site, but that will be full soon so you may get a call.

Word is about the worst way to make a web page!

Dreamweaver is nice and you get get a free 30 day trial.

there are also patches available so it won't run out after 30 days, but i condem anyone who uses such illegal methods for unlicensed software.


Ned.

What about FTP stuff tried a free one off the net, couldnt get my head round it...

I use Dreamweaver and it's the mutts nuts, but the free stuff is ok for a basic page. have a play with FPX or coffe cup, you'll soon get the hang of it.

Cheers

Chris

I did my disertation on note pad. It turned out shite, but i think that was due to the mind numbing topic for the website (an educational interactive website about the TCA cycle).

I think I had a TCA cycle, was it like a Chopper but with smaller handlebars?

Cheers

Chris

quote:

---

Originally posted by eddie
What about FTP stuff tried a free one off the net, couldnt get my head round it...

---

www.Smoothftp.com - online fp that lets you upload zip files and unzips then once its uploaded. Only problem is they have just limited file sizes to 20kb (was 4meg) unless you pay a yearly subscription
Its great if you are uploading from work in their time with super fast connection and a firewall.

[Edited on 15/8/03 by MK9R]

cheers guys... let y'all know how i get on...

WOW...

less than 1 days work and i have my own website, if i realised how easy it was i'd have done it ages ago...

Try using Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 - Its available as "Dreamweaver 4 for Dummies" from WHS as a "try before you buy" (TBYB) Disc . It's slicker, therefore faster to view than most, but (perhaps) not as user friendly as Frontpage.

Be aware some ISP's charge for hosting Frontpage sites as it's a Microsoft unique index system.

Also - many College's & Poly's use Dreamweaver 4 in Internet Design Courses - so you could enroll for this too (in your spare time!!!)

My site is totally created using Dreamweaver 4.

www.southyorkshirecapriclub.co.uk