Designing a website for round britain cruise

[stevelindos]

I want to design a website so that family/friends can follow our progress as we cruise round britain this year. I want to include a UK map, dotting our progress as we go, digital photos and reports of our adventures. Has anyone any ideas of how to go about designing this or is there anything similar out there that I can copy?

 

[webcraft]

You could try YOTBLOG

- Nick

 

[Cutter]

Just visited this site. There is a Jimi registered - can it be our own terminally confused, much loved Jimi? Only thing that makes me doubt is there is nothing written - unlike our Jimi who can usually fill pages.....!
I think we should be told. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[syfuga]

Hi there

We've been working on our web site since before we left the UK (originally in an attempt to sell the house!). Keeping it up to date is quite time consuming, and you feel sort of bound to do it.. However it is quite rewarding.

I'd suggest you have a good look at as many other cruising sites as you can. If you follow the links page on our web site you will find some good ones, as well as the open directory listing. That will help you get your eye in, what you like and what you don't.

People get a bit shirty if you plagerise their (sometimes copyright) sites. But imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

If you are IT literate, then buy a book on web design. I used 'Introduction to Web Design' by Rob Young ISBN 0-130-28565-X, and this had a CD with it of all the examples in the text, plus a number of try before you buy software packages, HTML editors, ftp clients, PSP, etc. that you will need.

You might also consider lashing out on MS Frontpage, DreamWeaver or one of those tools. But be wary, they generate an awful lot of guff that will impact the performance of your web site.

I've wanted to replace or augment our journal with a map. One of the sites linked has achieved this, but it is a bit harder than you think and I haven't found the right tool yet to make the image readable. You can start with a map image from C-Map or similar.

Good luck,

 

[webcraft]

[ QUOTE ]
People get a bit shirty if you plagerise their (sometimes copyright) sites.

[/ QUOTE ] erm . . . ALL websites are copyright whether people have explicitly stated so or not. The copyright extends to the HTML code, the layout and design, and if the offended party can prove in court that you have plagiarised it then it can cost you plenty.

Why people persist in believing that intellectual property laws do not apply on the web is beyond me . . .

Re your comments on web design packages putting in lots of guff - some of them do and Front Page is one of the worst, but the latest version of Dreamweaver writes pretty clean code. The problem is that it does allow easy insertion of interactive multimedia and other twiddly bits - which inexperienced designers cannot resist - and this is where the guff comes from. Less is more when it comes to good design. If you can hand code then great, but if not don;t bother tryong to learn, it will take you months. Either take up one of the many free website offers around or invest in a decent WYSIWYG editor - and be prepared to spend hours fiddling.

One more tip - if you build your own site and want people to find it via search engines then don't use free web hosting and don't use frames in the design.

- Nick

 

[1114C]

Cheeky of me to ask but thought I would anyway - do not suppose you know of a site that gives details of how to get on the search engines - we are advertising our holiday home and despite paying for google adwords, it still does not appear on google

Should know myself as I work in internet solutions but we never deal with search engines (or indeed any web site design)

 

[pragmatist]

Contrary to some of the other posts on this forum I'd strongly recommend against buying expensive (and complex) software such as Dreamweaver to produce a web site. If you're being a liveaboard I can't imagine you want to throw money around, especially if it's a non-commercial site. There's lots of good shareware and even freeware on the web and on magazine CD/DVDs - have a look at PC Plus magazine in your local newsagent - the disc usually comes with several free or buy&try html editors.

Alternatively try this AceHtml - its $35 USD and an excellent tool.

Hope you enjoy the trip - and the web site !

 

[Lakesailor]

[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone any ideas of how to go about designing this or is there anything similar out there that I can copy?

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope you mean copy, as in - use the same concept- and not as in "Save As" from the web page.
I also follow a photography forum and every week there are threads on the copyright laws.
In the UK you do not have to register copyright, as the author or an artwork (anything you have created) it is yours. This is enshrined in the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988
But the world is changing and web-site designers are accepting that international borders don't apply to the web, (try suing someone in Malaysia) so you could always do the decent thing and contact the webmaster of a site you'd like to copy.

 

[webcraft]

Re: Search engine performance

The one search engine you really need to get on is Google. You don't need to submit to Google - it will find you - but you DO need to make sure your site ready for Googlebot's visit.

Here's a list of ten points to get you started:

a) Make sure the index page of your site is full of relevant keywords
(This means no flash intro pages or static 'splash' pages (eg picture only with an 'enter here' button etc)

b) Make sure your site is not designed using frames - instead have the navigation on every page. Don't use javascript-only or (worse) java or flash navigation unless you have a site map linked from the home page with a straight HTML link.

c) Make your page titles relevant and chock full of keywords. Maximum title length including spaces should be 63 characters.

d) META tags - not so important these days, but write a nice description for the 'CONTENT' tag

e) Don't use any kind of web forwarding

f) Don't use free web space with dodgy URLs or host company advertising

g) Don't use any devices Google regards as dodgy- these include link farm sites, same-coloured text, duplicate pages and many many more

h) Make sure you have as many good-quality inbound links to your site as possible. By good quality I mean from sites in the same niche as yours with a decent Google page rank. Try to get links that use a good (keyword) text link.

i) Submit manually to the Open Directory and to as many specialised directories in your niche market as you can

j) Have plenty of text-rich content pages on your site and update them regularly or add new ones. It is important to target realistic keywords or phrases. For example, it is realistic to go for high placing for 'holiday accommodation buxton' , slightly more ambitious to target 'holiday accommodation peak district' and just plain daft to target 'holiday accommodation UK' unless you have a huge budget.

Loads more on this on SearchEngineWatch.com, or you might want to try the forums at Webmasterworld

Beware of companies that offer search engine positioning services. They may achieve short term results, but they may also get your site banned from Google if they are using dodgy techniques. Search engine optimisation is something that needs to be done at the design and construction phase of the site - it is not easy to 'bolt on' afterwards.

Hope this helps,

Nick

 

[1114C]

Re: Search engine performance

thanks hugely

will get started on that and see if I can get anywhere on google

really appreciate your post

tom

 

[Grehan]

Re: Search engine performance

Ja, agree with your points, but I'd like to counter with one question and one point.

Question - what's the problem with free web hosting sites? And search engines.
Exactly? I haven't seen that one before and I'm very interested to know why.
I use Freeola quite a bit; their service is excellent but I have had certain suspicions regarding 'spider visibility' - can you elucidate?

Point - nearly everything in life involves learning from others, and the best thing any beginnner - or more experienced designer - could and should do, is to look at other good examples, and copy the best bits. It's called plagiarism, or Learning from Las Vegas, or something . . . I don't mean steal, I mean copy.

 

[BrendanS]

Re: Search engine performance

Learning from others is a truism, learning how to gain free advertising from search engines is another thing and quite complex. You need to learn the basics first, then we'll help with the rest?

Don't expect an easy ride, learning it the hard way teaches you the basics.

Having said that, someone is likely to teach you the basics?

 

[Grehan]

Re: Search engine performance

A good way to learn, is from the bad.
A truly excellent site, that teaches by crap example What Not to Do, is
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/

BTW I understand that Google's spiders do now 'read' and index framed pages/sites.