Moosey Website

Moose

Moose

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 Nov 2001
Messages
2,063
Location
West Sussex, Boat in Chichester
Visit site
How do I make a website?
I only want a simple thing with my boat specs on it so I can put a link on adverts e.t.c I have a word document that I assume I could put into Frontpage and somehow zap it onto the net, it is the zapping onto the net bit that I don't know about.
Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Moose

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=green>Toscana is for sale!</font color=green>
 
You don't even need to send it to Frontpage, Word allows you to 'Save As' .html so it can go straight to the web.

How you send it to your webserver depends on who your ISP is, but generally they will have a webpage explaining how to do it.

At it's simplest, save the completed file as html using the Word 'Save As' option and ensure the file is called index.html

If you now go and find the file you saved using Explorer or My Computer you will see the file index.html and a matching directory which contains any images that are in the document. Highlight them and hit 'copy'.

Now go and open your browser and open your personal webspace - if for example you use Blueyonder you would use: ftp://yournamehere.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk and then enter your username and password.

It's then as simple as pasting the files you copied into the browser and it will send them to your server.

Hey presto, you've published a website!

Personally I prefer this method to Frontpage or any of the other website authoring tools for small, simple sites, but other may (and will!) disagree! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif


<hr width=100% size=1><< Sig removed at request from Kim Hollamby - he thought it might scare forumites! >>
 
Re: Moosey Website - long reply oops

Sorry Moose, I started writing this and then re-read the question you asked which was more about uploading, which has been answered, but I decided to post anyway as you might find some of it of interest and maybe even helpful.

Well worth buying the dummies guide to web pages etc if you are starting from a novice point of view, or you might like the route I took and look around the web, find some ideas you like and work out how the author managed a particular look. Right click in most www pages and click view source, this will open the html code, probably in notepad.

But there is also Geocities, has adverts to keep your pages free, but does have layout guides built in. Might be a good way to start, let them do the work with their wizards and when you are comfortable with that and know how you want your layout to work you can start teaching yourself.

I learnt by trial and error this probably took longer. I think I have cobbled together quite well now as websites go. My current site is around version 5 of complete rewrites, now I just tweak it, although am thinking about simplifying it as I feel it is getting a little large and hard to navigate.

Would be happy to pop around if I lived dan sath and help you get page one (see bottom notes) up and running. That is usually enough to get a novice comfortable with writing and uploading pages. Trouble is I am too far away, do you have a two year old you could get to help /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

Software is really good now to help you, it does get addictive once you start and you may actually start writing code by hand in a year or so. If you use a web compiler proggy such as Frontpage have it configured to show the text as well as graphic interface, this will subliminally show you how to anchor pictures or links for example in code rather than letting the program do everything. Learning this way will eventually allow much neater and smaller pages.

Frontpage though is not so good. To be fair for learning it may be one of the better to start with though, as its interface is very conformed if you are used to Micronsoft products, but it writes some unbelievable lazy code. By this, the types of code that will fail in some browsers, it also fattens up html pages by producing too much code, but as a starter this is an ok package. As you become more experienced or find greater interest you will be able to either hand write the code or choose a better compiler.

The dogs b……… is dreamweaver, but expensive for home use. Others include hot metal pro and Serifs Web plus. Both very good IMO.

There are some rules for want of a better word to web creation, some are my own observations;

1. The First page of your site will always be called index.html. If you do not do this servers and browsers will not show your pages or will just show a list of files. The first time you upload your pages you should be aware it may take the server a few hours to configure the site and place the index.html page. This is quite normal, it will happen automatically in time, once index.html is logged for your site, any changes you make to it will happen immediately, it is only the first upload. (universal)
2. There should be a consistency through the site to aid navigation, links from page to page should look and feel similar. People will quickly tire of searching for the next page, i.e. a link hidden amongst other text. Make your links clear and try to have them in the same place on every page. (mine)
3. Two clicks to anywhere … readers do not like to go down blind alleys. If someone is reading your site and later remembers a page they passed they do not want to spend 20 minutes trying to find their way back there. A site map or contents page is a very good way of achieving this. I am not immune to this and do have some tweaks to make, in some areas of my site I have 4 pages deep, it is a hard rule to obey but worth the effort (universal)
4. Avoid red and green colour schemes, especially red text on green backgrounds or vica versa. This colour scheme will alienate an extremely high proportion of the adult population who are colour blind. (universal)
5. Every graphic (photo, gif etc) should have an alt (alternate) statement. Many blind people use web readers and rely on alt statements to guide them around the site, if you look at my pages you will see as you roll the mouse over images or links a box appears with text in, these are alt statements. They are also very important to people who turn of graphics in their browsers. You will have to write these as Frontpage does not prompt you to do so, a serious lacking on their behalf. (universal)
6. If you can, check your pages on a laptop. Laptops and TFT screens show graphics and photographs differently to CRT displays. You may find your efforts look naff on a laptop, many people will only have this form of display. (mine)
7. Use a good graphics program such as Photoshop or paint shop pro to compress your jpg’s. There is nothing worse than too much compression to ruin a good photo. The best software IMHO is image ready (part of Photoshop). (mine)
8. Do not make photo’s too small. I often find teeny tiny photos annoying, almost pointless. If you want to use a small photo, link to a bigger version so people can have the choice to see a larger image. (mine)
9. Avoid the temptation to have music, mouse tails, animated gifs etc. They look naff and more importantly look naff. My animated red ensign however is totally acceptable. (mine)
10. Avoid web counters, they only show other people and you how unpopular your site is /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

An excellent program to upload your pages is cute ftp pro, you can download a free trial from 34sp.com who have a forum for users, you can read the forum without joining and may find many answers to your questions on web sites, hosting, uploading etc. You will find the forum <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.forums.34sp.com/>here</A>.

I hope some of this is helpful, sorry it was so long /forums/images/icons/frown.gif


<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>
1.gif
</A>
 
Mine was done with Frontpage that, as a first attempt, I found easy to use after going through the brief tutorial. The templates are excellent and save a lot of hard work. I tried Word but found it a bit too restricting.

As already stated you will need an ISP to host your web site, so depending who you are using for web access then they will probably offer free space on their server. I am sure that all of this is well within Ross's capabilities and I am sure he will be suitably motivated by the thought of a new boat.

<hr width=100% size=1>££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://home.btconnect.com/bailey>BOAT NO LONGER FOR SALE</A>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top