Web design, help needed... (warning, may contain ignorance)

[Boz]

Ok, I am well aware that by posting this thread I am about to open myself up to a whole hoast of flamey posts related to my general 'tardeness and all that, but I've been floating round this site for a good while now, posting on occasion etc, and it strikes me that some of you guys actually know what you're talking about when it comes to these new fangled computer machines, so I thought I'd see if you can help me. There's probably a whole host of other posts like this on here somewhere (unless I really am dimmer than the average bear), I have used the search but it didn't come up with anything which answered my questions, so I'm gonna bite the bullet and start my own thread anyway.

Basically I wants me one of these website majigs. As of september I'm starting my PhD and alongside my research I want to start up a website documenting my work. BUT, as previously stated, I am a techtard and have no idea how to go about it. I'm not utterly moronic, I know some stuff, but I don't know any coding, and if I can I want to avoid learning it ('cause I'm lazy like that!) - so I was thinking maybe dreamweaver, but its expensive and I am a poor student. Soooo, what I wants to know is, what is the best way to write and host a website which is going to be reasonably professional looking, with a comprehensible URL (not a string of numbers no-one would ever think of typing in etc) but which isn't going to break my bank balence. I don't want to have to pay a fortune for hosting or domain name purchasing or anything like that. And, the bit which puzzles me most of all, once I've written it, what on earth am I supposed to do to get it online (I did warn you!!)
Any sites, links etc that could help me?

[Lewiji]

If you're periodically updating the page, you're probably going to want to set up a blog style site - Blogger.com provide good hosting but it's not greatly professional. Wordpress is seperate software which isn't too difficult to set up and provides a huge amount of possibility for customisation.

You can download a trial version of Dreamweaver 8 which works for 30 days, more than enough time to follow some tutorials and knock up a professional site, something using pastel colours and not many images is very easy to set up even for a beginner.

As for domain name, I reccomend 123-reg.co.uk, they'll guide you through everything you need to do and have an online control panel. It's about £5 for a .co.uk for 2 years.

Web design tutorials: http://www.pixel2life.com, check out the dreamweaver section/look in the photoshop section under web design

http://www.w3schools.com is a great reference if you're looking for a specific thing, and have very easy to follow tutorials to grasp the basics, you'll probably need a basic understanding of HTML, but it's not that far removed from the BB code you use on here.

Wordpress: http://wordpress.org/ - I see they provide free hosting now, probably your best bet, alternatively 123-reg offer some cheap hosting packages along with the domain names, I can also hit you up with some space.

If you need any specific help or anything made or changed for you, drop me a PM, I work for a web design agency so even if I can't help you I can pass the message on to someone who can :)

[Smidge91]

Well, never rule out Dreamweaver- it's a fantastic program, but two tips I can give you, and there will probably be some sort of disagreement parade in a mo, are these: Namo WebEditor (http://www.namo.com/) is a good start, cheaper than DW but with all the important features. Also, I don't know if there is a tutorial on it, but Lynda.com (http://www.lynda.com/) has loads of helpful downloadables- video tutorials. Anyway, that's the best advice I can give you, but keep in mind I'm 14 and am therefore ignorant of the best ways to make a website. There's a thread (http://www.weebls-stuff.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48044) showing the kind of level I'm at, and many helpful posters have put in suggestions which will probably help you when making your site.

Good luck.

[Sand-Man]

Now first off you say you don't want to learn how to code to make webpages. Well honestly if you want to be able to trouble shoot your webpages in any manner you will have to learn some HTML. HTML is easy, I picked up a book at Barnes and Noble called "Learn HTML in 24 Hours" and it was a fairly easy experience (and I was 14 at that time). I never did use Dreamweaver etc, I typed all my webpages from scratch (I regret this now). So my suggestions would be to get an HTML book, get Dreamweaver (or a program of your choice) and read a few tutorials etc.

Dreamweaver will take care of most of the work for you, but when you start tweaking things, trouble shoot code that just isn't showing up how you like, and adding outside scripts you will need to know some basic HTML. I cannot stress this enough. Now I personally have left HTML in the dust really for Flash which I use to design all my webpages. But even then HTML is used to display the Flash files on the webpage.

As far as hosting goes there are many many options. You will have to avoid free ones if you want a professional URL, and not something that is a mile long. And as far as the concept of how you get your stuff online, when you get a provider to host your website more than likely they will have a "Virtual Hard Drive" for you to upload stuff to via FTP. Your webpages will be .html files (notepad can even save these, just change .txt to .html), and the rest of your content will be various extensions. Your first page will always be Index.html , this is the standard. From there you can link to your other webpages and content by uploading all the stuff you like via FTP (FTP being the protocol, some free sites use HTTP, nabbing a good FTP program is a good idea if one isn't supplied).

Speaking of this virtual HD you will need to figure out how much space you need, and how much bandwidth you think you will use a month. If it is just a personal site like you mentioned to keep track of your work, a low bandwith limit will work just fine, and the space issue will depend on how much stuff you want to upload.

There is a lot of stuff to consider, and its really a good idea to get a friend you know that is into webdesign to help you along the first time. From there its easy to pickup on, and it should be fairly smooth sailing.

[wyrd_fish]

for documenting a project or simmilar i'd use some wiki software, like metawiki (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)

it's what wikipedia uses, i use it for taking linux notes

[the architect]

Now first off you say you don't want to learn how to code to make webpages. Well honestly if you want to be able to trouble shoot your webpages in any manner you will have to learn some HTML. HTML is easy, I picked up a book at Barnes and Noble called "Learn HTML in 24 Hours" and it was a fairly easy experience (and I was 14 at that time).

heh, I was 9 when I learned...

[Techno]

heh, I was 9 when I learned... 7, beat you.

Anyway, considering you're a student, you can get a student version of any Adobe/Macromedia program for a cheaper price.

I can't seem to find any single versions of Dreamweaver, but if you're willing to spend £100, you could spend it on this (http://www.education-store.com/stores/product_family_view.do?pubID=6069&familyID=58388).
Although you're getting lots of software that you may not necessarily use.

I think if you want an easy solution, then finding a webhost that has preinstalled packages (such as Wiki (MetaWiki) or blog (Wordpress) software) would be useful, since you don't have to do much, if any, coding.

I'd personally go for the webhost option, if I were you. Don't necessarily think that cheap is cheerful either.

You should ask yourself how much space you'd need ("will you be uploading lots of pictures/diagrams etc?") or if many people will be visiting the site.

[Jazz_Donkey]

heh, I was 9 when I learned...

i was only 8 when i started making crappy fluroescent webpages with notepad!

anyways, if you have a php enabled server and mysql you could use a CMS.
they are definately the most easy to use.

Recommendations: Php-Nuke - Very very easy to use and customize.
Xoops - More secure but slightly less easier to use
e107 - Probably the best CMS there is (in my opinion).
Very easy to use and customize + there are a large number of easy-to-install plug-ins and add-ons. (The others have add-ons but they are harder to install)

For you, Mr Boz, I would recommend e107.

EDIT: Xoops, not Xeeblo - LOL GOT MIXED UP!!!

[MONKEY050]

Xeeblo - More secure but slightly less easier to use

That sounds like another take on www.zeeblo.com.

Zeeblo's a free host and they do have decent hosting packages similar to paid hosting. They use cPanel X with Fantastico which lets you install a site builder kind of thing.

(and they're ad-free)

If you got that then you would just need a domain name and they're not too bad in terms of price depending on where you look.

[Techno]

For you, Mr Boz, I would recommend e107.

Although e107 is a content management system, it is more biased towards news articles. And also, e107 has become more than just an article system, it's now got chatboxes, forums, XML feeds, bugtrackers, statistics, and loads more. It's a lot of bloat for someone who wants to just document their PhD.

And so, I would recommend MediaWiki (http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki) (same software as Wikipedia). I installed it today, and I think, once you get past the install, which is relatively easy (if you're not a whizz then someone could do it for you), it is a very useful little system, which I'm going to continue using.

Adding pages is simple, and linking to them even simpler. I haven't had to look at a line of code. It was designed so that people who have content can publish it with relative ease.

[Jazz_Donkey]

That sounds like another take on www.zeeblo.com.

Zeeblo's a free host and they do have decent hosting packages similar to paid hosting. They use cPanel X with Fantastico which lets you install a site builder kind of thing.

(and they're ad-free)

If you got that then you would just need a domain name and they're not too bad in terms of price depending on where you look.

I got mixed up... Xeeblo (http://www.xeeblo.net) is a hosting company... Xoops (http://www.xoops.org/) is a CMS

[Kiwi Man]

I know nothing at all about this sort of thing, but what about freewebs?

[The Grim Reaper]

Freewebs=You cant be bothered finding a better host, and you dont know how to code a site properly apart from "crappy fluroescent webpages with notepad" (V True).
Freewebs is okay to start off, but never ever use it when you start getting better.
My host timeline:
Angelfire.com - Rubbish, even ruins javascripts
Geocities.com - Better, their ads dont spam your site
000k.com (died) - No ads on site, first use of cpanel
illusionfxnet.com (attempted) - Never used, tried though
dynamized.com <-Currrent, the owners helpful

[Tony Blair]

Metawiki seems like a good idea for documenting work. My two suggestions are:
1. Google Page Creator- you need a Google account ie Gmail. Give 100mb of free webspace, no html needed.
2. A blog. If you want to add as you go along articles about "latest find" this might be good. As before, free, and no HTML needed

[Jazz_Donkey]

For hosting I found that the best place to go is http://host4free.info

It has updated information on all of the leading Webhosts that offer free hosting!

[Bewildebeast]

Boz, it's possible that your university will let you have some free webspace to document your research. It might be worth dropping an email to your friendly neighbourhood geeks to see if the uni does that.