How to build a website???

[Wesley Irwin]

Hi guys,
I am trying to build a website but have no idea of how to go about it other than buying my domain name. Does anyone know where i could learn to do this on my own??? Or, is someone out there willing to trade skills, (ie. English or Spanish conversation classes, yardwork, etc) to help me???

Thanks,
Wes

 

[riquard]

Hi Wes,

If you still need it.. I might be able to help you, I have several websites. I can help you by explaining what your options are and maybe even help you making a website. It depends a bit on what kind of site you want to make.

I don´t need anything in return and I have time.

Riquard

 

[jez]

http://www.weebly.com/

It's basic, but you can use it with your own domain name.

 

[Roxana]

Try www.web.com. It has tutorials to build up your website or you can call over the phone (to the US) for help.

 

[notebook.fix]

Hi,

It can be daunting when you first explore the subject of building a website I know. Basically it will boil down to two options, 'roll your own' or pay someone else.

The questions you may want to ask yourself is, if I learn how to build my own, what will be the learning curb & how often will I use my new skills?
It's all to do with your personal situation. In modern times if you have time & are willing & wanting, then it may be a very important even essential skill to acquire just like driving a car, doing your own tax, etc etc. Paying someone else to build it for you is a quick solution, & depending on your own specific needs, it may be the best & most efficient choice.

Personally, when I had to put my site together I did not want to spend the next three months buried in HTML books, yes I have a good idea of what html is but I didn't feel this is the best way to go.

INstead I'd recommend another way, you can cheat a little...and still be in total control of style & content...once you have your hosting service ready, I'd recommend that you simply start with two main tools....

Wordpress as the back end & main structure of your new website, is a pretty user friendly quick way to set up a site, and most good hosting companies already have it ready for you to install within your site...it's free & quick....this takes care of the first part...the second tool is a program called 'Artisteer'.

FIrst impressions are very important, finding & downloading templates used to be the old way of doing it, but it's got many drawbacks such as not having an original look, time to find & edit the perfect one, etc etc..

Artisteer is one of the simplest & easiest ways to design your own templates, it is a powerful tool to have when you just want to get the job done. When you first start your new template you will be given the choice of making a Wordpress template, a Joomla, drupal or just the traditional HTML etc etc, then you follwo the instructions..it's pretty intuitive. And no it's not free, but I'd rather pay a one off fee of US$120 bucks for a tool that I can keep & use for a long time than US$400 , $500, or much more for someone else to do it for me. Yes it's a bit more work, but in the end, you may feel a deeper satisfaction and sense of independence. That's my personal view on this topic.

Here's a link..and no I don't own stock in the company

BEst of luck to you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiyt-9PdfUs

http://www.suite101.com/content/use-artisteer-to-design-and-create-web-templates-a209079

Ricardo.

Hi guys,
I am trying to build a website but have no idea of how to go about it other than buying my domain name. Does anyone know where i could learn to do this on my own??? Or, is someone out there willing to trade skills, (ie. English or Spanish conversation classes, yardwork, etc) to help me???

Thanks,
Wes

 

[MacDaddy]

Having run my own (self-hosted) WordPress blog for the last two years, I can say that while it's powerful, flexible and cheap, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to someone just starting out.. especially if you don't have the desire to learn the geeky stuff. Although they've made great progress, installing and running a WordPress site still requires knowing or learning a bit of back-end geekery - html, SQL, server stuff.

I would instead recommend that you check out Squarespace. It's web hosting / content creation / management / design all in one. They have easy to use templates to get you started, but you can also directly code your own CSS or Javascript if you decide later to get into that. You can import and export to/from all the major blogging and site platforms, so your data isn't stuck there if you later decide to go somewhere else. They have a really slick iPhone app from which you can manage your content, check visitor stats, etc. They also developed a smart virtual server technology that scales automatically should your site get Dugg/Slashdotted and suddenly you have 100k visitors - crash-proof.
[I know I sound like a damned shill, and I have to admit that I haven't personally tried them myself - but I have heard plenty of glowing reports from people who have..]

But the main reason I recommend Squarespace to non-nerds is that you don't have to install, upgrade, or update anything, ever. They take care of the entire back-end. You wouldn't believe how much time I spend keeping all my WordPress plugins current and playing well with each other.

The downside? It's not as cheap as WordPress or other sites that you manage yourself. However, I think the trade-off in time and grief is easily worth it. You can try Squarespace free for two weeks to see what you think. If you like it, use the coupon code "TWIT" to get 10% off the life of your site. [No, I don't get a kickback from this - it's the offer code from a popular podcast I listen to, of which Squarespace is a sponsor.]

Best of luck, and let us know how it goes!