Making My 1st Webpage, Help with Host and Apps to Start

[Garibaldi]

I am thinking of making my 1st website. I was wondering what you would recommend for a free host, with a good amount of MBs. Also what applications (win or linux) would you recommend that I use (free) that are pretty easy to use? Or any other advice or guides that you'd recommend.
Thanks.

[housepig]

Garibaldi -

I've just been wrestling with some of this as well.. what is the reason for your site? what kind of content are you going to have? that's going to steer most recommendations I can give you, because some free hosting services limit you in certain things (bandwidth, linking files externally, streaming content, etc.)

[Garibaldi]

Garibaldi -

I've just been wrestling with some of this as well.. what is the reason for your site? what kind of content are you going to have? that's going to steer most recommendations I can give you, because some free hosting services limit you in certain things (bandwidth, linking files externally, streaming content, etc.)

I'm not for sure yet but I was thinking like some pictures I have taken, couple XviD videos I've made, a news section. Some stuff about me basically. My reason for creating this is to see more about how html scripting works and to put some stuff I have done like pics and slideshows online.
I'm glad to see that your starting this too, maybe we can work through it together.

[housepig]

check out Alleycode, it's a freeware HTML authoring software with tons of features, and not a lot of bloat.

I just re-coded my website using phpwcms to do templating and content management, but you probably won't be able to use this on a free service; you have to have access to MySQL databases to do it.

most free sites limit your file sizes as well - I used to be on a free service that offered 50 Mbs of space (not bad at the time) but it had a max file size of 500K, didn't allow external linking of images, and had a 500mb monthly bandwidth limit.

most will also put advertising or popups, or both, on your site. others will impose a minimum time frame where you have to make changes (like if you haven't changed anything in 30 days, your site gets taken down).

I'm on Dreamhost right now, $10/mo gets me 120Gb of bandwidth, 2.4Gb of web space, unlimited MySQL databases, all sorts of other goodies included, forum/bulletin boards using phpbb... not a bad deal.

[housepig]

here's a good starting list of some freeware editors at
No Nags.

[Conquest10]

Great program that's free, easy to use, and you already have it (if using Windows): Notepad.

[Garibaldi]

Great program that's free, easy to use, and you already have it (if using Windows): Notepad.

Yeah but I need to know the code to be able to use that.

[Conquest10]

Ah. come on. You don't like coding?

[makntraks]

I am thinking of making my 1st website. I was wondering what you would recommend for a free host, with a good amount of MBs. Also what applications (win or linux) would you recommend that I use (free) that are pretty easy to use? Or any other advice or guides that you'd recommend.
Thanks.

Check here and you get first 6 months free:
1 and 1

When I signed up I got on a "free" plan (I only pay for domain reg $5.99) for the next 3 years.

makntraks

[Garibaldi]

Ah. come on. You don't like coding?

I just don't know it yet, that's all. I'd prefer to start out on something graphical for now until I'm more comfortable though.

here's a good starting list of some freeware editors at
No Nags.

Thanks for this great link, I downloaded NVU off of there (www.nvu.com) and have been using it on slackware and xp. I've gotten a few play pages created, nothing too complex yet though. I probably won't be hosting anything for awhile until I get the pages all set. What would I have to do to create a phpBB forum like videohelp on my site?

[housepig]

What would I have to do to create a phpBB forum like videohelp on my site?

you'd need a host that supports phpBB (Dreamhost has a one-click install of it) or at least supports MySQL and PHP - check the phpBB website, they should have info on the installation and minimum system requirements from your host.

question - were you posting on the TapeOp forums a while back, talking about audio on Linux?

[Garibaldi]

What would I have to do to create a phpBB forum like videohelp on my site?

you'd need a host that supports phpBB (Dreamhost has a one-click install of it) or at least supports MySQL and PHP - check the phpBB website, they should have info on the installation and minimum system requirements from your host.

question - were you posting on the TapeOp forums a while back, talking about audio on Linux?

Thanks alot! I am definitely considering Dreamhost, it sounds like a great host from what you've told me. And $10 a month is hard to beat! It will probably be a little while before I actually get my website somewhat complete though (ready to host), but I am going to post pics and stuff as I progress. Maybe you could offer suggestions as how to improve it.

I don't know what the TapeOp forum is... Is there a user named Garibaldi on there? I belong to the linuxquestions.org and linuxforum.com forums, but not anything by the name of TapeOp. My "Garibaldi" username comes from the character of Michael Garibaldi on the tv series Babylon 5 (www.jerrydoyle.com), whom I thought was a good actor and the character was cool. I would be happy to help with any linux questions you might have too!

[housepig]

Maybe you could offer suggestions as how to improve it.

well, I'm no pro, but I'd be happy to take a look and see if anything is unclear or user-unfriendly...

I don't know what the TapeOp forum is... Is there a user named Garibaldi on there? ... My "Garibaldi" username comes from the character of Michael Garibaldi on the tv series Babylon 5 ...

that must be it; the TapeOp forum *was* a forum for music recording, there was a big thread about Linux for Digital Audio Workstations, and there was a user who had "Garibaldi" in his username, talking about how he just got into Linux to do multimedia... I've never watched Babylon 5, so I didn't catch the reference, thought it might be you.

[Garibaldi]

Maybe you could offer suggestions as how to improve it.

well, I'm no pro, but I'd be happy to take a look and see if anything is unclear or user-unfriendly...

I don't know what the TapeOp forum is... Is there a user named Garibaldi on there? ... My "Garibaldi" username comes from the character of Michael Garibaldi on the tv series Babylon 5 ...

that must be it; the TapeOp forum *was* a forum for music recording, there was a big thread about Linux for Digital Audio Workstations, and there was a user who had "Garibaldi" in his username, talking about how he just got into Linux to do multimedia... I've never watched Babylon 5, so I didn't catch the reference, thought it might be you.

I should have a preliminary layout for my website by tomorrow. I'll post it on here when I get it.

All of my usernames are either Garibaldi or Garibaldi3489, I also am registered at the avidemux forum, pear pc, and knoppix. I think those are all of them.

[Garibaldi]

I've finally got around to making my website, I'm using Alleycode. I just sat down and worked with it for a little bit and came up with a good prototype. I'm thinking of going with dreamhost, it looks like a very good host.

[housepig]

if you want to be a sweetheart, list me as your referrer when you sign up.

[Garibaldi]

Right now I'm working in Mozilla Composer for trying to make my webpage. I am trying to make a sidebar composed of several images, each which would be a link and then have a bunch of text to the right. What should the layout of the page be, how do I make a table with enough spaces on the side for all the buttons and one big space on the right for text?

[housepig]

if you make your table, then right click on a cell and select Table Cell Properties, you can specify a fixed height & width for the cell.

remember you can also nest tables; you can make a first table that's 1 row, two colums, which will give you two cells.

in the right-hand cell, you can make another table that's 4x4 or 2x6 or whatever you like.

a super-solid reference for basic HTML is HTML: The Definitive Guide by O'Reilly books... and if you have a MicroCenter near you, you can get an older version (that's still totally valid, code-wise) for about $5. I refer to that book pretty much every time I have work on a page.

at the same store, I picked up XHTML Complete from Sybex for $4, and the thing is as thick as a phone book, 1,000+ pages stuffed with examples... it's just "out of date" since it came out 3 whole years ago

as for online reference, W3 Schools has lots of good info on HTML, XHTML, CSS, PHP and most everything else for websites.

[Garibaldi]

if you make your table, then right click on a cell and select Table Cell Properties, you can specify a fixed height & width for the cell.

remember you can also nest tables; you can make a first table that's 1 row, two colums, which will give you two cells.

in the right-hand cell, you can make another table that's 4x4 or 2x6 or whatever you like.

a super-solid reference for basic HTML is HTML: The Definitive Guide by O'Reilly books... and if you have a MicroCenter near you, you can get an older version (that's still totally valid, code-wise) for about $5. I refer to that book pretty much every time I have work on a page.

at the same store, I picked up XHTML Complete from Sybex for $4, and the thing is as thick as a phone book, 1,000+ pages stuffed with examples... it's just "out of date" since it came out 3 whole years ago

as for online reference, W3 Schools has lots of good info on HTML, XHTML, CSS, PHP and most everything else for websites.

Okay so you can have a "table" with a variable number of columns vs rows.

I got the website setup at dreamhost, the domain is http://www.wiscollectorcar.com/ How should I link images to a page? should I have them on my computer and put them into the html code or should I upload them to a folder on the site and then insert the picture from that url into the html page?


Also about creating a forum. I see that dreamhost offers an autoinstall of phpBB:

So should I make the folder /forum and put the forum there?

[housepig]

for image linking, when I'm creating the pages locally on my computer, I'll make a folder for the html files, with a subfolder called /IMG and I'll put my graphics there.

then I'll make all my image links "relative to page location" and point at /IMG.

when I upload, I transfer the html files and the /IMG folder, and all the links are maintained.

as for the phpBB install, yes I would make a /forum folder and put the forum there.

[rallynavvie]

FWIW

I'm using PowWeb for my host. They boast some pretty phenominal uptimes (which I can attest to), 5GB daily bandwidth, only 2GB space, good help desk and tech support, excellent user to user forums, only 5 SQL databases, and only $7.77 a month. Just another option for ya. I've been using them for just under 5 years now. You get 2 free months when you pay yearly.

[Garibaldi]

FWIW

I'm using PowWeb for my host. They boast some pretty phenominal uptimes (which I can attest to), 5GB daily bandwidth, only 2GB space, good help desk and tech support, excellent user to user forums, only 5 SQL databases, and only $7.77 a month. Just another option for ya. I've been using them for just under 5 years now. You get 2 free months when you pay yearly.

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I already signed up at dreamhost, but I will defintely keep this in mind! Here is my site: www.wiscollectorcar.com

for image linking, when I'm creating the pages locally on my computer, I'll make a folder for the html files, with a subfolder called /IMG and I'll put my graphics there.

then I'll make all my image links "relative to page location" and point at /IMG.

when I upload, I transfer the html files and the /IMG folder, and all the links are maintained.

as for the phpBB install, yes I would make a /forum folder and put the forum there.

I will try that for the images, I have had issues before where relative images don't transfer though.

As far as the forum, do you know how big (approx.) a forum is?

[housepig]

As far as the forum, do you know how big (approx.) a forum is?

depends on how many people are in it!

according to the forum statistics page here, this forum is 1,388 Mb.

[Garibaldi]

As far as the forum, do you know how big (approx.) a forum is?

depends on how many people are in it!

according to the forum statistics page here, this forum is 1,388 Mb.

And I could restrict the number of users if it got too big, or just delete it all together right? Could I also set defaults so for instance pictures that have been uploaded would be deleted after 1 week?

[thecoalman]

As far as the forum, do you know how big (approx.) a forum is?

depends on how many people are in it!

according to the forum statistics page here, this forum is 1,388 Mb.

And I could restrict the number of users if it got too big, or just delete it all together right? Could I also set defaults so for instance pictures that have been uploaded would be deleted after 1 week?

There's no picture upload on phpbb it's a mod, you need to modify the phpbb files. The one available from phpbb.com has a quota limit, you can set for each kind of user among other things. And yes at any time you could just go in and uninstall the forum which consists of deleting the directory and removing the tables in the DB.

The manual install itself is nothing more than uploading the files and running a phpbb script and pointing it at the DB, BTW there''s a small security flaw in version .12. there's instructions on the phpbb webssite for fixing it. :P

[Garibaldi]

As far as the forum, do you know how big (approx.) a forum is?

depends on how many people are in it!

according to the forum statistics page here, this forum is 1,388 Mb.

And I could restrict the number of users if it got too big, or just delete it all together right? Could I also set defaults so for instance pictures that have been uploaded would be deleted after 1 week?

There's no picture upload on phpbb it's a mod, you need to modify the phpbb files. The one available from phpbb.com has a quota limit, you can set for each kind of user among other things. And yes at any time you could just go in and uninstall the forum which consists of deleting the directory and removing the tables in the DB.

The manual install itself is nothing more than uploading the files and running a phpbb script and pointing it at the DB, BTW there''s a small security flaw in version .12. there's instructions on the phpbb webssite for fixing it. :P

What about avatars, are those available by default? I think it would probably be best for other pics to be linked anyway so that works out fine.

It sounds easy enough to uninstall. As far as installing it, do you think the auto install I showed above would work fine? Do you know how to tell if that is the version with the security flaw or not?

[thecoalman]

What about avatars, are those available by default? I think it would probably be best for other pics to be linked anyway so that works out fine.

It sounds easy enough to uninstall. As far as installing it, do you think the auto install I showed above would work fine? Do you know how to tell if that is the version with the security flaw or not?

You can set how avatars are used any combination of none, upload from machine, ones available onsite or link from offsite.

Yes that's .12 your installing but if you go to the phpbb forum you'll find it's only a single line in one of the pages, actually a single character so it's really no big deal to fix.

[Garibaldi]

What about avatars, are those available by default? I think it would probably be best for other pics to be linked anyway so that works out fine.

It sounds easy enough to uninstall. As far as installing it, do you think the auto install I showed above would work fine? Do you know how to tell if that is the version with the security flaw or not?

You can set how avatars are used any combination of none, upload from machine, ones available onsite or link from offsite.

Yes that's .12 your installing but if you go to the phpbb forum you'll find it's only a single line in one of the pages, actually a single character so it's really no big deal to fix.

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll check out the link for that fix, from what you said it sounds pretty easy.
Would you be interested in joining my forum?