Creating your own website is actually incredibly easy, and can be done very cheaply. To create your own site you need just four things:
1. An internet service provider – although in theory you could set one up from a cybercafe if you really wanted.
2. A web host – your ISP may provide some space for a homepage with FTP capability.
3. An HTML editor / website builder application (some webhosts provide online web builders with templates for you). I have used NVU, which is free to download, and very user friendly, even for people like me that have next to no understanding of HTML, or any other sort of coding for that matter.
4. FTP (file transfer protocol) software. Not needed if your webhost provides you with FTP, or if they provide you with an online page builder. I use Coffee Cup Free FTP, because it is, well, free, and very useful too. The good thing about having your own FTP (like CoffeeCup) rather than using the one built into your webhost package is that you can easily upload, download or delete any file you like. You can even use your webhosts online web builder (if they have one) to build the foundation of a site, then download it to your pc and edit in NVU.
The web hosting business is incredibly competitive, so there are plenty of really good deals to suit all your needs.
OK, assuming you have applied for a URL domain name with a web host, and they have given you your FTP username and password to access your area on their server, this is what you do.
1. Download CoffeeCup Free FTP. Click on Servers, Add, and enter your server name. I use the name of the webhost for the domains with 1and1 and the name of my ISP for my homepage so I don’t get them muddled, but anything will do really. Fill in all the username and password your ISP or webhost have provided you with, enter the host name, such as yoursite.com, then finish. Now you can access your web host / ISP server space where you keep your website files.
2. Download NVU
3. Create a folder which is the name of your wesbite URL (I keep all my websites in My Documents/My Webs which was set up already on my XP pc).
3. Open NVU, check the page settings under Tools, Preferences, Advanced are set to HTML 4 Transitional. Click New.
4. Chose Save As under File, and save as Index in your new folder.
5. Type some text on the page, such as “test”. Save again.
6. Open CoffeCup FTP, click server and open the server you created earlier, then drag and drop the webfolder from My Computer to My Site.
7. Open your web browser, type in your URL, and hey presto, you should have a page that says test in the top left corner.
So if your ISP has already provided you with some webspace, as most, if not all, do, then you can create your own web page for nothing. If you want your own domain name, then you need to find a suitable hosting company. Your ISP will most likely have hosting packages, but they may not be the best suited to your needs or the best value either. Jumpline.com and 1and1 both provide plenty of webspace, plus full FTP, MySQL databases, dynamic content, form builders, web statistics, newletter tools and basic web builders.
You can also use templates in NVU, so if you chose New, More Option (in the drop down box) and chose “A new document based on a template” you can use this. It can either be a tempalte you have downloaded, or even easier, you can type in a website and use that as a template. Feel free to try it with this one, then try other sites and see how they build them. Some use loads of tables, like http://news.bbc.co.uk/ for instance, and others use frames and stuff which I again do not understand at the moment. There are quite a few places that provide free web page templates if you search around.
If you wish to create an online photo album, then the best application I have found is Jalbum, which is also free to download, and comes with it’s own FTP too. And once you have created the album, you can open the Index page in NVU and add links and text or whatever. Happy web building !
