Begin at the Beginning

Understanding the Basics

[Chica_Ang]

After reading posts with great information for several days as a newbie, I want to share my current understanding to see if I am accurate. Maybe this will help others, too.

1)I want to create my own website. Option: use freeware like uVo or Windows "Notepad" and write my own HTML code.

2)Once the pages are created, I need to go "live" so I can test my work and see how everything looks. Option: use Windows Explorer and under File Open, open my website document and make necessary changes.

3)I'm ready for the rest of the world to see my website. Option: download Apache freeware to my hard drive for the ability to have my own IP address and be my own host server.

4)I am in control of my own website and I didn't have to pay for anything. I understand that if I want to add e-commerce features, this adds another set of issues to be discussed elsewhere.

How did I do?

[mack]

You have got the development side of things correct, but I wonder why you would choose to host the website from home? What sort of website will you be setting up and what sort of traffic do you expect to receive. It is almost always best to use a web hosting company to host your sites. Even for a few bucks a year you can get pretty decent hosting.

Set this cost against running your server from home. Electricity, replacement parts, internet connection 24/7.. they all add up.

I would certainly recommend shopping about for a hosting provider.

Mack.

[aurem85]

q "You have got the development side of things correct, but I wonder why you would choose to host the website from home?"

Hell yes!

[Chica_Ang]

Mack--

Thanks for your input. It isn't that I want to host my own website from home, rather I'm just trying to understand how the technology works, that's all. I have already begun researching a host.

[ishika]

can u suggest how to use notepad to make website.from wheer we can download it and whether it is goo dto make websites from it.i mean simple one with lot of pages.

[JollyK]

ishika: Notepad is a plain text editor that comes with Microsoft Windows operating systems. To make websites with it, you must create each page by writing the HTML code manually. It is not a graphical web page editor.

Chica_Ang:

Option: download Apache freeware to my hard drive for the ability to have my own IP address and be my own host server.

Not sure what you mean about "have your own IP address," but Apache will not give you an IP address. You'll have to either get a static IP from your ISP, or use a dynamic DNS service to change whatever your IP is at the time to point to your website. With Apache, you can, however, test your sites by using [localhost...] usually.

(You probably know that, but some other new people might not, so I thought I'd clarify.)

JK

[Didi]

Better you use 33 mhz old intel with 4 mb ram and use only dos.

This is d.

[Chica_Ang]

JollyK--

I meant to use Apache only to test.

[andye]

download Apache freeware to my hard drive for the ability to have my own IP address and be my own host server.

Probably an over-complicated plan, better to use free webspace from your ISP, if you just want to do some testing.

hth, a.

[JollyK]

andye: I don't know, I find having Apache and IIS on my home box really helpful for troubleshooting things before I upload them to my hosted space. Working directly on my hosted space uses up bandwidth, and if I test stuff locally then if I accidentally code an infinite loop or something silly, I just have to reboot and nothing is broken on my live site.

Plus, there's nothing like running Apache yourself to get experience into how you want your space configured. Especially if you're using mod_rewrite or other Apache-specific things.

Yes, it might be overly complicated, but I don't think it's a waste of time, especially if it's something that interests you. (I like to know as much as possible about the "guts" of things, myself.)

JK

[Chica_Ang]

SiteSpinner software was suggested on another thread. Has anyone used it? The sites built with it look pretty good. It is $49. Not a bad deal.

[TechnoGeek]

Hello, Chica_ang.
Your plan is fine. It's only than you don't need to install Apache and make a server of your computer. As other people pointed out, to publish your pages is best to use the free space of your ISP (if any). There are also free hosts that you may want to evaluate if you don't feel like having to pay a host, at least in the beginning. I would suggest that you replace Notepad by any of the good free text editors that are all around. Remember, though, that there is a difference between a text editor and a HTML editor. There is even more difference between any of these ones and a site builder.
Regards.