Just HTML ?

[naiquevin]

I have made a website using just HTML nothing else. (cant call it website actually since its still on my hard drive! ). Now I am planning to host it. How to go abt ?
I searched for web tutorials ... but whatever results that SEs generate are related to CMS..
How to host a site that is purely HTML? no CMS.

Sorry if the question is dumb or if this post is in the wrong forum section .. I am a complete newbie!

I started with Joomla!a month back. Explored it for a while (although only offline) but couldnt find a template as per the layout that I wanted. So took some efforts to learn HTML.
How to manage from here on? Any other language I need to learn ?
Thanx!

[bill]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld naiquevin.

First you need a web host. You could do it yourself [webmasterworld.com] or lease space on any number of services.

Basically you just transfer your HTML files to the host's server and the site will be live on the internet.

[tangor]

Take out a domain name
Locate a hosting service
Get comfortable with FTP
Go for it!

The above is the easy part. :)

Sorry, we can't recommend specifics, but a search for any of the above will provide you with many options.

[Marcia]

>>So took some efforts to learn HTML.

Good for you! No matter what you ever use, it's still important to know HTML.

>>Any other language I need to learn ?

Yes:

CSS if you haven't already. Maybe not for "positioning" because that's complicated, but for styling fonts / text.

Then, once you have the site up for a while and are comfortable with the basics, if the site will be growing to any size, learn to use PHP includes for repeated elements like navigation. You don't need to know much at all to use includes, just enough to be able to use them.

Get a domain name (not from a host, keep that separate), and take reasonable hosting - I'd suggest on a server that runs Apache hosting since it's easier and more flexible to use.

[naiquevin]

Thanks everyone for your guidance..
So what I could understand from these replies is that

1) Register a domain name
2) Get a host
3) Get a FTP software... (had dloadd xampp cp for working with joomla ... FilezillaFTP came along with that.. I guess that will work)
4) Upload the folder containing the index page and all the linked html files and images to the FTP server so that there should be a folder on the server just the way i have it on my disk. And it will work!

Have I got it right .. pls correct me

@Marcia - why keep the domain name separate from hosting service providr. any specific reasons? I had actually finalized on a Combo plan

Thanks again!

[tangor]

Speaking for Marcia... eggs in one basket... not a good thing.

Just spend enough time making sure your pages are content rich, your images are crisp (and YOURS or Public Domain) and no black hat. The web will love you... eventually.

[daveVk]

3) Get a FTP software... (had dloadd xampp cp for working with joomla ... FilezillaFTP came along with that.. I guess that will work)

You need FTP client software, FilezillaFTP may be an FTP server, if so, go to Filezilla site and download the client.

[piatkow]

Regarding splitting domain name management from hosting. Beginners especially should watch out for domain name management that uses a framed web page for forwarding. There are still companies around that do that and they do target beginners. I was caught like that in my early days and it left me without any noticable Google ranking.

[tbear]

>>Any other language I need to learn ?

Yes:

CSS if you haven't already. Maybe not for "positioning" because that's complicated, but for styling fonts / text.

This, I think, is very good advice. You can cut down the amount of HTML you use to have more concise coding.
It is not much harder to learn than HTML, once you grasp the concept.

PHP incudes are also very useful and can perhaps help if you get interested in database use.
But for these you will need to have PHP incuded in your hosting package.
Hosting facilities vary a lot, not always depending on price. I would suggest you think about the facilities you may need in the future when you buy. Add-ons can be expensive!

[wolfadeus]

Beyond programming language, image editing and illustrator software skills at least at a basic level are usually very useful for webmasters. Try photoshop or gimp.

[naiquevin]

Thanks evrybody. Browsing and discussing on these forums cleared many doubts(and raised a few more) thus motivated me to think beyond!

as of now the site content will be static (i do want to upload files but initially I am thinking of hosting them on rapidshare and providing the link on the site)..
but after some progress I would want to start
forums,
+ allow reg users to have their own profiles which they can edit themselves..
+ have access to others profiles and post/ reply to messages there..
+ display images and embed (not host) videos
..is this a feasible task without hiring a dedicated developer? and what kind of programming will it take.. PHP, sql ?
(I am familiar with C and Java aprt from HTML & CSS although I am not a programmer by training)

Also can I have some guidelines for selecting the host considering the above points? How easy/ difficult it is to switch between hosts at a later stage?

[naiquevin]

No reply so far... guess i should have posted it in relevant place..

[wolfadeus]

Changing is easy, but said to lead to penalties from SEs.

Important:
- Good support
- Technical things that meet your specific needs
- Server physically located from where your traffic comes to reduce loading times

[daveVk]

Go for a apache, cpanel, unix/linix etc hosting service, and use independent domain registration and changing host will be less of a problem.

Most of the payed for services offer similar packages, the biggest difference is in support (there biggest cost) and how well servers are maintained, and how heavily they are loaded (response time).