7-year-old wants to build a website. Where to start?

Rothgarr

My seven-year-old is dying to create his own website. His expectations were really high but after a discussion with him he now realizes that he needs to start out with something that is template-based and probably just a blog for starters.

Unfortunately, I'm really only familiar with high end content management systems. That being said, where's a good place for he and I to start where we can have something set up and ready to go in a very short time? A free package would be preferred but I will buy a domain for him.

Æthelred

I would have recommended Google Page Creator before it closed, but Google Site (the new offering) is kinda wiki-based now. Tripod is also an option with lots of click-and-add, but it's very dated these days.

Xaquin

Though I'm not a 7 year old, I have the web site building knowledge of one. Is there a template on any of those to set up an online store? I do some metal and wood working and would love to sell some of it online, but I have no idea how I would even start to build a web page people could buy from.

Reznik

Xaquin wrote: »

Though I'm not a 7 year old, I have the web site building knowledge of one. Is there a template on any of those to set up an online store? I do some metal and wood working and would love to sell some of it online, but I have no idea how I would even start to build a web page people could buy from.

You don't want to mess around with online stores. They need a ton of security. Get a pro to do it for you.


As far as the 7 year old goes...

http://zymic.com/ has a ton of free templates, but I haven't used it in years and I remember a lot of them being really annoying to edit. They also say they have free web hosting, but I've never used it so I can't vouch for its quality.

http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ps/sb/index.php Yahoo sitebuilder? If it's anything like Geocities pagebuilder, then a blind monkey could set up a quick, awful looking website with it in seconds. Also comes with a bunch of templates.

mechaThor

Does he want to create the website from scratch or just have a blog page he can update and add content to? If its the latter Wordpress offers free blog sites with a membership (free also) and is incredibly easy to set up and maintain. If its the former then yeah the sites people recommended for templates are probably your best bet.

Rothgarr

mechaThor wrote: »

Does he want to create the website from scratch or just have a blog page he can update and add content to? If its the latter Wordpress offers free blog sites with a membership (free also) and is incredibly easy to set up and maintain. If its the former then yeah the sites people recommended for templates are probably your best bet.

Mostly a blog page he can add content to (eventually swap out a logo, add a few category pages, etc.). But yeah, very simple at first. He'll post about video games, upload drawings he made or pictures he took, etc.

I was wondering how Wordpress or Typepad would be for something like that.

Qorzm

Try the Squarespace free trial

Fallingman

I don't know whether you are a mac user, but iWeb would be ideal.

Improvolone

Xaquin wrote: »

Though I'm not a 7 year old, I have the web site building knowledge of one. Is there a template on any of those to set up an online store? I do some metal and wood working and would love to sell some of it online, but I have no idea how I would even start to build a web page people could buy from.

www.etsy.com

Sharp101

If you download and install wordpress on a simple hosting server, with some of your help you should be able to do whatever you wanted.

To the other poster, there are free wordpress online store plugins that with a little work can be forwarded to a paypal payment gateway that accepts credit cards. The products are managed within wordpress admin, and a invoice and total are sent to paypal.

MrDelish

Sharp101 wrote: »

If you download and install wordpress on a simple hosting server, with some of your help you should be able to do whatever you wanted.

To the other poster, there are free wordpress online store plugins that with a little work can be forwarded to a paypal payment gateway that accepts credit cards. The products are managed within wordpress admin, and a invoice and total are sent to paypal.

yeah WordPress is super easy to use

Scosglen

I don't know. I was about 10 or 11 when I made a pure HTML pokemon website on angelfire.

I think you would be surprised how some kids can learn coding.

It will be less...actually usable than a blog, but he'll probably learn a lot more if he gets into the nuts and bolts.

Kuroi Ookami

This site may be helpful. I loved it when I was starting out with learning HTML and webpage basic building. Hell, I still use it on occasion. It was created with children in mind.

http://www.lissaexplains.com/

Rothgarr

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll try those out. And yeah, he's on a mac and I totally forgot about iWeb -- I'll check that out, too.

amateurhour

There's a great piece of software out there called Web Easy that gets upgraded yearly, much like antivirus software. You might even be able to find last years copy on clearance for about $10, but a new copy is only $40 or so.

It's got a pretty good cms (content manager for the blog) and it's purely template/drag and drop based.

I've used it as an attachment to my wordpress sites for the online store functionality, because it also has paypal and ebay plugins.

edit: when you say web easy, you have to say it like Vince Vaughan in Be Cool, all like "Webeeeezzy" It'll make your 7 year old laugh.

Monolithic_Dome

Improvolone wrote: »

Xaquin wrote: »

Though I'm not a 7 year old, I have the web site building knowledge of one. Is there a template on any of those to set up an online store? I do some metal and wood working and would love to sell some of it online, but I have no idea how I would even start to build a web page people could buy from.

www.etsy.com

Expanding on that a little, I think you could do well by starting both an etsy store and a blog on Blogger or Wordpress. As you make new things, you make posts on the blog that detail the project, maybe describe the materials you used and photos of the project as it progresses, then link to the etsy store to buy it. A lot of times seeing the craftsmanship, materials, etc. behind the object makes it a much more appealing purchase.

Another site you could use for the selling things part is http://makersmarket.com/

Xaquin

wow, thanks all (including the OP, whose thread I sidetracked a little)

GungHo

Reznik wrote: »

Xaquin wrote: »

Though I'm not a 7 year old, I have the web site building knowledge of one. Is there a template on any of those to set up an online store? I do some metal and wood working and would love to sell some of it online, but I have no idea how I would even start to build a web page people could buy from.

You don't want to mess around with online stores. They need a ton of security. Get a pro to do it for you.

Yeah, or just stick w/ eBay.

Online stores are a hassle unless you have the economies of scale to run your own shop (i.e. Amazon). You're better off going through a third party to handle all transactions otherwise. Little mistakes can cost you a lot of money.

Cyrus106

I have advice on how to make a website, but an online store I would suggest highly against doing. A good place to make free websites is www.freewebs.com I believe

NotYou

wordpress is so easy to make a blog on. Probably can do everything your kid wants for free.

fryguy173

Try checking out "Market Theme" (http://www.markettheme.com/)

It's a Wordpress ecommerce theme that's about as easy as it goes. It builds off Wordpress, but adds in a shopping cart system that connects to your Paypal account.

There's a free online demo you can try out at the website.

Kabitzy

This may seem silly but, uh, I learned HTML and how to make webpages on Neopets when I was like 9 years old. Neopets these days, however, seems to want to overload kids with ads and shit, so I don't recommend it. Whenever he wants to progress from blog templates, here's the site I used to make all my web pages as a kid:
http://daydreamgraphics.com/
Just find a free webhost.

Also, if he ever wants to make a forum for his webpage (they're fun to edit, and there's tons of cool codes to find) he can host one at http://www.invisionfree.com/

God speed to him, god knows I spent a lot of my youth making forums and web pages for all the ridiculous RPG stuff I used to do.

JacksWastedLife

I work on the team behind http://www.drupalgardens.com

One of our UX designers has a 7 year old that has created his own site to post pictures and blog about muscle cars.

Demerdar

Set him with an account at geocities.