Creating my Own Website

EmperorSeth

I'm trying to start my career as a writer, which these days requires you to set up a website and engage in self-marketing even before you get your book published. But I haven't made a website since college, and I don't really know where to start. What is the general process for someone who has some programming and html experience but doesn't really have a good handle on how to start? I could hire someone, and I have at least one friend who does this sort of work, but I'd rather not spend the money or have problems when I have to update it. And my little freaking brother just designed a web site for his new company so screw that.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

You can use wordpress if you just want a site that will display things you write. They have some templates for different looks, but they're all fairly formulaic. There are also some services that will develop a template site for you, like 1and1. They're ultimately still templates but you can customize some more things and probably get at least some support (never used them myself.)

If you already have some markup-writing skills and don't mind installing and learning a CMS, I like moveabletype. The consumer version is free and it's pretty flexible without being too hard to understand if you already have a handle on xhtml.

EmperorSeth

I want to start a little before that, even. I want to pick out a registrar and webhost before I get into actually designing the site. I could probably set up some things beforehand, but I'd like to know I have a name I can use before I work on the rest, and this gives at least the illusion of forward progress. Can anyo0ne recommend a place outside of godaddy?

etdragon

I really like BlueHost for hosting/domain registration. I think they are super affordable and they have really fantastic customer service that you can actually call on the phone if you have issues.

Derrick

EmperorSeth wrote:

I want to start a little before that, even. I want to pick out a registrar and webhost before I get into actually designing the site. I could probably set up some things beforehand, but I'd like to know I have a name I can use before I work on the rest, and this gives at least the illusion of forward progress. Can anyo0ne recommend a place outside of godaddy?

What's wrong with godaddy?

EmperorSeth

Nothing technically, but I heard nothing but unpleasant things about the people involved.

EmperorSeth

My reasonably humble goal for tomorrow is to get the registrar and the webhost figured out (or just a webhost that does domain registration,) by tomorrow evening, and then have the tools I'll use to actually make the website decided upon. I don't mind designing the web site myself and even learning the necessary tools as I go. I just hate the sensation of being surrounded by a sea of infinite choices without enough knowledge base to even know what I want. I could spend years researching this stuff, which is really the problem.

Sharp101

As a freelance web developer, I recommend Dreamhost to all my clients. They're reliable, have great customer service, provide a great admin panel, and lots of extra goodies.

wmelon

Sharp101 wrote:

As a freelance web developer, I recommend Dreamhost to all my clients. They're reliable, have great customer service, provide a great admin panel, and lots of extra goodies.

I second this whole-heartedly. I've been with them for almost a decade now.

.red

This thread may be a bit outdated but I feel the need to say this;

Hey EmperorSeth. I was reading this forum (looking for a new place to post and hitch a tent on the vast web) and I came upon this thread. Let me say that I myself have come to the same turn about. For the longest time, it was always an ambition to write books and after a series of events that happened in the last few months, I decided it was time to stop dreaming and to instead, take that step forward

I came to the same result as you did, and yes - it's very intimidating. I didn't know where to find a lot of the right information I needed in making a website. I had some experience (xhtml + css knowledge) but the amount of options available seemed overwhelming. Luckily, I had an online buddy that I've known for just under a decade who works on websites and he has given me a good footing. And just like you mentioned about GoDaddy, i had heard the same thing from this friend who also mentioned certain problems when it came to their support. Thus, I turned that away and signed up with another host that he recommended - Dreamhost. To register the domain name, I used moniker as well.

It's a "learn-as-you-go" process I've been figuring, and I myself have been using Drupal as my CMS. It's tough and I'm restricted on time between my university studies for the last two weeks, but keep going at it and you'll do fine.