Having a website.

[Stupot]

I want to get my website off the ground.  I don't really have any services to offer, nor do I have much in the way of original material to showcase (but I do hope to build a portfolio of stuff - writing, photography etc - over the coming year).  Really, I just want to have a webiste.

Web design is something I've always had a niggling interest in but rarely the time to do anything about it.  I suppose I'm after two things really...

1) Inspiration - What does everybody else have in their websites?  Do you offer a service? What can I include that will make my site worth visiting?

2) Tips - What ways can I make web-building easier on myself.  I know some basic html and some even more basic css, but I don't want to get bogged down in scripting if I can help it.  I haven't got a lot of time on my hands.

My site is currently a bit of a mess, but the idea is there, and now I'm back from Japan I just wanted to start again really, and do it properly this time.

http://www.toxicsock.co.uk

[auriond]

Heh - my first comment would be, if you have a domain, don't host it on Geocities. Get yourself a good host with no ads (PM members in this forum, including myself, if you need a little webspace). Build your website with a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get, i.e. minimal need to mess with HTML) editor like Frontpage or Dreamweaver and upload it to your webspace.

And in case you don't have Frontpage or Dreamweaver (or find them difficult to use for whatever reason), here's a list of freeware WYSIWYG editors:

http://www.nonags.com/nonags/htmledit.html

Another tip: keep your layout clean and easy to navigate. Busy backgrounds may just turn a new visitor off.

As for inspiration - my main homepage is hardly visited by anyone, but my game website is pretty popular. It offers just one service, and that's everything related to the game: people subscribed to my mailing list get first look at any progress I have on my game. That's about it. I guess the lesson here is that you need to have content people are interested in. Some people have a blog about a certain theme (see the thread in Adventure Gaming Talk about game reviews in Yesterday's Salad). Some people just want to showcase their work to prospective clients; some have a product to offer... what do you wish to do with your website?

[Nikolas]

I will just answer question No. 1

1. I'm a composer, so I host my music there. mp3s, wav files, some projects, a few videos, news etc. And now I will add a blog, cause I just can't stop typing apparently... (and yes, I will make sure to spell check it before publishing!  )

I offer services, but not exactly through the site. For me it's like "hi, I'm nikolas, a composer, if you want me to write music for your game contact me. You can hear samples of my music on my site..." There's not much else going on to my site atm. At some point I was considering selling my CDs and so on, but nia... never mind for now.

As auriond said, find a nice clean web host. Geoshites are exactly what I wrote!

On design, I didn't designed it, it's in flahs, and paid to get it done, but it looks great (imho of course)

[Evil]

I just jumped in the same boat you did. I bought some web space and a domain recently just because I wanted to have my own website. Not that I have a lot to it yet, but it doesn't matter. Unless you have a service you need to provide, there's no rush to get a full website going right away. Build it up slow.

[Oliwerko]

OK, about the WYSIWYG editors. My opinion is, that it is probably crap to use them, because the output code is not "clear". I mean, once you begin to edit your site with Dreamweaver, Frontpage or anything like that, you have VERY limited understanding when you look in that code. I know that it is easy to use WYSIWYG, BUT: Unless you know anything about PHP, Java script and so on, you CAN'T do this things in these editors. These editors let you easily get HTML, and some basic things to PREPARE it for PHP or so. So my advice is: Get a HTML learning book ( Few pages, can be learned by a kid in one day ) and do not mess with WYSIWYG unless you have extremely good reason. I have seen WYSIWYG sites not running in some browsers because of that "dirty" code. When you write it yourself,you have nice, understandable clean code.

For me, there are two best ways to do a website:
1. Write it in Notepad. Simple. Use HTML and PHP if you can.
2. Do it completely in Flash. There are tons of tutorials on it and it looks gorgeous. It is not SO difficult.

http://www.tutorialized.com/ - look into flash tutorials, there are website making ones there.

Well, I do not have my own web, because I simply do not need it. Hope I helped a little...

[Buckethead]

http://www.htmltutorials.ca/

Those are some nice tutorials 

Perhaps you could also download some free template and mod it to your own needs. In that case you could use a WYSIWYG editor as the code is already written for you.

[Ghost]

I have a website and will happily confess that I mostly have it, well, to have it. I rigged it up as some sort of "game page" for my WIP, and then added to it. It's a bit of a coder's diary, a collection of little stories and hints. Nothing special, but I must admit it helps me to stay focussed. It's popular with the ladies, too 

I dare say that even the fact that you WONDER what to put on the site makes you more thinking than about 60% of all those people having a site. There are so many hobbyists out there just telling the world that they are there. So why not have a site, and add something you can stay true to?

I admit I went the easy road and chose freewebs. It's enough for me, and I just don't want to cough up money to have a small site. Should that game be done, though, I think it'll be sensible to get a host with fewer restrictions...

[auriond]

I'm not the best coder in the world - my code is definitely not the cleanest, and I am no CSS expert - but I learned HTML by using WYSIWYG editors, specifically that dreaded monster Frontpage. That's why I recommended started off with those. I would fiddle with the site until I had it looking like how I wanted it, and then I studied the HTML to see what did what. It's one way to start off if you're the impatient type like me. Just a suggestion.

Of course, now I agree with Oliwerko 100%, but then it's been several years since. It all depends on how comfortable you are with HTML right now.

[ManicMatt]

Look at my website in my sig for what happens when you attempt to use just frontpage with little understanding of HTML! I'm going into a corner now to hide my face...

[LimpingFish]

I "built" my site (Yes, all ONE page of it!), here, using NetObjects Fusion. Took me all of five minutes to layout and code. I don't know HTML from a hole in wall, never mind anything more taxing.

I think if you plan to update something on a regular basis, a blog may suit better.

[Radiant]

Real Men Use Notepad.

[Gilbert]

* Gilbot V7000a did use NotePad to make his homepage.

[zabnat]

Real Men Use Notepad.

Pfft. Some windows thing. Then you have to tranfer the files to the server after you finish. I created the files directly on the server using nano, much easier.

[SSH]

Real Men use vi

[tube]

There are several good references and tutorials around the net if you're willing to learn (x)html, google should help you. WYSIWYG gives me the heebie jeebies, but that might just be my perfectionism and software designer/coder background talking. Just pick a good html/text editor that does syntax colouring. Can't think of a windows app from the top of my head, but there are bound to be plenty.

I find myself doing the odd php/html/css hacking job with nano (or whatever console text editor is available) directly on the server just like that fellow crazy finn suggested, but definitely not because I find that method particularly enjoyable. And whatever anyone says, writing good, cross-browser html and css markup is far from easy.

PS: I can't understand why anyone would put up a webpage just for the sake of having one. But then again, I can't understand why most of this stuff they call web 2.0 is so popular either...

[Oliwerko]

Real Men Use Notepad.

Nicely said.

auriond, It is also a way, but isn't it easier to learn html ?
It is REALLY simple, my book which I bought years ago in smaller than A5 format has only 132 pages, along with big screenshots. I think it is best to get such a book. You will learn it by one weekend. Html is no big deal, only few tags to remember and to understand how links work.

[InCreator]

Well, for content suggestion, give people something they could get from you. I mean, if you're creative, give this.
Be it either nice art, pictures, web comics, movies, funny stories or jokes or anything else. Or a tutorial to something you know well. In other words, don't simply make a page of yourself, make it worth visiting.

For easy creation, I suggest Adobe Golive. It's easiest damn thing I've ever used yet.
It doesn't look easy at first, but once you've discovered that quite professional elements and looks are simply a click away, you'll fall in love. Everybody else usually suggest Dreamweaver, which I totally dislike.

Frontpage Express 3.0 is available to download if you're going for simple 'spaghetti', and it's sufficient enough to make a small page, without actually going hard way (notepad way). But this needs a bit of hardcore googleing to find.

[Oliwerko]

Actually, note pad is sometimes really easier. Formatting the text is for me much easier when I write directly into the code. Everyone has to try their own way and decide which is better. Of course there is advantage of using WYSIWIG editors, but it has to be considered. I would go for the "hard way".

[InCreator]

AFAIK, true professional code writers use FP or anything similar only to create tables. When I asked why, they responded: "it's simpler!".
Writing code by hand bonds you better to your page and has it's own advantages, but for a beginner, I imagine this as a mess and being lost in your own page code.

[Bluesman]

Actually, note pad is sometimes really easier. Formatting the text is for me much easier when I write directly into the code. Everyone has to try their own way and decide which is better. Of course there is advantage of using WYSIWYG editors, but it has to be considered. I would go for the "hard way".

Likewise. Dreamweaver for table layouts and various other code snippets (beats having to type it out in longhand, oh, and there's the handy fact that you can opt to type code in split-screen above a WYSIWYG display)... if it's a template for a dynamic site, it's then a good idea to bring it all online towards the end of the production phase to do some final debugging and tweaking, then you're pretty well good to go.

If you, your significant other, your school, college or university, or even your country can't afford a copy of Dreamweaver CS3, then Notepad++ is a brilliant little open source tool to use for HTML, XHTML, PHP, CSS... heck, just about everything!