Making a simple website

[scrimper]

Since I first went on line in 1997 (can't believe it's 20yrs ago) I have always wanted to make a website covering Fretworking, scrollsaws and the history of the Hobbies company, also giving advice on machines and saw blades etc, I also want to put some free simple patterns for people to try out. I stress I want to do it to encourage people to take up the hobby and promote fretworking, I shall not be making any money from it.

Last night I had a go with Google sites but I found it very hit and miss and quite frustrating, it also seems limited in what one can do with it. I have seen references to other free site creators such as wix and Weebly.

I just wondered if there are any folks here who have created a simple site and can they offer a little advice on which is the best way to start. I only want a simple site to see whether I can actually do it or whether it is at all worthwhile.

 

[MattRoberts]

Take a look at WordPress. They offer a free site with a WordPress subdomain, and if you decide to stick with it you can upgrade to a paid version with your own domain name.

I use it for my company website - it's simple enough to use, and has lots of templates to choose from

 

[MrTeroo]

+1 for Wordpress and you could also try Joomla

https://demo.joomla.org/

Both of these have a thriving dev community creating useful plugins

 

[El Barto]

Good shout on Wordpress. There are lots of things out there so if you can have a look around and see what looks best for you. For work I use Cargo - it's a paid service ($9 per month) and for the most part the sky's the limit with it. You can either choose a theme or build it yourself, or do a bit of both. You'll also be able to use your own domain name. It's an invitation only service but I'd be happy to send you one if you're interested.

Tumblr is more of a blog format than Wordpress but is useful in its only way, if only for the amount of free themes/looks available. It's also much simpler to use than Wordpress, the interface of which can initially be a bit overwhelming (it may have been updated now to be more user friendly). It's free and again you can use your own domain name.

I've seen a lot of advertising for Square Space though I've never used it. Might be worth a look.

One thing I definitely do think is that you certainly can do it - it's much more simple than it looks although it's very intimidating to start with.

Good luck!

 

[linkshouse]

Scrimper,

I have pm'd you.

Regards

Phill

 

[donwatson]

+1 for Wordpress and I have used Joomla

take care
Don W

 

[marcros]

i have a aged macbook. The main reason that I stick with apple is for the Rapidweaver programme, which I have used for making several websites. The learning curve is pretty easy and I think that I have had good results with it. I dont currently have a need for a site, but had a play around with it before Christmas for an idea I had. Prob not worth buying an apple computer for that alone, but if you have one...

 

[scrimper]

Thanks for all the advice. I will have a go and let you know how I get on.

 

[xiphidius]

If you want to get up and running quickly and not get bogged down in coding and formatting protocols of language based web development tools then just go for one of the online what you see is what you get types build a website in minutes..Although I can code i have used these many a time for clubs and associations....some are better than others so check them out..Google is your friend here. http://www.top10bestwebsitebuilders...&ts=c&topic=&gclid=CL7fpdPkydECFQkq0wodQvYJLQ
Regards
C

 

[marcros]

on thing to consider is that you will get some free themes with many of these programs. What I have found though, is if you spend a few pounds you can get a much nicer, and less commonly used theme from a third party. Certainly with the Rapidweaver ones, they cost £20-£30, but you can try them out first, and see what you think. I am sure wordpress is similar because I believe that it is theme based too.

 

[morturn]

+1 wordpress, easy, free and findable

 

[morfa]

Well funnily enough roughly 20 years ago I started writing websites. I still do, but I do it for a living now.

If you want something simple you can setup in an evening (and for a sensible free attach a domain name to) then wordpress.com is a easy way to get started.

If you want to learn a bit more about the technical side of things, setting up a database, setting up the software etc, then you can buy some webhosting and do it yourself. Be warned, this will take most people a good few evenings to get going. Then you'll need to expend time and effort keeping the site going. But if you want to build your own site, then that's a good way to go. I have in the past used these people:

https://www.34sp.com/professional-hosting - go for the cheapest option. Then install a copy of wordpress.

 

[scrimper]

Thanks for all the advice. I have watched a few youtube videos on creating a simple wordpress site but they all stress that you need to get your own domain name and pay for web hosting to start.

To be honest at this stage I don't want to spend money setting something up and find for one reason or another I can't or don't wish to continue, so I think I will have to try one of the ones that supply free hosting at least to start with, I don't mind paying for hosting and a name later on if I find I can make something that is of interest if you get my drift.

 

[Jacob]

If you just want a simple site with text, basic graphic design, images, links, (i.e. all you really need) then you could do it direct with html. You can compose a whole working site on your computer before laying out for domain name and web space. Google "simple webs sites with html" etc.

 

[MattRoberts]

Thanks for all the advice. I have watched a few youtube videos on creating a simple wordpress site but they all stress that you need to get your own domain name and pay for web hosting to start.

To be honest at this stage I don't want to spend money setting something up and find for one reason or another I can't or don't wish to continue, so I think I will have to try one of the ones that supply free hosting at least to start with, I don't mind paying for hosting and a name later on if I find I can make something that is of interest if you get my drift.

As I mentioned earlier, you can get a free one and then upgrade to buying a domain name later

https://wordpress.com/pricing/

 

[scrimper]

This is the sort of thing I am looking at, this is a capture of my 1st attempt on Google sites.

Please note this has not been published nor is it what will actually be on the site I was just tring it out to see if I can get anywhere.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Scrimper: Have a look at https://wordpress.com/

Just try it - it is really easy.

You can do what you need, it's free, it's safe, it can grow if you want.

Don't use Wordpress's CMS - it's unsafe, complex and not too helpful. The simple one above will meet your need.

 

[MattRoberts]

This may be of interest: http://www.techradar.com/news/the-best- ... te-builder

 

[scrimper]

Thanks for the comments folks.

I wanted a website rather than a forum or a facebook page for the following reasons.

Forum.
Several already exit inc this one which is the best. However as I mentioned in an earlier post, when I spend ages typing (yes my typing and composition is very slow) out some info (mostly babble) it soon disappears off the pages as threads move on and it takes ages to either search for it or type again and I feel it would be nice when someone asks about blades (for example) if I could just say there is lot's of info about this on my website and give a link to the page, also I want to have section about history of the hobby and a forum is not the place for that sort of thing (except when asked a direct question about the subject) most people are not interested in that aspect of the hobby either.

Facebook page.
Most of the reasons above also apply to facebook with the added problem that there are still a lot of people who avoid facebook like the plague which I fully understand given the amount of utterly pointless drivel that is posted there. Don't get me wrong I think the facebook idea is good and it can be really interesting to exchange opinions and pictures etc but unfortunately I would suggest that 80% of what is posted on facebook is irrelevant garbage of no interest to most people and worthwhile posts get swamped by the endless pictures of breakfast and lunch eaten and the top most pointless post I saw was a friend of mine stating that she was going to the Toilet! I was only relieved (no pun intended) that she did not post a picture of herself on it!

Hope this make some sense.

 

[nev]

Thread edited due to not very helpful bickering by the usual suspects. Please do not continue it. Apologies to those helpful well meaning posters that got caught in the edit.

Scrimper you are at no fault whatsoever please continue


EDIT.

BTW in case its not clear in the above suggestions for Wordpress there are two versions of Wordpress, a simple (as in insert text and pics here) free version and a slightly less simple not free version.