Hello!
I own and run a website. I haven't opted for a homepage! You can view it at
www.niemiro.co.uk However, there are a lot of pages behind the scenes, just not on the homepage. It is to manage auto-updaters for the applications I have written, to provide me with nice email addresses (I also have another domain under my surname, for my personal email address, but that is private
)
Let me take you through it.
Can you do it, with good computer skill! Yes you can! Web development is reasonably easy, and can be done by someone with reasonable computer skill.
First, you need somewhere to hose your website. You can host off your own computer, and you will find instructions for this online, but avoid this. It opens security holes in your computer (you are letting people from across the world access certain folders actually ON your computer - are you ABSOLUTELY sure you haven't given them access to your financial records as well!? Also, it will be incredibly slow, you need to keep it on 24/7, and you need to keep it updated, worried about hackers etc. etc. - I shall not go into details)
So, where do you find a host? In a big data centre!
For your very first website, you might consider Free-Webs. This will quickly and easily let you create a website. You get ads, and the like, but quick and easy:
Webs - Make a free website, get free hosting
Alternatively, once you have outgrown FreeWebs, you need something more powerful. There are loads and loads of free hosts out there, all with their merits. Some will allow this language, others that. We can help you decide once you get to that stage.
Eventually, you will need to pay, if you want a serious website. I pay £2.99 per month for my webhosting. I also needed a complicated language, for which I paid a premium. You can get cheaper than that.
Some Internet Service Providers will also provide website builders and space. My ISP does, but it was rubbish! But do investigate your ISP.
Many of these will have something called a website builder. You drag on controls and templates, and write your text. Very soon, a fantastic website!
So, you have chosen your host, and used a website builder. How about the domain, such as
www.whateveryouwant.com
Well, again, your host may well provide, such as
example.webs.com
But this isn't very nice. Now, take a .co.cc address:
CO.CC - Free Domain name registration + Free DNS service.
This is free. So, now you have a nice website hosted on something like webs.com. You also have a nice .co.cc domain redirecting to it. All free of charge!
If you want a true .co.uk/.com address, then again, it costs money. Some extensions (such as .tv) can cost over £100 a year. I get my two .co.uk addresses for £5.95 per year, each, minimum contract length, two years.
Excellent deal! It really is very cheap these days!
There are a lot of different languages. If you want to create really advanced websites with databases and lookups, you need to have a server which supports an advanced language, such as Asp.Net, or PHP. PHP is very easy to find. Asp.Net is exactly not, but I wanted Asp.Net, hence my premium.
I will talk a little more about this if you wish, but I also don't want to overload you!
1: Choose a host.
2: Use the website builder
3: Get a .co.cc address
If you want to create a forum or something, then there are slight differences, but I will talk about these in more detail when I know more about what you want to do.
The very best of luck!
Richard
