Publishing a website
Aims of this website
One of the stated aims of this website is "to demonstrate that Internet based communication need not be expensive". Indeed it is not expensive, although cost has been one of the reasons given by Lydford Parish Council for not publishing information that really should have been made available to the public.
Websites, a cheap and easy way to publish
To anyone who has not tried it before, publishing a website might seem a complicated and daunting matter. In fact it need not be a lot more complicated than using a word processor.
Whilst it is possible to spend a great deal of money on a website, that is not necessary for a simple one such as this. A popular route is to use someone else to do the design and implementation. A Google UK search for "website design" gave 3,290,000 hits with the first few pages crammed with listings for firms offering just this service. Some of these firms, if supplied with initial content, will do everything required to get one an online presence. There may be additional costs for updates to the content of the website along with some delay if the website designer is busy at the time one wishes to post an urgent update. If cost is not a big consideration then there is a lot to be said for taking this route.
The cheapest way to publish a simple website that is unlikely to get huge numbers of visitors is to cut out the web designer and go direct to a web hosting service. First a warning. Whilst this is not particularly complicated it does require a willingness to dabble and to learn. Do not expect a lot of handholding from the hosting company
A Google UK search for "web hosting" gave 4,400,000 hits. In order to follow this route the first stage is to find a suitable firm to deal with and there are many to choose from offering a wide range of services and prices. At the time of writing one company is offering web hosting for £1.99 a month for 2GB with unlimited bandwidth. The price includes 10 'advanced' mailboxes. 2GB is ample for a simple website and this offer even comes with access to "SiteBuilder" a website creation program (see below).
Even cheaper, free in fact, is the offer by Microsoft under their Office Live Small Business scheme (see www.officelive.com/free-website?xid=c2logo) there is no charge for the 500MB of webspace provided and there is a website builder program available
Return to top of pageGetting started
The first stage is to decide what to call the website. This is the "www.mysite.com", or whatever, that one types in to the browser address bar. The web hosting company will typically have a section that allows one to type a name and see if anyone else has already taken it. If not the hosting company can register it. It is important to get the right name as it is a pain to change later on.
Once that is done, and making the rather large assumption that one knows just what one wants to say (i.e. the content), then the simplest way to proceed is to use a website creation program. There are a number of these available and typically website hosts provide access to one included in the price. Go to www.websitex5.com/en/info_evo.html for a good example of this type of program and for links to sites created with it. It is even possible to download a trial version of this software which can be run on a home computer to allow one to try out ideas even before committing to web hosting.
What one is buying from the web hosting company, or getting free from Microsoft, is space on their servers. The website creation program will create the files required and put them on the server. Using this type of program is not a lot more complicated than using a word processor and one can quickly get up and running using this method. The hosting company will generally provide access to tools that allows one to manage and keep a check on the website including visitor numbers and updates or additions can be made through the website creation program.
Return to top of pageBeyond website creation software
Website creation progams are relatively easy to use and a great way to get started. Some web designers use them, however, they may not produce the most efficient code. Although initially produced using this type of software, a program known as rvSitebuilder, this website now uses XHTML and CSS which is much more efficient although does take a little time and effort to learn.
For the technically minded XHTML is a markup language that allows one to label parts of the text as being a main heading, sub-heading, paragraph, list, table, etc. For instance "<h1> My web site </h1>" indicates that the words "My web site" should be a main heading. "<p> Hello and welcome to this site</p>" indicates that the text "Hello and welcome to this site" should be a paragraph. CSS is simply a way of formatting the various parts (headings, paragraphs, tables, etc) of the web page.
In fact it is possible to see the markup language behind a web site. In Internet Explorer 7 click on "Page" and then "View source". In FireFox 3 click "View" and then "Page Source" but do not be put off by the complexity of some web sites! For anyone familiar with the design of websites but not with CSS then go to www.csszengarden.com to see just how flexible this approach can be.
The point is that it is cheap and easy to get started with publishing to the web and one can develop from there as required.
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