Web design & hosting forum: Creating a web site - a real beginner needs advice

Creating a web site - a real beginner needs advice

I looked back several months in this forum before writing this & all the posts that look like a beginner was writing, turned out to still be way too advanced for me. All of the terminology used I did not know. Is there anywhere I can get (short of buying a book for "dummies") a REAL basic explanation of what I need to do to get started? I'd prefer something free or low cost. There is no money to purchase special software so whatever I use needs to be really simple & WYSIWYG. I envision the site to have a few pages with pictures & text. So if someone could help me by explaining in very basic terms, what I need to do to get started & recommendations on what to use to create, it would be greatly appreciated.

Simple

1. Download Kompozer (or Nvu) for free and design your web site.
2. Register a domain for ~$10/yr
3. Get hosting for about ~$5 a month (or cheaper if you buy a year in advance)

If you follow 1, 2 and 3, you can have a fully functional web site on the Internet.

That's pretty much it. Btw, 2 and 3 are easy, but #1 may take some time. You can follow some tutorials for Kompozer here: www.thesitewizard.com/topics/kompozer.shtml

~Sovereign

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Web Design

You should design a simple website using any software like dreamweaver or frontpage becasue it would be easy to handle. Then blue host is reliable hosts company to host your website.

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Creating a web site - a real beginner needs advice

Don't you have to purchase Frontpage & programs like it? This is for a non-profit organization that has no money, as I stated above. I'm going to try Kompozer, as suggested above but if there are any others that are free and really easy, I'd love to hear about them. I still am not really getting the basics from anyone. I don't understand how you can create a web site without getting to see what it looks like until you pay money to some host. What if you don't like the way it looks or what they offer & now you're stuck with them.
I really need more basic information before I get started. Thanks.

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You don't need a host

to see what it looks like. A host is for others to see the web site. While you are designing, you can preview the code "executed" in any browser on your computer - no Internet required.

~Sovereign

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site designers

FrontPage is the older, most commonly known as a corporate tool.

Then theres ExpressionWeb and SharePoint Designer, the newer version to replace the FrontPage problems, they are both the same for the most part, except you have to buy SharePoint Designer only because a few extra features added, ExpressionWeb works just as good and is FREE.
(Microsoft just changed names on the two programs and added some tweaks so they can call the same program somthing else and market it to big businesses)

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free hosting

try doteasy.com, you will get one year free hosting, and a free website builder software to make your website.

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Try MS Publisher

You can easily create the pages for a website in Microsoft Publisher. There are numerous templates and layouts to get you started, then just fill in the blanks. While you don't need to know HTML and codes and all the other technical aspects of creating web pages, it does help to have a good understanding of using Publisher and/or Word to customize your site. There is a Web Page Preview feature that allows you to see how the finished pages will appear and function online prior to uploading the files to your web host. At that point, you'll need a domain name and a host to get your website online.

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MS Publisher

As I said above, the organization I am trying to help has little or no money to purchase software & neither do I, so I'd really appreciate any other advice on FREE & easy publishing software only. Thanks anyway.

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Free non profit hosting and web

From www.nonprofitwebhosting.org/:
Traverse Global Web Hosting will help you enhance your visibility and image in the community by providing you with a FREE Professional Web Presence. You will receive a completely preconfigured website that can easily be maintained without costly programs or special programming skills.

Anyone who can cut and paste a word document or insert images can easily maintain a fresh, professional image for current and prospective members/contributors! Visit our non profit demonstration website to see the incredible amount of content already programmed.

This might be worth checking out for you guys. If your looking for more than this and can pay for hosting most top web hosts (lunarpages, hostgator, hostmonster to name a few) have free sitebuilding tools that are not hard to figure out even without any coding skills www.castironhostingreview.com. Another option would be to try and find a college student that has web design skills that is looking for an non-paid Internship. Best of luck

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