# Building a website..need help / advice



## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

Hey all,

I'm getting MS Front Page soon, and I want to build a website relating to the helicopter I fly on. 
Since I haven't got the software yet, let me ask about which web hosting services people might recommned? I'll be paying out of my own pocket for the site, unless I look into getting links that would offset the costs (i.e. search engine's, weather, etc). Of course, I don't know anything about that either. I would need alot of space since I will be putting up pics and movies. I'm guessing aroung 500mb or so, but just a guess. Anyone have any suggestions??

Thanks,
PaveFE


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

Your current ISP may offer hosting for your web site and if they don't just go with a reputable local ISP that offers what you need. Why may I ask are you going to use FP as opposed to another editor?


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Rockn:_
> *Your current ISP may offer hosting for your web site and if they don't just go with a reputable local ISP that offers what you need. Why may I ask are you going to use FP as opposed to another editor? *


Because I'm getting it for free and I didn't want to pay $300 for something like that.


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

You get what you pay for!


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Rockn:_
> *You get what you pay for!  *


What are some other good one's and their prices?


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## websurfer (Jun 24, 2002)

Check out this page, it hsa several plans.

http://hostultra.com/


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

Looks very good and reasonably priced too. Thanks for the link.


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## websurfer (Jun 24, 2002)

Your welcome

You might even look into setting up your own server.


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## codejockey (Feb 11, 2002)

I highly recommend rcthost.com -- fast, dependable, affordable and with excellent technical support.

Hope this helps.


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## CyBerAliEn (Nov 25, 2001)

PaveFE:

I would highly recommend checking the following site before choosing a host:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com

Unfortunately there are a lot of scams and fraud concerning hosting because, since it is summer, there happens to be a lot of children who have "hosting businesses" with unbelievable features with amazingly low prices. You do get what you pay for in concern to hosting. So if you see something being offered for about an average price of say $40 a month at different places (and about same features), and some other place has it for $4.95, be extremely aware!

Also to note: "unlimited" space/bandwidth DOES NOT EXIST. If you see a host offering such a plan, do not host with them; your only asking for trouble.

If you ask a question or such at the forum mentioned above, you should get some suggestions of some reputable places to look into. However, I'd advise against posting in any of the "requests" boards because most of the response are from very "fishy" people and the reputable hosts generally do not post there for such reasons.

As for FrontPage; there is nothing wrong with it for what it does. You should be able to make a good website with it.


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

Thanks Cyber for your input, sounds like great advice. Just what one would expect from TSG. I will check out the link. 
Thanks to everyone for their input's. If anyone has anymore about buildng a website, please feel free to steer me in the right direction.


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## CyBerAliEn (Nov 25, 2001)

I don't really have any further input at the moment, but if you have any questions about a web host or designing your site, feel free to contact me and I'll try to help you out.


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

I would suggest www.ICDSoft.com it's the service I use and it's great. I've never had any downtime and customer service has always been that day ussually within the hour. You get a database, php support, and 333mb of disk space. They will also register your domain all for $65.

As for html editor. I used frontpage once and was very displeased with the results. When I looked at the actual code there was a lot of added garbage. This could slow down the load time for your page. If you want a wysiwyg program I recomend dreamweaver. If you are willing to learn I recommend actually coding the page yourself with a program like HTML-Kit(it's free!).

P.S. if you do decide to use ICDSoft tell them I refered you to them!(worth a try, but seriously it is a good service)


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

I would suggest www.ICDSoft.com it's the service I use and it's great. I've never had any downtime and customer service has always been that day ussually within the hour. You get a database, php support, and 333mb of disk space. They will also register your domain all for $65.

As for html editor. I used frontpage once and was very displeased with the results. When I looked at the actual code there was a lot of added garbage. This could slow down the load time for your page. If you want a wysiwyg program I recomend dreamweaver. If you are willing to learn I recommend actually coding the page yourself with a program like HTML-Kit(it's free!).

P.S. if you do decide to use ICDSoft tell them I refered you to them!(worth a try, but seriously it is a good service)


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Fyzbo:_
> *I would suggest www.ICDSoft.com it's the service I use and it's great. I've never had any downtime and customer service has always been that day ussually within the hour. You get a database, php support, and 333mb of disk space. They will also register your domain all for $65.
> 
> As for html editor. I used frontpage once and was very displeased with the results. When I looked at the actual code there was a lot of added garbage. This could slow down the load time for your page. If you want a wysiwyg program I recomend dreamweaver. If you are willing to learn I recommend actually coding the page yourself with a program like HTML-Kit(it's free!).
> ...


How come you don't list Dreamweaver on your resume?


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Fyzbo:_
> *I would suggest www.ICDSoft.com it's the service I use and it's great. I've never had any downtime and customer service has always been that day ussually within the hour. You get a database, php support, and 333mb of disk space. They will also register your domain all for $65.
> 
> As for html editor. I used frontpage once and was very displeased with the results. When I looked at the actual code there was a lot of added garbage. This could slow down the load time for your page. If you want a wysiwyg program I recomend dreamweaver. If you are willing to learn I recommend actually coding the page yourself with a program like HTML-Kit(it's free!).
> ...


How come you don't list Dreamweaver on your resume? Just so you know, I have no idea what "wysiwyg" progam means, although I gather it is a web site design tool?? I am willing to learn, but what do you mean by "coding the page" myself?


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

as an afterthought, if you do intend to have video, when choosing a hosting company make sure to note the amount of bandwidth allowed each month as you will be using a lot. If you can find something with unlimited which is somewhat reasonable go with that. You best bet may be to set up your own server, in the long run it may be less expensive.


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Fyzbo:_
> *as an afterthought, if you do intend to have video, when choosing a hosting company make sure to note the amount of bandwidth allowed each month as you will be using a lot. If you can find something with unlimited which is somewhat reasonable go with that. You best bet may be to set up your own server, in the long run it may be less expensive. *


I looked it up on webopedia, I got it now.


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

What You See Is What You Get(WYSIWYG) Simply put, you drag or paste an image there and that's what you have. By actually coding a page I mean to say write the HTML that puts an image on a page. Write the image tag yourself and link to where the image is. I don't put dreamweaver on my resume as I don't enjoy using it so I never became truly proficient at it. I like to see the code I'm writing. Although I've used DreamWeaver and agree that the code it produces is the cleanest, if given the choice I use HTML-Kit(or notepad).


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

I've never heard or used HTML-Kit (please bear with me), is that like a utility that I can use to build my site in something like MS Word?
Or is it a program and can I only use it if I have my own server? 


I.E. how do I use it to build a site? 

Thanks for the help.....this stuff is really interesting.


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

http://www.chami.com/html-kit/download/

HTML-Kit is a stand alone application. It is more complicated to use then microsoft word, frontpage, or dreamweaver in that you are expected to know HTML. HTML-Kit gives you a word editor like windows notepad and connects it to a browser like internet explorer. I find this very useful in that I can write a page, quickly click the preview tab and see what I wrote. If you really want to learn web pages I suggest this in that you will really see how HTML works. Almost every webpage on the internet is written in HTML. Go to any page in internet explorer and click view-->source and you can actually see the HTML used. After you have created the HTML and your happy with the preview, you can simply file-->save and give it a name. Then upload that file to your server. There are a lot of people here that are great with HTML who can help whenever you run into trouble. Also not a bad idea to pick up a book on HTML or find some nice tutorial sites. Good luck!


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

Thanks Fyzbo, sounds like the way I want to go (maybe). I'm really interested in different facets of computer use (web design, database, etc) so I'll give this a try. 
One more question though (I'm sure I'll have many more once I start), once I build this thing, can I buy a web hosting service and put it on there? Or do I have to have my own server? I'm paying for this out of my own pocket, so I want to keep the costs down (no more than around $20/month, give or take).


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

Once you create a site it can then be placed on a server. If the site is all HTML and JavaScript(which is how you will most likely start) it can be placed on ANY server. Once you start to want things like message boards, polls, and interactive things such as that you will need to choose another language. Things like this need a database and something like PHP and ASP(those are the 2 most popular). Most paid hosts offer at least one so you will be ok.


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

PaveFE, is this your first website? If it is I think it may be beneficial to sign up for a free hosting service like www.brinkster.com You obviously loose out on things like extra space and your own domain name, but it will give you a chance to see your work on the web. Once you have a site you are really proud of and willing to pay for then work on a better host. I say this because sometimes people will start paying for hosting, but don't get anything on it for a couple of months! Talk about a waste of money.


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

Here's what I envision:

It's a website for us aircrew members who fly on the MH-53J/M PaveLow helicopter. We have three squadrons (1 in FL, 1 in NM, and 1 in England) and I want it to be useful to all three squadrons, in that it will provide links to various weather services, NOTAM's, Mission Planning, safety, etc. 
I also want a section that will have pictures, one with movies (not many, but some are kind of big), one with some other media stuff such as ppt templates for briefings, some wav files, and word documents. I will have alot of links to various websites, and some pages that have each units historical background, and a section that will show good books to read. 
I will also want a clock on the bottom to show Zulu time, a guestbook, maybe a forum, and background music when it opens too. I think having a Google toolbar there too would be nice. And possibly a voting thing so I can see if they would approve of certain things changing on the website. 

I will probably need quite a bit of disk space (500mb or so), and there will be quite a bit of us who will use the site.

Hopefully this explains what I'm looking to do.


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## CyBerAliEn (Nov 25, 2001)

PaveFE:

_In concern to web hosting:_

Since you intend to do video, bandwidth will be an important feature for your account. You'll also want to be careful on what host you choose. There are hosts with great features and really low prices. But the reason the prices are so low is that a lot of hosts who do it "cheap", oversell. This means they sell large packages (lots of web space, lots of bandwidth) and fill up a server that cannot in actuality perform the maximums of everyone's package. If you have a package for example with these kinds of hosts and you have a bandwidth limit of say 10gb, and you use nearly all 10gb, they are likely to cancel your account under some "misc" policy because they do not intend people to actually use all of the bandwidth and web space, etc that they offer.

As Fyzbo suggested; I want to again stress that there is no such thing as "unlimited" bandwidth.

Having consulted several businesses in getting web hosting, I would be more than glad to assist you if you need any help.

I would also like to stress that you will not find *quality* (IE, you pay for X web space and X bandwidth, and they let you use the full X web space and X bandwidth without closing your website, etc) hosting for your needs for anything around $5/$10 a month. 

_In concern to designing:_

I would personally recommend you try and learn HTML and use (basically) a text editor to make your website. A simple page that says "Hello everyone!" in font 'Comic Sans MS' at font size 8 would look something like:


```
<html>

<head>
<title>Page Title Goes Here</title>
</head>

<body>
<font face="Comic Sans MS" size="1">Hello everyone!</font>
</body>

</html>
```


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## Fyzbo (Feb 6, 2002)

To clarify, what I meant by unlimited bandwidth was that the company will not discontinue your service due to using too much bandwidth. There are many companies that let you use as much bandwidth as necessary and them simply charge you per GB used. My host for example gives me 5 Gigs of bandwidth included and then charges $5 for each additional Gig. There are some hosts however that once you reach your allotted amount will simply take your site off the web to prevent you from going over.

Now I"m just nit picking(not trying to pick just inform), but the font tag is considered depricated and in order to pass W3C standards should be replaced by style sheets.


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## CyBerAliEn (Nov 25, 2001)

It was just an example, lol 

Although I personally prefer using the font tag simply because I've been using ever since about 1996 and simply haven't broken the habit, although I do not design sites anymore, lol... 

Yes, as to your description of "unlimited bandwidth", that specific description exists. But there is no such thing as *unlimited bandwidth* and that is not the term used to describe that. Generally you get places that say here, 500mb web space, and unlimited bandwidth, all for $5 a month. Well, once you use about a gigabyte or so of that bandwidth, they close your website because they only intend on you using only a few hundred megabytes of bandwidth. Likewise, most places offering unlimited bandwidth will take your money, and then "disappear".


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

Gentlemen, 

Thank you both for the recommendations. I will definetely do some research before dong anything. Also today, one of my pilots said he may be able to provide a server in a about 6 months or so. He has a business and is getting his own server. I haven't found out any details yet, I'm still in the research phase of this whole thing. 
So far I have drawn up something that I would like to see and made a list of what I want to add. I've solicited to everyone in our squadron (and the other 2) about the idea and asked for input. 
I would like to start working on building it soon, I'm still trying to finish up my Bachelor's degree and will hopefully be done in Aug. After that, I should have more time to devote to this, but I want to at least start now. 
Thanks again for all the info.
PaveFE


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## CyBerAliEn (Nov 25, 2001)

OK, good luck!

You can design your site however without having a web host.


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## PaveFE (Jan 4, 2003)

I'm sure I'll be hitting you guys up for some advice as I do this


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## EmXtrix (Jun 16, 2003)

HostRocket.com is alright, but make sure you know exactly what you're paying for


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