Basic website building questions.

by 12 replies
14
I am in the process of figuring out how to build a website. I have build sites before using a website builder tool and I have build blogs so I have a basic understanding about html and all that stuff. What I want to know is when I buy my domain at godaddy and then get my hosting through hostrgator or whatever. How and where do I create my pages and how do I use FTP to upload the pages. Do you create your poages in word and then just upload to your server?

Thanks for the input in advance.
#main internet marketing discussion forum #basic #building #questions #website
  • Personally, I am teaching myself Xsitepro. I've also used some basic html editors. The first sites I built I used the mozilla composer, which you can now download for free as part of the Seamonkey Suite. The suite has some other functions(browser, email, etc.) but I normally just use the editor. It's a pretty straight forward WYSIWYG editor. I use Filezilla for FTP.

    Hope that helps,
    Kevin
  • Word does not create pure text files, so it is useless as an HTML editor. I think it does export HTML, but for print, not for the web, so it is best to stay away from it.

    If you are going to do some coding, and improve your understanding of HTML and CSS, you may want to try making a site using nothing but a text-editor such as Notepad++ which has excellent syntax highlighting. When using Notepad++, you need a seperate FTP program to upload the files. There are many free ones.
    • [1] reply
    • Hi Jan, I've been struggling with the same thing and I suggest you don't use SiteBuildit. That has to be the most time consuming and irritating program I ever spent money on. Asked for my money back just before the end of the year and didn't get it.

      Website construction is easy, if you know how to do it correctly. Miss one tiny thing and you get an error message. There is a lot to learn and I wish I had the answer for you.
  • I use Filezilla for FTP uploads. For a site builder I've found Wordpress to be incredibly easy to manipulate. You don't have to know a ton of coding but if you have some html/css knowledge you can get it to do just about anything you want it to do.
  • The first thing you need to do when you get your domain at GoDaddy is make sure the nameservers are pointing at your Hostgator hosting account.

    I like to write HTML in Notepad (although I seldom bother these days - most of my sites are based on WordPress installations), but NVU isn't a bad HTML editor if that's a bit of a stretch. NVU is free.

    I use FileZilla too (I prefered WS_FTP, but couldn't use it after the trial period because their order process didn't recognise the area I live in). FileZilla is free too.

    Of course, once you're done... you're never done There is invariably something that wants tweaking, and even if there isn't, you'll probably tweak anyway
  • Here's a quick way to do this:

    1. Create a file in notepad that looks like this ....
    <html>
    <head>
    Coming soon ...
    </head>
    </html>
    Save the file as test-file.html

    2. DL Filezilla. Open Filezilla. To connect to the server you'll need to enter the sign-in details (and ip) given to you when you signed up w HostGator.

    3. On the left side of FileZilla find the file you want on your local system.
    On the right side find where you want to upload the file (public_html)

    4. Drag and drop 'test-file.html' on the left to the right.

    5. Go back to your browser, type in the url (www.yourdomain.com/test-file.html) and it should be there.

    Now you have de-mystified this chunk and can concentrate on the other bits.

    A couple of quick things:
    - Get your hosting account first, so when you register your domain you can immediately put in the hosting dns settings. This way your domain will resolve sooner.
    - In HostGator there's a default you may have to replace before the above will work. If you need to replace default.html w index.html, just rename your 'test-file.html' to 'index.html'

    Now, if you don't know a lot of code and prefer an html editor, Arachnophilia comes to mind -free, easy to use, builds fairly clean code.

    Also, there's a section of this forum for web site developers.
  • You need something that can build the pages.
    And you need something that can get the pages to Hostgator.

    In some cases, these features are combined (Dreamweaver and XSitePro).

    In other cases, they're not. (Notepad + Filezilla).

    Here's what I recommend if you're starting out and only know what <b> means.

    • Go get Kompozer for free.
    • Go get a template for free.
    • Start playing, adding text and linking.
    • Linking: Everytime you want to create a new page, "save as..." the page name. Your first page, for example will always be "index.html". When you're ready to create your about page, save "index.html as about.html. Then create a link on the navigation bar of index.html pointing to the about.html page.
    • The rest is easy.
    • To upload, you'll need to open up the IP address that hostgator gives you using your username and password. Then simply upload the index.html page inside the public_html folder.
    • That's it. The rest you can google on YouTube.
    • I recommend investing some time into learning Dreamweaver at Lynda.com or purchasing XsitePro. Both are solid soutions.
  • Check out synthasite.com

    • 100% FREE - No Hidden Fees
    • No Ads, No Banners - It's Your Website!
    • Customize Your Website Template - Make Your Site Unique
    • Free Subdomain or Free Hosting for Your Custom Domain
    • No Download - It Works In Your Browser
    • No tools required
    Fast, easy, and FREE.

    Enjoy.
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks every one for clearing this up for me. I can now go and play with it since I know the basic process of creating and uploading , Much appreciated

      Cheers
      • [1] reply
  • It seems some of them missed the main point.

    If you buy a domain from say GoDaddy and a host like HostGator there is a process that you have to follow to associate the domain to the host. Each one is can be a little different.

    Basically you need to go into cPanel for you host to assign the domain. Then you the the info on the name servers over to where you bought your domain and insert those into the account for the domain in say GoDaddy.

    Sometime in between the host should give you a temporary link to ftp or you can use the ftp in cPanel.

    After the domain is associated with the host you can get to your domain with a web browser.

    If you need more info PM me.
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed

  • 14

    Basic website building questions.

    I am in the process of figuring out how to build a website. I have build sites before using a website builder tool and I have build blogs so I have a basic understanding about html and all that stuff. What I want to know is when I buy my domain at godaddy and then get my hosting through hostrgator or whatever. How and where do I create my pages and how do I use FTP to upload the pages. Do you create your poages in word and then just upload to your server? Thanks for the input in advance.