What type of help do you need?

Well I have an Idea for a website just don't have
the code writing skills or know how to get one up and running.So in short need help doing everything. Putting
Salvia pictures etc..together.
Art

I put my web site up with Netscape Communicator 4.8. You can do a pretty good job with some of the free web authoring software you can download from TuCows or other sources. I'm not familiar with any of them. To write on the code level, I use HotDog Pro 3, which is a really old program.

The main reason for avoiding creating a web site from MS Word and other programs not specifically designed for web authoring is that they insert lots of extra invisible code that interferes with non MS browsers like Mozilla, Opera, and Safari. I see a lot of hits on my hit counter for my site from non Internet Explorer browsers.

HTML and XML are markup languages (the ML in the acronym). If anyone else still uses WordPerfect, you will recognize the Reveal Codes layer as a markup language. This will help you with writing web pages from the HTML code level.

What you need is a simple web authoring program that has WYSIWYG and also lets you see ALL of the code you are writing. Creating a web page is something like using a word processor, Quark Express, or PageMaker (the Adobe Creative Suite form is called InDesign), so you know these programs, learning to create a web page will be easier.

I don't use either Java, frames, or CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). If you don't need a complex site, you won't need to worry about these features.

If you like my Salvia site www.robinssalvias.com which will shortly have an improved format, perhaps my webmaster could give you some tips, he has been invaluable to me.

Email me and I will give you his contact. He created the site...all I did was to send the pictures and descriptions.

Robin.

If you simply want to post pictures and write few paragraphs you can always create a blog site on one of the many free or mostly free blog hosting sites like blogger.com. I understand that they are extremely easy to set up and don't require any programming knowledge. They are fairly limited as to what you can do on them, but lots of people with no html knowledge create their own blog sites.

If you want a real web site...

First thing you need to do is register your domain name with a registrar like godaddy. Google search for registrars but don't pay more than $10 a year however you choose.
You also need a hosting company-usually around $6 a month with a year or two year purchase up front. Many hosting companies also act as a registrar and will register your domain name for free while you host with them. There is a disadvantage of using one company for both, however. If you ever decide to switch hosting companies you also have to switch registrars. If you cancel your hosting and don't switch registrars before you do, you may lose your domain name or at least have a real hassle sorting it all out. I think it is worth $10 a year to keep full control over my domain name.

Most hosting companies have tutorials. Some even have simple WYSIWYG editors or wizards to help you get a simple site up and running quickly. If you want to do anything beyond the most basic, you'll need to learn HTML at the very least.

You'll need to configure your domain name to point to the host you are using (if they are different companies) by changing what is called the DNS (domain name server). This information will be provided by your hosting company when you sign up for an account. It is very easy but absolutely necessary.

Avoid using frames at all on your site. There are several reasons why, but the best is that people won't be able to bookmark your different pages easily-only the main page.
Avoid using any Microsoft product for the same reason Rich sited for not using MSWord. Other commercial software also adds extra code, but not as gratuitously as MS. Why is this even an issue? A bigger file takes longer to load in a browser.

I initially learned how to write HTML by viewing source code of nice sites I liked. Problem is you also learn all the bad techniques and habits of others. There are lots of great tutorials on the web. I learned how to program in PHP when designing my own site (I am a commercial herb grower). My favorite place to start is listed below. I would recommend that you learn CSS. Not totally necessary but it can help make your sites easier to create and the code easier to write and easier to read.

There is also a great site that points out sites that do everything wrong. Check out www.webpagesthatsuck.com

Make sure your site plays nice with all browsers. Unfortunately, MSExplorer, the most popular, doesn't follow standards like other browsers such as Firefox and Safari. You can check that your code (or any source code from anybody's site) complies with standards at www.validator.w3.org.

Firefox is a great browser and has lots of plug-ins that are useful to a web designer/programmer. They basically have improved on Netscape Communicator technology. You can even visit any site on the web, look at its code and edit it in your Firefox browser to see what effect the source code changes made on the site (only you see the changes, it doesn't affect how others see the site). I find this extremely useful when debugging or creating a site. Do yourself a favor and download this browser and get the web developer plug ins.

An FTP program will be useful to upload your content to the hosting company. Most hosts have their own FTP capabilities, but I have found them to be cumbersome to use in most cases.

BTW I use a mac and write my code with Textwrangler it has a built in FTP function so you can upload your pages as you create them. It is an editor and is not WYSIWYG. I learned by coding so this is easier for me. I use my browser to preview the code. I use an FTP program called FETCH to upload my images and multiple files at once.

Here is a link that might be useful: My favorite html/css tutorial site

I just got in from my Hemerocallis Society meeting. I will
be responding in the morning. Thank you for all the info
I see it is a daunting task ahead. I will ask more questions and contact you all. Thank You so so much.
Salvias Rock!
Art

Rich, Robin and Francescod:
First Thank You all for your time. I see there is
going to be some education time on my behalf. I will
be in contact from time to time. Now I need to get a action plan together and do alot of reading.There is going to be
some Salvia Questions too (being everyone is in a different climate). Have a great day!
Art

One more thing about uploading web pages to your site: you might want to consider using a site provider that requires certificates.

This works in both directions, so you will need one to address the server, and it will need one to recognize you. Once this is set up, save the passwords and certificate info in a safe place. Then all you need to do is go to My Network Places and the special Internet folder with your server's name. Once you have each checked the others certificates, you are in. Your material is much better protected from hackers and from getting stolen.