[lwlynch]

Hey not sure this goes here.
But I have a question. I am really enjoying doing my blog on the blog website (not the one on frugalvillage) the one with the big orange b. See how much I know. But I am forever wanting to expand on my different topics and was wondering,
What is the difference between a bog site and just getting your own www.com?
is it expensive? Do you have to have someone design it just so you can blog? Or does it come ready to go?
Stupid I am sure these questions are, but I am just trying to brainstorm, what I would like to do. So any suggestions or any direction for info, would be cool.
I am also very creative and very artistic, if it can be a learned trait to do a website, I could probably figure it out.
Anyway, any suggestions would be nice.
Thanks

 

[Jason]

What is the difference between a bog site and just getting your own www.com?

The major difference is the level of customizability you have. A blog site is rather simple, in that, while you have some customizing options, you are typically limited to a single software blog program (ie., blogger, or wordpress). With your own site you can chose which software you wish to use.

it expensive?

It can be. Depends mostly on the name you wish to get/buy. There are actually 2 costs associated with this.
1.) the cost to rent/buy the .com name from a registrar
2.) the hosting of the site on some server

The hosting is typically a per month charge... while the .com is usually a per year charge. Figure ~$20 a month.

Do you have to have someone design it just so you can blog?

Not if you are willing to make mistakes along the way. The learning curve isn't that steep... you just have to be willing to "get your hands dirty".

Or does it come ready to go?

Depends on the host (ie., which server). Some will come with lots of software preinstalled... others you have to configure yourself.

Stupid I am sure these questions are, but I am just trying to brainstorm, what I would like to do. So any suggestions or any direction for info, would be cool.

Look at Godaddy.com (note: geeks such as myself tend to hate godaddy... but it's great for beginners).
Once you've gone over all the options they have... you should have a better idea of what you'll need.

I am also very creative and very artistic, if it can be a learned trait to do a website, I could probably figure it out.

I learned it by myself at age 12 (11 years ago), though I did have the help of the internet. So yes... it can be "learned".

The primary thing you will need to learn, is HTML.
For example:

< a img="path/to/img.jpg" >

Will place an image into the webpage.

Good Luck!

Jason

 

[lisettelovebug]

Blogs are more for your thoughts and daily activities whereas a website usually takes more thought and planning. Though you could do just a simple webpage. You can get them for free, but you will have ads and you may not have a whole lot of storage. This is probably what you want to have. Checkout Geocities on yahoo. They have decent templates you can use. I like to use a template and then go in and edit the html. I had to do a 6+ page website for my class last semester. You can click on the link if you want to see. Nothing too hard, pretty plain and simple. http://lab46.corning-cc.edu/~lh000592/coupon%20queen%20index3.html

If you want to learn html, they also have tons of books you can buy on it (check out ebay or amazon, or even your library). Plus there are TONS of sites out there dedicated to html. Here are a few I use a lot:
http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html
http://www.devguru.com/home.asp
http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp This one is from the people who write the rules of html so this is really a good site.

Do you have any photo editing software, like photoshop? You will need to change the size of your pictures if you use them from a digital camera. If you don't, I suggest you use Photofiltre or Gimp http://www.gimp.org/ . You can also use these programs to edit your images to black and white, crop, and so much more.
About.com has a lot on html and building your own site. Here are some tutorials I found when I googled it
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478141
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/Overview.html
http://www.j-learning.org/build_it/page/basic_html/

Plus if you start learning it and have any questions, you can always pm me. I'm more than willing to help.

Lisa

 

[Jason]

Blogs are more for your thoughts and daily activities whereas a website usually takes more thought and planning.

Depends on the type of website. You can always just use a blog as a website.

Though you could do just a simple webpage. You can get them for free, but you will have ads and you may not have a whole lot of storage. This is probably what you want to have. Checkout Geocities on yahoo. They have decent templates you can use. I like to use a template and then go in and edit the html. I had to do a 6+ page website for my class last semester. You can click on the link if you want to see. Nothing too hard, pretty plain and simple. http://lab46.corning-cc.edu/~lh000592/coupon%20queen%20index3.html

Geocities is very limited... though for simple things... it's enough.

If you want to learn html, they also have tons of books you can buy on it (check out ebay or amazon, or even your library). Plus there are TONS of sites out there dedicated to html. Here are a few I use a lot:
http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html
http://www.devguru.com/home.asp
http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp This one is from the people who write the rules of html so this is really a good site.

Nice list! I'd've linked some too... but I never found the need of a book to learn html (but then... I'm a geek ).

Do you have any photo editing software, like photoshop? You will need to change the size of your pictures if you use them from a digital camera. If you don't, I suggest you use Photofiltre or Gimp http://www.gimp.org/ . You can also use these programs to edit your images to black and white, crop, and so much more.

I don't normally recommend such things to beginners. Photoshop and programs like "The Gimp" have a STEEP learning curve, though the experience is usually rewarding.

About.com has a lot on html and building your own site. Here are some tutorials I found when I googled it
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478141
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/Overview.html
http://www.j-learning.org/build_it/page/basic_html/

More, very, useful links. Nice work compiling these!

Plus if you start learning it and have any questions, you can always pm me. I'm more than willing to help.

Perhaps we should start a "tech/geek" forum here. There seems to be quite a few people (like you and I) who are familiar with "the darkside" of the web (ie., html coding). Such a forum could help others understand that they don't need to hire a geek just to have their own website.

Jason

 

[lisettelovebug]

OK. Since Jason thinks photoshop (i agree with this one) is difficult to learn, here is a link to a program that simply resizes your pics. I used it when I was doing mystery shops and needed pics smaller. It works and is simple. http://www.download.com/PIXresizer/3000-12511_4-10607499.html
Though I do want to add that Photofiltre is a lot easier to learn than photoshop. I'm trying to learn photoshop right now and it's crazy!!! OOH. I almost forgot, you may want to check youtube and other video sites because sometimes they have tutorials on stuff (I've found photoshop tutorials and crocheting tutorials there)