I need to design and put up a website for a small business but have never done this before; what are the basics?
December 28, 2004 11:34 AM Subscribe
Designing, programming, and administering a website from scratch. (more inside)
A small, local farmer's market has chosen me to make a website. While I'm comfortable writing basic-to-intermediate HTML, I've never sought out hosting before, never registered a domain, never created an overall architecture for a site.
My question is this: are there any resources that cover publishing websites, start-to-finish, and what to plan for, what costs to expect, and what obstacles to overcome? I'd like to create a stylesheet-based design with a bit of code (maybe php) to make the whole thing work, but I'm not very experienced at this. Where do I start?
I have until April 1st to get this done, which should be plenty of time, but any online or print resources you can suggest would be greatly appreciated.
A small, local farmer's market has chosen me to make a website. While I'm comfortable writing basic-to-intermediate HTML, I've never sought out hosting before, never registered a domain, never created an overall architecture for a site.
My question is this: are there any resources that cover publishing websites, start-to-finish, and what to plan for, what costs to expect, and what obstacles to overcome? I'd like to create a stylesheet-based design with a bit of code (maybe php) to make the whole thing work, but I'm not very experienced at this. Where do I start?
I have until April 1st to get this done, which should be plenty of time, but any online or print resources you can suggest would be greatly appreciated.
Response by poster: Web presence, text, pics and contact info. We'd like it to be a resource for customers (recipes, what's fresh this week) as well as a clearinghouse of information for prospective vendors.
So maybe some pdfs as well.
It would updated weekly, blog style, with what each vendor will be bringing to market, as well as photos of different special events we'll have.
posted by rocketman at 11:45 AM on December 28, 2004
So maybe some pdfs as well.
It would updated weekly, blog style, with what each vendor will be bringing to market, as well as photos of different special events we'll have.
posted by rocketman at 11:45 AM on December 28, 2004
WebMonkey
It doesn't sound like what you want to do is anything out of the ordinary. You can get a domain name for less than $10 in many places, including GoDaddy.
There are many reputable hosting companies that can provide you with both reliable service and good support for $100 or less per year. I would be wary of options too far below that, there is something to the notion of "You get what you pay for".
Good luck!
posted by FlamingBore at 11:52 AM on December 28, 2004
It doesn't sound like what you want to do is anything out of the ordinary. You can get a domain name for less than $10 in many places, including GoDaddy.
There are many reputable hosting companies that can provide you with both reliable service and good support for $100 or less per year. I would be wary of options too far below that, there is something to the notion of "You get what you pay for".
Good luck!
posted by FlamingBore at 11:52 AM on December 28, 2004
Best answer: It's easy to find a hosting provider and stuff. Do you have a monthly budget for how much hosting can cost?
Here's your steps.
1) Go get your domain name. I reccomend www.godaddy.com ... they're local to me, they've got great customer service, and they're generally nice people. Oh, and they're cheap.
2) Find a hosting provider. I reccomend Hostrocket. Their most basic plan will be more than enough for you, and will include PHP and databases and a bunch of code libraries for setting up things like contact forms and shopping carts and web forums.
3) Go back to godaddy or the domain registrar of your choice, and go into the DNS settings. Hostrocket, in their confirmation email to you, gave you a pair of DNS servers to point the domain name to. Take these server addresses and put them in the appropriate boxes on godaddy.com. Within 72 hours, the domains should be pointed at the appropriate host.
It's not hard to do... but don't be afraid to ask someone here if you ned help!
As far as getting a blog or something working, there's a bazillion and one PHP content management systems that are absurdly easy to organize and set up for what you want to do ... from Moveable Type itself to full-fledged enterprise class systems. And did I mention that most are free?
posted by SpecialK at 12:01 PM on December 28, 2004
Here's your steps.
1) Go get your domain name. I reccomend www.godaddy.com ... they're local to me, they've got great customer service, and they're generally nice people. Oh, and they're cheap.
2) Find a hosting provider. I reccomend Hostrocket. Their most basic plan will be more than enough for you, and will include PHP and databases and a bunch of code libraries for setting up things like contact forms and shopping carts and web forums.
3) Go back to godaddy or the domain registrar of your choice, and go into the DNS settings. Hostrocket, in their confirmation email to you, gave you a pair of DNS servers to point the domain name to. Take these server addresses and put them in the appropriate boxes on godaddy.com. Within 72 hours, the domains should be pointed at the appropriate host.
It's not hard to do... but don't be afraid to ask someone here if you ned help!
As far as getting a blog or something working, there's a bazillion and one PHP content management systems that are absurdly easy to organize and set up for what you want to do ... from Moveable Type itself to full-fledged enterprise class systems. And did I mention that most are free?
posted by SpecialK at 12:01 PM on December 28, 2004
Find a good web host. For what you're talking about you don't need to pay much, like $10/mo. Buy your domain through a discount registrar, like goDaddy. Check out Web Hosting Magazine for some reviews on hosts and registrars.
I wouldn't bother trying to role my own website infrastructure anymore. There are CMS systems for every platform/language- its not worth your time to re-invent the wheel. I've used Geeklog a few times with great success. All it requires is a php/mysql web host. Copy the files into you web directory, load the setup page, and bammo- instead web site. Plug ins are easy to install so you can have as much, or little functionality as you want and its default setup sounds perfect for what you want. Plus, using a CMS allows others to post stories and update content and takes a lot of the burden off of you.
posted by gus at 12:04 PM on December 28, 2004
I wouldn't bother trying to role my own website infrastructure anymore. There are CMS systems for every platform/language- its not worth your time to re-invent the wheel. I've used Geeklog a few times with great success. All it requires is a php/mysql web host. Copy the files into you web directory, load the setup page, and bammo- instead web site. Plug ins are easy to install so you can have as much, or little functionality as you want and its default setup sounds perfect for what you want. Plus, using a CMS allows others to post stories and update content and takes a lot of the burden off of you.
posted by gus at 12:04 PM on December 28, 2004
i have to say i've *stopped* using godaddy. Their registration process is now nearly as long (if not longer) than the widely-hated netsol. I don't want to have to find and click the "no" link through three pages of add-on crap in order to reg my nam. Just reg it and take me to billing, man. this is something they've started doing in just the last year (before that i was quite happy with them, but it gets annoying when you have to repeat the process of clicking through a bunch of crap when you're regging like 5 names at once), and because of it, i've taken my business to joker.com who have a simple and efficient site, and offer just about all the features that godaddy does.
for hosting, check http://www.webhostingtalk.com.
posted by fishfucker at 12:15 PM on December 28, 2004
for hosting, check http://www.webhostingtalk.com.
posted by fishfucker at 12:15 PM on December 28, 2004
Definitely look into free CMS systems. Mambo is quite easy to use. Typo3 has a steeper learning curve (and more stringent server requirements) but is more flexible.
OpenSourceCMS lets you try these and many more before you download.
posted by signal at 12:28 PM on December 28, 2004
OpenSourceCMS lets you try these and many more before you download.
posted by signal at 12:28 PM on December 28, 2004
With others, a CMS sounds good for you....my personal preference is for Xoops which has (as with so many others) a plugin (or module) for everything...not to mention being free....
As for hosting and a domain...a lot of good webhosts will give you a free domain when you sign up, or sell one to you for ~$5...Dreamhost is by far the best managed webhost I have found :)
posted by gren at 2:03 PM on December 28, 2004
As for hosting and a domain...a lot of good webhosts will give you a free domain when you sign up, or sell one to you for ~$5...Dreamhost is by far the best managed webhost I have found :)
posted by gren at 2:03 PM on December 28, 2004
I'll throw in a recommendation for Mambo as well, definitely designed with the non-web-designer in mind.
posted by onalark at 4:56 PM on December 28, 2004
posted by onalark at 4:56 PM on December 28, 2004
Best answer: Look for a host with "Fantastico," a product which lets a user instantly set up a number of PHP-based website products.
If you want to consider a CMS such as Xoops, Mambo, Drupal, etc., I recommend starting at OpenSourceCMS.com, where you can try out a bunch of them in a demo sandbox setting.
I recently picked SurfSpeedy.com to host a Drupal-based site, and from the 3-months-for-a-buck intro price to the instant-via-Fantastico setup, it's been very satisfying. I have much to learn about Drupal but luckily that product has a lot of developer support, decent documentation and good user forums to help.
SurfSpeedy also offers a slick template-based website starter kit option which might get you going for a basic site. And of course, they'll register a domain for you too. (I have no affiliation, and I'm sure there are lots of competitive hosts, but this looked like the best deal going.)
It's pretty amazing what a web host can offer these days at such low prices. Things that once took months of hand coding are plug-in appliances now, thanks to open-source products and generous developers.
posted by Tubes at 9:51 PM on December 28, 2004
If you want to consider a CMS such as Xoops, Mambo, Drupal, etc., I recommend starting at OpenSourceCMS.com, where you can try out a bunch of them in a demo sandbox setting.
I recently picked SurfSpeedy.com to host a Drupal-based site, and from the 3-months-for-a-buck intro price to the instant-via-Fantastico setup, it's been very satisfying. I have much to learn about Drupal but luckily that product has a lot of developer support, decent documentation and good user forums to help.
SurfSpeedy also offers a slick template-based website starter kit option which might get you going for a basic site. And of course, they'll register a domain for you too. (I have no affiliation, and I'm sure there are lots of competitive hosts, but this looked like the best deal going.)
It's pretty amazing what a web host can offer these days at such low prices. Things that once took months of hand coding are plug-in appliances now, thanks to open-source products and generous developers.
posted by Tubes at 9:51 PM on December 28, 2004
For my first, small-load website, I simply asked a local ISP to host it on their server. They offered to host it incredibly cheap, pay by the bandwidth... and if you are looking for a job, that's a nice way to sneak in, rather than anonymous resumes ;)
ev1 is houston-based, but very reliable and affordable and has many configs to choose from. If you really want to get into developing, you can easily create a test machine using Apache webserver, MySQL database, and PHP interpretation. All free software. I look down on website templates; it usually feels better to create your own. But I couldn't blame you for using PHP scripts :)
posted by adzm at 2:58 AM on December 29, 2004
ev1 is houston-based, but very reliable and affordable and has many configs to choose from. If you really want to get into developing, you can easily create a test machine using Apache webserver, MySQL database, and PHP interpretation. All free software. I look down on website templates; it usually feels better to create your own. But I couldn't blame you for using PHP scripts :)
posted by adzm at 2:58 AM on December 29, 2004
I used Joker.com to register domains for several years, but transferred everything away from them a year or two ago. This was quite difficult, as I was somehow trapped in their old system & wasn't able to administer my domains through the new version of their site. Perhaps things are better now, but I found the customer service lacking and got quite annoyed by the poor english & subsequent inability to understand my questions. I now use GoDaddy and send all my clients to them. Other than the screens of offers I have to refuse, I have no complaints.
If you want to add many recipes to the site, it might be worth looking at phprecipebook.
posted by belladonna at 5:44 PM on December 30, 2004
If you want to add many recipes to the site, it might be worth looking at phprecipebook.
posted by belladonna at 5:44 PM on December 30, 2004
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Gyan at 11:36 AM on December 28, 2004