Creating a website for myself...questions...

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So having been planning this for ages I signed up at www.bluehost.com

I managed to fiddle around with it and install a Word Press plug in. I also think I know how to host files, I upload them into wherever I want the public_html section and then can just link them by the full file name?

However I am having problems with the more basic design elements, like say, when you visit my homepage www.ronanfitzgerald.net I don't know how to make a nice little intro page for myself. There may be software to do this included in the package with bluehost (there seems to be tons of stuff), is this the best idea? I don't want something to look generic.

My skills extend as far as knowing crappy html, is it difficult to learn how to do this? Or should I not bother with having a decent page at the root url and just use eg word press for my blog and a basic page for other pages I need like "mixes", "radio" etc...

Is there a good programme, free or on sale, that I can use to design pages? Or a good site for templates that won't look like shit....

Any help would be great

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

I would start by using a word press template (there are many sites that offer them just search 'word press templates') and then as you can/feel like it, tool around with the template to make it your own. If you know some basic HTML, that's a start, but you'll really need to learn CSS for designing.

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't done it, but you may as well use Wordpress as your main thing. Wordpress let's you create other "pages" that can be the non-blog portions.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah I see that...it's a bit annoying tho cos the other pages have to be within the address of the blog...I could change it so my blog is at the main url but I would rather that be a list of stuff, my blog, a page for some articles I've done, a page for mixes, etc etc.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

You can use one of the Wordpress-created pages as your main page - just change where your URL points!

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

what's a good free FTP program? blogger has done me in for the last time, i'm going this alone.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

ws-ftp should be free

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:34 (nineteen years ago)

also, ronan, there's no reason why you can't link to all that kind of stuff from the main page of your blog.

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:35 (nineteen years ago)

yeah that's true Sam...but I'd like a general dividing line to be the first thing you see, rather than prioritising the blog from the off

I'm going to mess about and try and make the url point to the Word Press page now...that's a good idea!

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:03 (nineteen years ago)

what's a good free FTP program? blogger has done me in for the last time, i'm going this alone.

Filezilla: http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:06 (nineteen years ago)

so the problem I have is...if I use word press for the intro page, it has the header for the blog at the top of the page. can't seem to change this...

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

you need to edit the page and remove the include file for that. it will probably look something like or whatever.

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:37 (nineteen years ago)

Look for something like:

bloginfo('name');

Remove it (and the surrounding header tags) from your template and the blog name should vanish.

― Charles Harry Augustus Mellowtongue (Jonas), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:38 (nineteen years ago)

will it let me edit just that page?

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

whatever you've named your page (e.g. www.ronanfitzgerald.net/index.html), open that up in an editor (or notepad) and you can change whatever you want.

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:52 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.cs.utah.edu/~gk/atwork/img/hevequip.gif

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:58 (nineteen years ago)

thanks for the help

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:00 (nineteen years ago)

sorry to ask a question again...just...how do I open that page in notepad or an editor? I mean how does it cease being a page and become a file I can edit? sorry I realise I am on the groundfloor in terms of knowledge here...or in the basement maybe...

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 23:11 (nineteen years ago)

right click on file within file explorer. 'open with'. (assumes windows)

alternatively, start the program you're going to edit with and open the file from there.

― My Koogy Weighs A Ton (koogs), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 09:28 (eighteen years ago)

Another way to do this would be to note the file name, then log into your FTP client of choice (should you be using one) and download it to your local directory. You can then open it with anything - html files can be opened with notepad, for eg.

Caveat: don't open html files in Word for the love of god. They'll get all kinds of whackarse formatting added to the file, and when you reupload it you risk all sorts of corruption.

I know I'll get shit from Jon for this, but I do recommend trying a trial version of Macromedia Dreamweaver, it is quite intuitive and pleasant to use.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 09:43 (eighteen years ago)

But obv Dreamweaver costs moola, so the trial'll run out in 60 days I think. Still, handy for at least getting a basic foundation. You can always crack it too, not that I'm recommending it heh ;)

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 09:45 (eighteen years ago)

yes seconded, i'd recommend using dreamweaver if you're slightly unsure of your html. to start off with at least.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 09:50 (eighteen years ago)

I found it a real help for things like CSS in particular. I could download a working Blogger template for eg, and look at how it worked from its code - DW makes it more clear.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 10:03 (eighteen years ago)

> Another way to do this would be to note the file name, then log into your FTP client of choice (should you be using one) and download it to your local directory.

oh, i figured he'd already done this bit. or that the files originated on his local pc, which is the way i always do things (in the days before 24/7 internet access...)

instead of dreamweaver you could always use word and 'save as html'...

(j/k!)

― My Koogy Weighs A Ton (koogs), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 10:35 (eighteen years ago)

the hilarity is that at our work place users are recommended to use Word for any html editing.

horrors!

― Ste (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 10:42 (eighteen years ago)

Ew ew ewww!

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 10:42 (eighteen years ago)

Ste - omg youre joking right?

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 10:42 (eighteen years ago)

I don't know how to make a nice little intro page for myself.

Aren't you an aspiring WRITAH?

;-)

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 10:54 (eighteen years ago)

Ronan, come to Austin and I'll help you for a few beers.

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:14 (eighteen years ago)

ok so I went to the ftp...clicked on mysite/blogmainpage address, and am downloading it to my hard drive...so then I mess about it with and reupload?

how do I ensure I replace the old one, or is this completely wrong?

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:22 (eighteen years ago)

The thing to watch with much FTP uploads is, they might overwrite your file wihtout warning you. Think its a unix thing.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:23 (eighteen years ago)

also I can't make head nor tail of word press's theme editor! my theme seems to not include links...need lots of other changes too like technorati buttons and stuff...this was all pretty easy on blogger, but I can't work it out here...

x-post when I upload it I would want it to overwrite tho yeah?

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:24 (eighteen years ago)

I don't like Wordpress's built in theme editor, partly because for it to work properly you normally have to turn off just about all file security on the server. Instead, I download the files and edit them on my own PC.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:26 (eighteen years ago)

And then you upload them again or something? That's the part I don't get.

Also why is their theme editor so itemised...I just want that big all encompassing template editor that blogger has, surely they have that?

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:29 (eighteen years ago)

I can't be the only person who edits code as if defusing a bomb.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:30 (eighteen years ago)

when I upload it I would want it to overwrite tho yeah?

Usually yeah but there can be times you might not want to - forgetting you named 2 jpgs the same thing or something silly - so its just worth being aware of is all.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:31 (eighteen years ago)

Also hahah defusing a bomb I know what you mean. I'm terrible with html editing and always worry I'm going to break everything.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:32 (eighteen years ago)

word press is far more diy than blogger. basically blogger's the tool for your grandma and wordpress is for people who've built a web site or two. so yeah, it's not going to be as out-of-the-box

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:33 (eighteen years ago)

is it difficult to insert a "links" section to the nice theme I downloaded and have it so that I can add links using word press rather than editing the template all the time?

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:59 (eighteen years ago)

Ronan, yes, you can do that. On the dashboard you can see the Links thing.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 12:22 (eighteen years ago)

Welcome to WordPress

Use these links to get started:

Write a post
Update your profile or change your password
Add a link to your blogroll
Change your site’s look or theme

-> On your dashboard it should state this.

I also think you can change the html of your theme IN the admin page (Theme editor)

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 12:23 (eighteen years ago)

i like the look of this Wordpress thing, i may switch.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 13:11 (eighteen years ago)

erm...I found the links thing on the dashboard...of course.

It's just the theme I'm using seems to not harness the links I put into the dashboard, so either I change to a theme that does or figure out how to make it do so...it's a nice theme! I'd rather keep it...

http://www.ronanfitzgerald.net/houseisafeeling

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 13:27 (eighteen years ago)

don't forget the word press support forums either. I've found them very helpful (although you sometimes have to dig.)

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 13:31 (eighteen years ago)

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