Software tools make setting up a Web site less than daunting
By Anick Jesdanun
Associated Press
Q. Many of my friends have their own Web sites now. How can I get one of my own?
A. Although setting up a Web site once meant learning the Web programming language HTML, software tools developed over the past several years have significantly eased the task.
With FrontPage from Microsoft Corp., Dreamweaver from Macromedia Inc. and even free tools built into Netscape and Mozilla browsers, developing a Web page becomes a matter of pointing and clicking. Instructions come with the software.
The question then becomes, how do you make those pages available to the world?
First, you'll need to decide what you want to do with your site and how much, if anything, you want to spend. Will you be displaying only a few pictures, or do you need something robust enough to sell CDs from your amateur band?
For a site on the cheap, check out the free Web space that many service providers offer with Internet access. EarthLink, for instance, lets you create eight accounts of 10 megabytes — each enough for more than 100 photos of average quality.
If your service provider doesn't offer Web space, you can get free accounts from a service like Yahoo!, whose GeoCities service offers 15 MB. You can pay to get more space and to remove ads that come with the free version.
To get friends and family to your free site, however, you'll have to give them a rather lengthy Web address — such as www.blahblah blah.com/myveryfirstwebsite/index.html — as your pages will really be subsections of a larger site.
For about $30 a year, you can get your own, shorter domain name to use. Dozens of companies will set you up with one. See www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html for a list.
Many domain name registration companies will throw in "domain forwarding" services to automatically direct visitors to your free site.
Once you set up your site, visitors simply type in your domain name to go there.
E-mail forwarding often comes with the package, so you can set up e-mail addresses with your own domain name as well. However, you may still need to have those e-mail messages forwarded behind-the-scenes to a "real" account with Hotmail or your Internet service provider.
The domain-forwarding options won't change limits on how large your site can be. Many service providers also limit how much traffic your site can have each month — and you could face extra fees if your site gets too popular.
If you really need more space or higher traffic limits, consider a Web hosting service. Many of the registration companies also double as hosting companies, so you can get your domain name and hosting service together. Be prepared to spend at least $10 or $20 a month.
Several Web sites, including webhostdir.com and tophosts.com, have directory listings of other hosting companies, so you can compare prices and features. Some of the pricier hosts will even give you tools for advanced features like e-commerce capabilities.
If your domain and hosting companies are separate, you'll have to let your domain name company know how to direct visitors to your new site. The hosting company can give you the proper numeric addresses you'd need to submit.
Your host can also give you instructions on how to transfer your page designs to their computers. Some even offer rudimentary tools for beginners to build simple sites using a Web-based interface, so you won't have to buy and learn new software right away.
Finally, you'll need to let everyone know about your new site.
Keep in mind that once you're on the Web, your site's accessible to everyone around the world and you'll have a few things to consider. Do you really want to publish your home phone number, or pictures of young kids wearing a T-shirt with the name of their schools?
