I need to design a cheap/free/idiotproof web page and have no idea where to begin...Can anyone help?

[zephyrcat]

DP and I want to sell some artwork/designs of our own and need to have a website but we have no idea how to start or go about it. We cannot afford to pay a web designer- I've found a couple of sites where you can 'create your own' by paying a monthly subscription but I'm a bit worried about it being a bit of a rip off...

Can any suggest anything? TIA

I tried Pipex, (123-reg?) or whatever they're called now, but I wouldn't recommend it. A friend recommended Mr Site to me which looks quite good?

I used freewebs.com which is BRILLIANT! I had no idea what to do and it was very user friendly and free (unless you want to upgrade to premium services - ie take away the discreet advertising, have your own special domain name etc).

Our website is www.myholidayintuscany.com if you want to see the results (we did upgrade to a premium service to get rid of the advertising and have our own domain name - otherwise your domain name simply has freewebs in it - not a problem)

That sounds interesting - thanks! So far I've found the whole thing a bit daunting! Off to have a look

Webdwarf is easy to use and your can design your own website.

www.virtualmechanics.com/products/dwarf/?source=google&keyword=E_web+dwarf&gclid= COXww5Gfj5ICFQSm1AodvXAt-g

As for hosting it, many broadband providers allow you a bit of free webspace without adverts.

Is it best to pay the upgrades to get your own domain name - obviously it makes it look more professional which is what we need but I'm wary of picking a site that may be a rip off!!

Ok, I spent hours doing a site on freewebs but it has all disappeared Did that happen to you Sophiebbb? I'm just unsure what to press next so I don't lose it completely!!

I also downloaded webdwarf but don't get it at all !!

Just for comparison we pay $40 a year (our domain names we pay for seperately) to a hosting company and that gives us 1GB of space to do what we want with. But that's with no help at all. Like renting an unfurnished house.

I created mine from scratch and that's fun, but it takes a long time to learn everything you need to know.

I don't know how reliable Freewebs are, but it sounds like you can create a site quickly using their design tools which is what you want.

I would certainly pay for premium services since a freeweb address with advertising popups just won't seem professional enough. And anyway you get to make up your own name for your site and email addresses!

Imagine if you called your site fluffybunny.com you could create email addresses for the family like this:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
an d so on.

You 'may' have to pay for premium services anyway if you want a basket/checkout system.

Free ISP webspace is ok to practice with, but 1) it is taken away if you change ISP and 2) it's often quite restricted in what you can do.

Zephyrcat - Sorry that you lost all your info you put on. No idea why that happened. No it didn't happen to me - once I had set up my login and password everything was always there everytime I went in to add to the site.

The freewebs site is absolutely free as long as you use a site address with the word freewebs in it and you want a bit of advertising on the site.

I then paid for two things:

1. an upgrade to take off the advertising, get more space, have our own email address and allow me to put a PayPal button on it to set up a business.
2. A domain name - this was pretty cheap though - about £10 per annum

I had NO IDEA had to write a website but worked it all out myself from the instructions on the site.

However sad to hear you lost your info....

I've gone back to freewebs to try again! I was just coming to ask about how you include something for payments but the paypal button sounds like what we need!

There was me thinking I knew what I was doing with computers but this has all totally thrown me!