Creating a Web-site

[Squirrel3]

Dp has asked me to try to create a web-site for him. He asked me at the tail-end of a conversation we were having about him working for himself, it was a kind of "By the way, if you could design a web-site for me that would be good". Grrrrr!

I don't have a clue where to start, I have Microsoft Office Publisher, I may be able to use that, or is there something better (but not too expensive)?

What about web-space? How do I go about sorting that out?

My computer skills aren't that great, but I am willing to have a go and maybe learn something along the way.

Any suggestions gratefully received. (Even suggestions such as, "Tell him to stick it where the sun doesn't shine" Lol.)

What sort of business will he be running squirrel?

He is a builder, he does house refurbishments, you know kitchens, bathrooms and general carpentry and plastering etc.

I'm just wondering why he wants a website really and what function it would serve for his business. It sounds like it may have been a bit of an afterthought on his part!

He might be better off getting himself listed on various trade websites that people looking for a builder might go to.

Morning Molesworth how are you. (sorry to hijack)

Hello heavenis I'm ok - still not completely sorted here but things are moving forward now ... I'll email you!

Your probably right, I think he wanted to put an add in the paper including a web-site address so that people can look at the kind of work he does, he wants to add loads of pictures etc.

It isn't that hard to do squirrel, but I would say that if he wants to give a good impression of his business then he needs to have a website that looks professional. That's not to say you can't put together some simple but professional looking pages for him, but he does need to appreciate that it's not something you can do in 5 minutes flat if you haven't done it before.

You'd need to buy a domain name (a .co.uk one costs very little - look at ukreg.com for prices). Then you will need some webspace ... you could use free webspace that comes with your home internet account. As for the pages themselves, you would need to use something like Microsoft Frontpage or Dreamweaver to put them together without necessarily needing to know HTML. You could do it with MS Publisher, but I'm not sure how good the results would be (professional web developers would scoff at the idea of using Publisher, but not having used it myself I don't know whether it would be any good).

Is it something you'd be interested in/enjoy doing or would it be a chore to be done because dh wants it?

I think he was thinking along the lines of this type of web-site (although I know it won't be that good if I am doing it)

I think I might enjoy the challenge, I used to run/up-date the web-site at an estate agent that I worked at and I enjoyed it, I know creating one will be harder.

I know I had front page on this computer at one point but it seems to have disapeared, (I bet ds deleted the programme ) its got to be here somewhere, I'll have a look.

BTW thanks for the info on buying a domain name.

Aha, well if you've had some experience with updating a website then it shouldn't be too difficult for you! What software did you use at work to do that?

I did my website littlelilbabywear.co.uk through

www.mrsite.co.uk

It only costs £35.00 and its really easy to do

Molesworth, I can't remember what the software was, I just used it, it should be a challenge for me anyway. Thanks for your help and encouragement.

Thank you griffintribe, I'll have a look.

Sq3 - the web site you linked to looks like it was created with Dreamweaver. If you have FrontPage you should be able to do something similar.

just to add: if you don't have frontpage and can't afford dreamweaver then you can use netscape composer, which is free - link and instructions here - ignore the look of that instructions site btw. it is possible to make better looking sutes with composer.

also avoid ukreg - their support is terrible. I suggest 123reg.co.uk instead

SP 123-reg have started conning customers as far as I can see

The only way to renew is the store your credit card details with them, and if you don't have a valid credit card stored at the time of renewal they charge £200 'admin fee' !!!! It's a total con

I recommend www.xcalibre.co.uk because there are no hidden charges, they have TELEPHONE SUPPORT (sobs with joy) and they are very reliable

Thank you everyone, there is plently for me to look at and decide on.

This is going to take me weeks and weeks.

I think dp should def be involved too, after all its his web-site. I can just see his face now! (he is computer phobic, but seems to think I can do anything )

Thanks SP and MP for the heads up about domain name companies ... I haven't done web work professionally for quite a while now so I'm well out of the loop (used to use ukreg)

mp - are you using 123reg.co.uk or .com? I use the co.uk and have never stored my credit card details with them. I use them partly because I object to ukreg's shennanigans with credit cards.

co.uk - they have only started doing it in the last month

I have loads of clients that I would renew for and now I don't want to because I will have to store my credit cards details in their accounts and it is bound to go tits up and AAAAARGH