Go Back   IceInSpace > Equipment > Software and Computers

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread
  #1  
Old 12-10-2017, 10:33 AM
gregbradley's Avatar
gregbradley
Registered User

gregbradley is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Sydney
Posts: 17,877
How to create a website recommendations?

I am interested in creating my own website. Both for astro photos and also for business.

Any suggestions about software that makes building a great website easy or sites that help you create a good website?

Greg.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 12-10-2017, 11:18 AM
Atmos's Avatar
Atmos (Colin)
Ultimate Noob

Atmos is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 6,980
I’ve found RapidWeaver easy to use.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 12-10-2017, 11:33 AM
Merlin66's Avatar
Merlin66 (Ken)
Registered User

Merlin66 is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Junortoun Vic
Posts: 8,904
I've successfully used Dreamweaver - simple and straightforward.
Check out
http://www.astronomicalspectroscopy.com/

http://www.adobe-students.com/au/pro...eamweaver.html
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 12-10-2017, 06:01 PM
ZeroID's Avatar
ZeroID (Brent)
Lost in Space ....

ZeroID is offline
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Auckland, NZ
Posts: 4,949
weebly.com
I run two free sites on there but the paid option (reasonable rates) allows video and your own domain name and other extras.
Very easy to build online, good templates

Look at eplusbike.weebly.com

And that is the free version....
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 13-10-2017, 01:00 PM
gregbradley's Avatar
gregbradley
Registered User

gregbradley is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Sydney
Posts: 17,877
Thanks very much for the suggestions.

Greg.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 13-10-2017, 03:33 PM
Redshift13 (Rohan)
Registered User

Redshift13 is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 98
In addition to Weebly, the other two "big players" in the online website builder space are:
Wix (www.wix.com)
Squarespace (www.squarespace.com)

I believe they all offer both free (with limited functionality) and paid price points.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 13-10-2017, 10:35 PM
AstroJunk's Avatar
AstroJunk (Jonathan)
Shadow Chaser

AstroJunk is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Moonee Beach
Posts: 1,909
I use wordpress as it is so good (and easy) for media. http://shadowchaser.com.au/

Joomla is more involved, but very good for e-commerce.

If you get webspace from go daddy or the like, you will get a whole raft of tools free (including the above) that you can explore.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 15-10-2017, 06:38 PM
dpastern (Dave Pastern)
PI cult member

dpastern is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 2,874
Quote:
Originally Posted by AstroJunk View Post
I use wordpress as it is so good (and easy) for media. http://shadowchaser.com.au/

Joomla is more involved, but very good for e-commerce.

If you get webspace from go daddy or the like, you will get a whole raft of tools free (including the above) that you can explore.
I hope you're updating your Wordpress the instant new updates are available. As someone who's responsibility has been managing the web servers for a small/medium ISP, I personally wouldn't touch either Wordpress or Joomla. But, each to their own.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 15-10-2017, 06:40 PM
dpastern (Dave Pastern)
PI cult member

dpastern is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 2,874
Quote:
Originally Posted by Redshift13 View Post
In addition to Weebly, the other two "big players" in the online website builder space are:
Wix (www.wix.com)
Squarespace (www.squarespace.com)

I believe they all offer both free (with limited functionality) and paid price points.
I'd probably go with WIX, they seem to be the market leaders. That said - any site you design with them is non portable, should you wish to migrate it to either another design/hosting company, or your own infrastructure.

Dreamweaver is pretty good, but expensive and complex. Certainly not for a noob or someone who isn't computer tech savvy imho.

The problem with these automated tools is that you do not get to understand the underlying technology(ies), and when things go wrong, it makes it very hard for you to troubleshoot the issue. But hey, I'm an old fart, and code everything by hand, using notepad/vim.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 16-10-2017, 08:17 AM
sil's Avatar
sil (Steve)
Not even a speck of dust

sil is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Canberra
Posts: 1,474
Quote:
Originally Posted by dpastern View Post
But hey, I'm an old fart, and code everything by hand, using notepad/vim.
Yep, I'm the same. Websites are dead easy to make. I still prefer the days before the web infested the world. Long live ftp, gopher and archie!
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 16-10-2017, 09:52 AM
dpastern (Dave Pastern)
PI cult member

dpastern is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 2,874
Quote:
Originally Posted by sil View Post
Yep, I'm the same. Websites are dead easy to make. I still prefer the days before the web infested the world. Long live ftp, gopher and archie!
I had to look both of those up! I had heard of both of them, but never investigated what they were. They were both from before my time (I didn't get a computer until 1997). Gopher sounds rather interesting!

edit: I still use lynx from time to time and just realise that it uses the gopher space. Well, well, well.

I was very late into computers, at age 28, even though I'd been using computers (dumb terminals/3.11) since '94. Computers didn't grab me until my best mate sat me down and harshly told me that they were the future and I'd better get my act together and learn about them and use them.

I prefer static sites (non php, scripting language) - yes they are less powerful, but pretty much impervious to mischievous behaviour from naughty people ;-)
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 16-10-2017, 10:40 AM
RickS's Avatar
RickS (Rick)
PI cult recruiter

RickS is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 10,584
I have been playing with Hugo, a static site generator: http://gohugo.io/about/

I like the idea of a static site from a portability, speed and security POV. If only I had more time...

Cheers,
Rick.
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 16-10-2017, 10:49 AM
dpastern (Dave Pastern)
PI cult member

dpastern is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 2,874
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS View Post
I have been playing with Hugo, a static site generator: http://gohugo.io/about/

I like the idea of a static site from a portability, speed and security POV. If only I had more time...

Cheers,
Rick.
that looks rather interesting, thanks Rick!
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 16-10-2017, 05:52 PM
lazjen's Avatar
lazjen (Chris)
PI cult member

lazjen is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Flaxton, Qld
Posts: 2,064
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS View Post
I have been playing with Hugo, a static site generator: http://gohugo.io/about/

I like the idea of a static site from a portability, speed and security POV. If only I had more time...

Cheers,
Rick.
Haha, I've got this on my backlog too, for exactly the same reasons.
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 16-10-2017, 05:54 PM
dpastern (Dave Pastern)
PI cult member

dpastern is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 2,874
stupid question - how do I become a PI Cult Member lol!
Reply With Quote
  #16  
Old 16-10-2017, 06:36 PM
RickS's Avatar
RickS (Rick)
PI cult recruiter

RickS is offline
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 10,584
Quote:
Originally Posted by dpastern View Post
stupid question - how do I become a PI Cult Member lol!
You can be anything you want so long as it doesn't offend the moderators:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/p...do=editprofile
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 16-10-2017, 07:13 PM
dpastern (Dave Pastern)
PI cult member

dpastern is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 2,874
Quote:
Originally Posted by RickS View Post
You can be anything you want so long as it doesn't offend the moderators:

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/p...do=editprofile
ahh! Thank you!
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 16-10-2017, 07:44 PM
OzEclipse's Avatar
OzEclipse (Joe Cali)
Registered User

OzEclipse is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Young Hilltops LGA, Australia
Posts: 1,177
I use Dreamhost.com as my hosting provider. USD110 per annum includes a nominal 450GB of hosting space that you can partition however you like. If you need more space for a legitimate project, (as far as I can tell that covers basically anything except porn, or illegal (copyright breach) music or video streaming) they say they'll give it to you at no extra charge.

The $110 pa includes one domain, extra domains can be registered and added at $10 pa per top level domain eg .net and .com domains. Some domain types are more expensive to register.

You have full control via a control panel to manage domains, users access and passwords. They don't seem to have limits on bandwidth, or at least none that have affected me. I get between 150000 and 250000 IP address visits to the site per year.


I've been with them for 7 years. In that time they had one security breach. They detected it and within hrs had reset every users password and were very forthcoming with a report on what happened and what action they took. I haven't needed much support but whenever I've asked, they answer. Their prices have not increased since I started my package other than the effect of the devaluation of the Aussie dollar which is not their fault.

They have one click formatting for Wordpress. Maybe the same for Joomla I'd have to check. Or you can format the space to do HTML coding for yourself.

The difference is that these packages provide a piece of software that allows you to upload content text and images straight to the website. Other packages, dreamweaver, Kompozer, and others mentioned mean you can edit a copy stored on your hard drive then upload to the site. I've always used an offline editor then upload but it's just a personal preference. When I coded my site I didn't forsee the explosion in smartphone and tablet access and so my site is only formatted for computer/laptop sized screens. This lowers your search engine presence. Joomla and wordpress, are basically preformatted. There are limited templates but I believe that they interrogate the device and reformat content for the device. If starting now, I would either go for software that is device aware or else have to code it myself. I am not an expert in this area and so can't tell you what the best packages are. Do some research of your own and see what's around now.

Basically I've been very happy with the service I've had from dreamhost as a domain host for the past 7 years, no complaints.

Before I switched to them, I was paying more per annum to a Canberra based provider before that and they would only let me have 100MB. I ran out of that space and had to bridge to other server spaces for a couple of years. I spoke to them about it and for an extra $300 per annum, they offered me an extra 25MB of space. Wow! When I decided to leave, they refused to give me access to my control panel and so I couldn't move my old domain joecali.net. Rather than take expensive legal action, I decided to give up the domain and found joe-cali.com was available and registered that instead. With dreamhost, I have access to the panel and can move it if I ever want to change providers.

Cheers

Joe
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 16-10-2017, 07:57 PM
dpastern (Dave Pastern)
PI cult member

dpastern is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 2,874
Joe - this is a real issue with many of these hosting companies - they register the domain in their name, not yours, and it's near impossible to get the domain back from them, especially if it's a tLD not governed by AUDA.

My advice to people it to *always* register your own domain, never let a hosting company do it for you.

I have seen too many people lose their domains this way and it's shocking.
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 18-10-2017, 11:52 AM
sil's Avatar
sil (Steve)
Not even a speck of dust

sil is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Canberra
Posts: 1,474
Greg, what are your requirements "for astrophotos and also business use" is nowhere near enough detail to make a good decision.

Owning your own domain name is essential and can be costly. So consider your end users at all times"gregsbloodyawesomesuperwebsit e.com" doesn't instill a lot of confidence is you are trying to attract business customers."greg.com" likewise doesnt say much to attract anyone. But if you have a business selling Gizmos then gregsgizmos.com would be a better choice at least but what if the market for Gizmos plumets and youstart selling Garden Gnomes? Your website domain should be suitable for your business branding, of course you can buy as many domains as you want of course.

What features do you need in a website? server-side and client-side? Do you know anything about building/maintaining websites at all? If you want to go with an online service look to the ones that have been around a long time as a way to sort them first, dont sort by prices first.

You might want/need a content management system, some hosting companies offer this in their package. If you want to learn and experiment, HTML is the base language for websites and if you have a home internet account you probably already have an empty website you can use at http://www.myinternetprovider.com.au...etaccountname/

you can make a simple photogallery using HTML and JavaScript (the coding language that runs in a web browser). Look into Lightbox.

You really need to well define exactly what you require as well as the funky what you want stuff. Part of why web design is so expensive is a client comes along and says i want a website. It gets built and the client now decides they want a website with a built in search engine, be able to have people buy items, allow people to upload photos or whatever seemingly "simple" request that means the entire site has to be scrapped and rebuilt from scratch numerous times. its a time consuming process and the client is the bottleneck. If they don't know exactly what they want up front and dont change their mind and want to make constant changes during the process it massively increases the time and costs involved.

I've been building custom websites for a living since mid 90s and over ten years for government. The worst part is always the clients. without fail.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 11:24 PM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Testar
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement