web site

[marieandguy]

Dear All,

6 months to go, and we now need to start establishing a web site..
since none of us are e-freaks, can any one advise on a good host, or an initial link for a web-site host? (not a blog)
We dont mind paying an annual fee as long as we get some value for the money (i.e. no pop-ups and the like)

:confused1:

Any input will be highly appreciated

Thanks,
Marie&Guy

[Grant Johnson]

We highly recommend our host, www.futurequest.net if you want a full site. Runs about 7.99 or 9.99 a month for a very small personal site, including all the mail and traffic etc you could want and great support.

Of course, have to also ask, why not a blog? BY FAR the easiest way to maintain a website on the road ESPECIALLY if you're not "an e-freak". You can use any of the many good blog software packages - recommended: Wordpress - and set it up on your own site. We have been using Movable Type for years, and it's been very good. See a hundred or so Travellers Blogs running on it at the Travellers Stories link on left - (under Blogs.) You're welcome to one of our free blogs of course! You'll get great traffic from the off with our blogs too!

[marieandguy]

Thanks very much for the answer.
Actually am not 100% sure why not a Blog.
With my limited Knowledge, i assume Blog is good for a journey log, i.e. stories from the road, but will not accommodate the pictures, sponsor logos (if any) and facilitate the ability for a multipage type of a site. But i might be wrong (?)
I will check the link per yours advise, and i hope that during the months left, we will be able to get the hang of it and make it work...

Marie&Guy

[Chris of Motocross Africa]

I did mine through www.lowcostnames.co.uk and although I have little to compare it to, I found it fairly straight forward, reasonably cheap, comes with stats and webmail etc and package for uploading to the server.

[beddhist]

Yes, you can have pictures on blogs, see the travellers' stories right here on HUBB. I'm a bit of a computer boffin myself, but have struggled with web pages. No more: http://pages.google.com. Point and click. Here is my very simple page: http://beddhist.googlepages.com/

[maria41]

I am the same than you, not a computer genius and wanted a simple hassle free, easy to update, easy to built, multipage with no pop ups.

I got it via Geocities. The preliminary basic price includes purchase of the address name of your choice (if available), then about 8.99USD a month. Using their "powerbuilder" tool, it is very easy to built pages and publish them, from anywhere and any computer, without going mad FTP-ing files for hours on end! Handy for people on the road. Then I created a blog with Ballofdirt.com and linked it to my site. Ballofdirt is really easy to use and you can link lots of photos!
You can view my website using link below.
Cheers

[MikeS]

I've done something similar to Maria in that I did a pretty straightforward website in FrontPage (using a layout I nicked from an architect's website of all things). I then set up a blog page and a photohosting page and linked these to the main site. I'm certianly not into programming having never done it but found it relatively easy to set up after a bit of trial and error. Unfortunatelly I'll need to change the hosting of my site as I need to cancel my Telewest account before I leave so will need to look in to all that now! According to a computer geek friend of mine, for about £25 I can get a domain name and host my site.

Once on the road, the only things I'll need to update will be the diary and photo pages as I'm not bringing a laptop, just a small PDA and folding keyboard which I hope will be sufficient.

Of course, the simplest thing to do would be just the Blog and photo pages linked to each other but then why make life simple!

Hope that helps.

[maria41]

Originally Posted by MikeS

Once on the road, the only things I'll need to update will be the diary and photo pages as I'm not bringing a laptop, just a small PDA and folding keyboard which I hope will be sufficient.

Of course, the simplest thing to do would be just the Blog and photo pages linked to each other but then why make life simple!

Hope that helps.

I'm with Mike on that. I do not plan to take a laptop with me. I can update my website and blog from any internet cafe, and I plan, like Mike, to buy a PDA and folding keyboard.


Actually Mike, which PDA are you going for?

[MikeS]

Hi Maria

I ended up getting a PalmTungsten T5 for £90 (though you can get a lot cheeper ones) and a folding infrared keyboard for about £12 I think, both off Ebay. The T5 also takes SD camera memory cards and I was able to name some photos I'd taken which may be useful as once you send home Cd's with hundreds of un-named photos, it could start getting difficult to remember what was what.

It's also supposed to act like a flash-drive apparently so I'm hoping it will be able to plug into any computer. Well, at least thats the theory.

Ps I see you've also got the obligatory 'riding-through-deep-water' photo on your website- Great minds think alilke!

[seanh]

I don't know how it works elsewhere, but i was able to get free web hosting through my parents ISP provider, they were signed up to a basic internet service which also allowed free personal website hosting.
Personally, i'd go with a blog though unless you plan to take a laptop. I was writing the text and sending the photos to my brother, who pasted them into the website with my computer, but it was a bit of a hassle.
Sean

[George Edwards]

Originally Posted by MikeS

Hi Maria

I ended up getting a PalmTungsten T5 for £90 (though you can get a lot cheeper ones) and a folding infrared keyboard for about £12 I think, both off Ebay. The T5 also takes SD camera memory cards and I was able to name some photos I'd taken which may be useful as once you send home Cd's with hundreds of un-named photos, it could start getting difficult to remember what was what.

It's also supposed to act like a flash-drive apparently so I'm hoping it will be able to plug into any computer. Well, at least thats the theory.

Ps I see you've also got the obligatory 'riding-through-deep-water' photo on your website- Great minds think alilke!

Hi Mike, ace website, hope all goes well on your trip

We are down to Turkey in a few weeks, for two weeks and then back to work
George and Kathy
www.rtrider.co.uk

[MikeS]

Originally Posted by seanh

I don't know how it works elsewhere, but i was able to get free web hosting through my parents ISP provider, they were signed up to a basic internet service which also allowed free personal website hosting.
Personally, i'd go with a blog though unless you plan to take a laptop. I was writing the text and sending the photos to my brother, who pasted them into the website with my computer, but it was a bit of a hassle.
Sean

Cheers Sean

I've just followed your advice and re-hosted using my mums ISP a/c and saved myself £25

[MikeS]

Originally Posted by George Edwards

Hi Mike, ace website, hope all goes well on your trip

We are down to Turkey in a few weeks, for two weeks and then back to work
George and Kathy
www.rtrider.co.uk

Cheers for that George!

Have a good trip to Turkey, I'm sure you'll have a great time.