Hi all,

I am looking to start my own website.

Many moons ago I used to know html code but that has long gone and I am well out of date with it.

At the time the I used to like programs like Frontpage and the free one with Netscape navigator lol

anyway.

Neither of those exists any more so I was wondering what anyone here uses to build pages now-days?

Also, what is the best way to go with regards to domains......should I pay for a hosting and domain reg site all in one (about £3 per month) or should I reg name (£10 a year) and then pay for separate hosting.......which I can't find basic prices for.

Looking at Google there are just FAR to many options out there so any advice and guidance would be great!

cheers all

I use weebly for mine.

No messing around with code, just drag and drop.

Cost me £30 for the year for a .com, hosting and use of the design program!

123 reg have nice offer on co.uk domains. Regarding the hosting I have mine for ~£30 for two years. Had a simple problem and they sorted ot out nicely

Always keep hosting and domains separate.

I started out with just the ISP's webspace and a small static site built with Arachnophilia (just checked and it's still being developed some 15 years or so later!). Given my site was mainly text oriented, and my ISP (ntl before becoming VM), offered quite a fast (for the time) cable connection I switched to host the site on my own server. Got fed up with hand crafting pages and switched to a wiki engine I'd been investigating at work. There are obviously overheads with maintaining that, but it does give a lot of flexibility. I keep checking around, looking at virtual servers (not many hosted packages offer the particular wiki I use - Foswiki - so they aren't an option at present), but the cost puts me off.

If I were starting from scratch now I'd probably go for something like one of the many hosted Wordpress offerings or similar. My site is based around free software for IBM machines (was the AS/400, but has gone through many name changes since), which got quite a bit of interest a decade ago, but I just maintain it in a more of less frozen state these days (hence not wanting to spend much on it). I briefly had a hosted site through GoDaddy as well, mainly for big files that I didn't want choking up my home broadband, which was around £30/year, but I hardly used any of the packages they offered with it, so dropped that when my broadband speed went up sufficiently.

We use 123reg at work, and their control panel for domains seems pretty flexible, but I haven't any experience of their hosting solutions.

What type of site are you wanting to run, as that's likely to determine what kind of hosting you need to start with?

Gadget man - why do you say to keep separate?

It will just be a very basic advertising site mainly for a handyman business I want to start.

Literally 10pages max, no clever on-line shopping carts or anything like that.

Probably a couple photo galleries.

I do have VM but they say they can-not host if I have a domain and I would like a .co.uk rather than a 'forwarding' domain.

I have found Host papa which seems to be cheap and has a lot of features....has anyone had or heard of these?

Also godaddy have been advertising on the tv lately?

cheers all

123 Reg for the domain names. Easily the best.

For webspace, try Ariotek.co.uk

fasthosts.co.uk for names

krystal.co.uk for hosting

Again 123reg for domains. With regards to hosting, take your pick there are hundreds out there! 1&1, Fasthosts, Heart Internet etc

For html/css work i use notepad++, i hand code just about everything. You cant really go wrong with Adobe Dreamweaver though if you can get a copy.

If your that rusty is it worth paying someone for a basic website? The web has changed a lot and someone who is up to date will create a much better website.

I use HostPapa largely due to their unlimited storage capacity which, for my photography business, it pretty essential.

I have been with them for 4 years and have very few issues with them.

If reaching the very top of Google rankings in the UK is important, then look for a host that operates out of the UK (HostPapa are located in Canada).

Gadget man - why do you say to keep separate?

Makes switching hosting easier if you ever need to.

hi all, yeah uk hosting is top for google results so will look down that line - They both look like good sites mbames, cheers.

AlphaPappa.........you sound like you are offering to build the site for me? ;-) lol

AlphaPappa.........you sound like you are offering to build the site for me? ;-) lol

Got my hands full with Briskoda stuff at the moment :p

hi all, yeah uk hosting is top for google results so will look down that line - They both look like good sites mbames, cheers.

AlphaPappa.........you sound like you are offering to build the site for me? ;-) lol

Got anymore details on what you are looking for?

That really does sound like an offer!!!

It sure does!

Rob, My idea is a basic page with solid colour background then in the centre (html - center lol) nav at top, couple picture left and right with text saying who I am what I do etc.

Then other pages would be a gallery of completed work I've done.

A testimonial page

Page about pricing

Contact info page

Maybe a 'blog' page or tweet page or some thing alike that maybe I could post to from Android on the move (think this would be dependant on the hosting sites features and programs)

Sounds fairly simple: why not register a domain, get Wordpress set up on it, create some 'static' pages for contact, about, pricing, etc. and then you can post to the blog from a phone on the move.

By integrating the 'static' pages directly with the blog, Google likes this more and sees it as an update direct to the main website.

There are numerous Worpress templates available (free & paid for) that will give you a unique look.

I will look into wordpress.

I have since reg'ed a name and brought seperate hosting which I got another free name with but my question is how do i get the good domain reg'ed only to point to the hosting company but not showing the 'free' lesser name?

Looking at the hosting site it says I need to transfer in my good domain? but then surely that means that the host are also the registra of the good domain?

Hope that makes sense?

ha, ignore most of that, I have figured it out!

Man this is a tad but more complicated than I thought!

And look at the time! lol

I would avoid things like wordpress at this stage.

Unless you opt for their managed hosted option, otherwise you'll be escalating your monthly costs (hosting with mysql etc enabled) the complexity and down the road, maintenance as patching is required. Most of that is avoided incidentally by taking there hosted options, at which point it becomes a styling and effort exercise.

Less is more and a fast to load, what I like to call a real WWW page.

What you do.

Who you are.

Where you are.

Ticks most boxes initially.