Need website advice for Cumulus for absolute beginner

[beteljuice]

At one time you could learn from a book - not now !!

New ideas, standards, browsers etc. keep appearing - often making things worse !

You say, you don't want your ISP web space - any particular reason ?

As far as domain names, I would recommend them to everyone - if nothing else you have unlimited mail name@yourdomain.berk which means you now have to learn how to use you mail client correctly and have loads of boxes and filters - much more hassle than building a site

There are many name 'hosts' out there. I use http://www.123-reg.co.uk ( I have lots of names ) - they can also provide space if you fell the need.

The great thing of having your own name NOT tied into your ISP, is that if you fall out, you still have your web and mail names and simply redirect to your new provider.

[steve]

I use http://www.123-reg.co.uk

me too

( I have lots of names )

me too

I think 123-reg are pretty good, and quite cheap. I don't use them for hosting, though.

[RayProudfoot]

At one time you could learn from a book - not now !!

New ideas, standards, browsers etc. keep appearing - often making things worse !

I'm not looking to build a major retail website - just a home weather site but I need to understand the fundamentals before I commit to anything. I'm the cautious type! I learn best by reading and would prefer a book to staring at a screen.

You say, you don't want your ISP web space - any particular reason ?

They compel you to have adverts which I don't want. Also, the frequent uploading of data may piddle them off. John Dann of ProData recommended a web hosting service to me and their prices seem reasonable but before I sign up I need to get my head around the technology and terminology.

As far as domain names, I would recommend them to everyone - if nothing else you have unlimited mail name@yourdomain.berk which means you now have to learn how to use you mail client correctly and have loads of boxes and filters - much more hassle than building a site

Just the one mail address will do! Can't think why I would need a second one.

There are many name 'hosts' out there. I use http://www.123-reg.co.uk ( I have lots of names ) - they can also provide space if you fell the need.

The great thing of having your own name NOT tied into your ISP, is that if you fall out, you still have your web and mail names and simply redirect to your new provider.

That's what I've read and intend to do. Keep them separate. One question. Clearly I can start simple and build up a website as I gather experience and knowledge. Is FrontPage enough to get me started with the Cumulus provided web pages? Is it just a case of dropping the templates into a folder and logging in via FTP? Perhaps the fancy stuff can come later?

[Super-T]

Ray
How about this?
http://www.amazon.com/Building-Site-Dum ... 0764507206

[RayProudfoot]

Thanks Terry. Seems like a sensible starting point.

[beteljuice]

.... Just the one mail address will do! Can't think why I would need a second one ..

One of lifes lessons - never ever give out your ISP main mail name .. It gives clues to your user name and all sorts of nasties. If it gets on a spammers list - well, you have to open another account.

When you manage your own domain, then you can eg. cumulus@mydomain.berk, ebay@mydomain.berk, son@mydomain.berk - you WILL find it useful if not essential.

[RayProudfoot]

Thanks Beteljuice. Is it necessary to setup mail addresses at the very start or can they be added later? I really want to crawl before I can walk before I can run.

Regarding unwanted emails... I have used MailWasher Pro http://www.mailwasher.net/ for many years now and can thoroughly recommend it. It allows you to view messages on the server before you download them using your email program. Anything dodgy can be marked as spam and bounced back to the sender as undeliverable. I've had the same email address for about 10 years now and don't get bombarded with rubbish.

[beteljuice]

You don't have to set-up at all if you don't want to, can be done / modified at any time.

If you think of it as pigeon hole drop, then you can forward the (domain) mail to your real ISP mail and / or others if you wish ! - if you do it that way, then you don't need to set-up different mail servers on your email prog. (although you probably will end up doing that)

[RayProudfoot]

I already have a second e-mail account for another interest to keep mail in a separate Outlook folder so that's how I'd treat any messages from my weather site once established.

I subscribe to PC Pro and this package looks suitable. A fraction of the price of DreamWeaver which is probably overkill for my needs. At less than £50 it looks okay... http://www.websitex5.com/en/index.html

[RayProudfoot]

I spent a couple of hours using the Incomedia X5 package this afternoon and I learned more in that time that I did in days using FrontPage 2003.

Although it's quite a simple interface it does the basics very well. And considering I'm not about to create a weather site equivalent of Amazon I think it will suit me very well. And all for a price of £45! A bit different to £389 for DreamWeaver!

[akasonny]

I'm a newbie when it comes to hosting websites.

I use my ISP personal webspace for my weather site and I'm using Dyndns.com to change the hostname to a URL I rather prefer. But I have this little problem for which I hope somebody can suggest a cure...its a bit confusing but I'll try to explain:

In setting up the new host in dyndns, I'm asked if I want to cloak. (By that its meant that. if NOT cloaked, when you surf to the website, the browser reveals the true ISP's website name instead of the newly assigned host name. But when cloaked the newly assigned hostname is displayed in the browser. So far, so good.

But when cloaked, if you're reading a specific web page and you refresh the browser (say to update the data contained on that page), you are always returned to the index.htm instead of whatever other page on the weather station you may have been at that time.

I like cloaking but I want to be cloaked and yet retain the capability of refreshing to the same web page thereby keeping my ISP website name hidden.

I know that's not a very clear description of the problem. Those who can understand it get a pint when next I see them!