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I Need Help With My Website!


Holyman

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Just a suggestion, but download the newest Netscape (the full version), that'll include Composer. It's ALOT easier to use than Word, and it's free, I use it (any fuckups on my webpage are a direct result of trying to use Word). Play with it and you should be able to get all the basics of the web page done fairly painlessly.

 

Also, find out from your webpage host how you can upload files. I use my local ISP and can just use MS Internet Explorer as an ftp (file transfer) program...cut 'n paste or drag & drop whatcha want onto the server.

 

What do you have in mind?

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I'm no professional but I can offer what I've learned...

 

I've never used Frontpage, or cared to learn any HTML, but either Frontpage or Composer should be really easy to use, more or less just like a word processing program where you just stick text and pics where you want them. Then it's just a matter of moving the html file, along with any image files you used, onto the server. I keep a folder on my PC with everything on it that's on my web page just in case it crashes, but also to have some idea of how much space it takes up (most places will have a size limit).

 

So start off with the HTML program. What I did was first choose a background image; some simple graphics programs will help here too. I've used MS Paint, MS Photo Editor, and Paint Shop Pro, just whatever I had laying around (some programs come preinstalled on computers, others come with digital cameras, or you can get copies from friends). A smaller image that's tiled will take less time to load than a huge image, and a gif is typically smaller than a jpeg (but not always). I chose light colors for the background images so you can see the text easily...actually I just used a graphics program to lighten the image I wanted.

 

Different fonts can be cool, but keep in mind that another computer may or may not be able to display them, so for text I stick to whatever is typically included with Windows (Copperplate Gothic Bold is what I like). However, if you find a really cool font and want to use it as a banner or in an image, just make an image file (jpg or gif) and use that font, that way it'll be visible to anyone. Free fonts are all over but here's a site I found with a good selection:

 

http://www.1001freefonts.com/fonts/bfonts2.htm

 

Then add pics to the page if you want. Remember to keep them relatively small so the page loads faster. One tip I got from looking at a lot of porn sites is to use thumbnails: have a html page with small (like 10% to 25%) images, and link the images directly to the full-size jpg. That way the html page loads fast and you can just click on whatever image you want to see full-size.

 

Now if you want to just have pics online to link to from ebay or the HQ, you just need to upload them to the server. I don't know for sure if you can just use IE to make subfolders to keep images or whatever, I just have all my shit lumped into one directory (in my case www.dfn.com/benkaren). So if I have next month's wallpaper called Jan04.jpg, I open up IE, and instead of using http to connect to the server I type in ftp://www.dfn.com/benkaren in the address bar and it shows all the files. Then I open the folder with the image in it, right click and "copy", then go back to IE and right click and "paste". Once it's uploaded (it takes a minute depending on the file size, of course I'm on crappy 56K), then if I want to display that pic here or somewhere else, the address is www.dfn.com/benkaren/jan04.jpg. This is kinda simplified because my ISP has gone to password protection but that's basically it.

 

One other thing, you can make any text a link to another page or another site, with Composer just highlight the text, right click and "create link". In the popup box just put in the address (if it's an image put in like http://www.yourserver.com/uglykidjoe.jpg or whatever).

 

Let's see, I know there's more little stuff...oh yeah if you mess around with Composer (or whatever program you use), there's a place where you can put more info about the page like page title, author, brief description, etc. Use that. Alot of search engines look for keywords in the description. That brings up something else, you can tell various search engines about your site (like Yahoo, Lycos, Altavista, etc.), don't pay for that shit. Just go to the site and root around until you find something about getting listed. It's been so long I forget what I did but I know there's a way to do it. What else...make sure you put an email addy somewhere on the page (if it's a public page I would suggest a hotmail account to reduce spam)...oh yeah another thing, you can have multiple HTML pages on the server, typically the main page is named "Index.html"; so that loads when they go to your URL. Then whatever other pages you have will just go in the same directory on the server (with different names obviously like "banshee.html" or whatever). Another thing, you can use frames on a HTML page but I think they are more work than they're worth...just try different stuff and see what you like.

 

Anyway, hope this helps, I'm sure if you have any specific problems or ideas someone here can help that knows more about this shit than I do. Good luck.

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First of all thanks for all the advice. If nothing else, I'm getting more motivated to get the site up and running.

As far as vacation goes, I went on a cruise to Belize, Honduras, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

I'll give you the abbreviated version of my travel log.

1- Belize is great for scuba. I don't scuba. We were going to do a snorkeling excursion but the water was rough and they were offering refunds to those who "might get sick" from the choppy water. That meant to us that you couldn't see anything. So we went shopping and there wasn't much to see there.

2- Honduras was rainy. We got on a bus to go to a beach but it rained so we got back on the bus and went back to the ship.

As a side point my brother in law {wifes brother} and his inlaws {his wifes parents} and their kids and a couple friends {total 8 people} decided to save a couple bucks and catch a cab to the beach. The idea was that the cab would take them there and then get paid for the round trip when they got picked up. Long story short. The cab never came. So 6 of 'em hitched a ride on the back of a Datsun short bed pickup that was 1/2 covered with a toolbox and that had piles of used truck coil springs in it. The other 2 flagged down an ambulance and got a ride. They were the last 8 people to board the ship :rolleyes:

There was another couple {wifes aunt and uncle} that went on a jungle canopy tour where you strap on a harness and slide along cables in the tree tops. They loved it.

3- Grand Cayman was great. We did a stingray tour where you snorkel with the stingrays out about 3 miles from shore. You feed 'em squid chunks. They are totally harmless and even rub against you like a cat. I took a short video clip I could send you if you want to see it. If you go there I would say it's a "must do".

One other thing... They make Tortuga rum there. So STOCK UP!!! B)

4- Cozumel was also great. There's plenty of shopping, clubs, and an AWESOME eco preserve about 1/2 hours drive from shore. We did a "Jeep snorkel" tour. They put you into groups of up to 4 and then your group gets the keys to a Jeep Wrangler. You drive to the eco preserve and see the croc farm, some small ruins, and then a perfect beach where you can enjoy the sun or snorkel out to a reef. We snorkeled along the reef for an hour and a half. We got back to the Jeeps and then did some "off roading" where the tour guide drives you thru the jungle on one of the worst trails I've ever been on. Rocks, roots, holes, water the works. The guides were great. They had CB's that played on the radios in each Jeep. They would constantly say "remember you're on vacation, have a good time :) ... but HURRRRYYYY UUUPPP VAMANOOOOOSSSSS :lol: ". There was a group of 4 old ladies that never even drove stick before trashing this Jeep, at night, in the dark, in the woods and a Mexican saying "C'MON YOU NEEED A PUSH???!!!"

It was an awesome day. I would recommend Grand Cayman and Cozumel unless you scuba. I'm told that Belize and Honduras are some of the best scuba in the world other than Austrailia.

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Haha sounds like a good trip, I can just picture the jeep tour (croc farm? :blink: ). Even with the rain I bet the weather was way better down there this time of year. Feedin' the stingrays sounds really cool too, if that clip is under 1MB I'd love to check it out, my addy is benbb33@hotmail.com (hotmail puts a 1MB limit on attachments). Anyway, hope you had a good time, I'll be takin' a cruise right after I hit the Powerball, heh.

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