Starting a website, I have a few questions...

[FilthyBroke]

I am considering setting up a website, and I have a few questions for those of you who have already done this.

Who to use as a host?

Will I be able to do the whole setup thing myself?  I'm pretty handy with the computer and I learn quickly, but haven't tried anything like this before.

Are there unforseen issues that I should know about?

The purpose of the site will probably be an ongoing information and picture site covering my jeton venture.  I'm hoping to post what I've learned, and gather info and update the site as I go, and to post a photo album of sorts.  I may even list items for sale at some point, at least on a small scale. That's the basic idea for now, unless you all have suggestions.  Or should I just leave this sort of thing until I have a better grasp on things?  I don't have a solid outline or anything as of yet, I'd rather see how the website process works before I put too much time into planning.

I'm just thinking about this for right now, and I could probably talk myself out of it pretty easily if I keep thinking about it and doing nothing.

[coinsarefun]

If you want to host your own website you can use Yahoo, they offer a free web designer software.
It's pretty easy to use. That's what I used when I first started this website and a few others.

As I got better I purchased some really easy to use software from Fry's electronics store, not sure
if they have one by you. You may be able to find it on EBay it's called Web Designer by Seriff.
Then you simply publish it to the server.

Keep in mind you need to pay monthly for the server and so forth.

I eventually moved this site and all my other sites to gatorhost. They offered
larger server space and better place to host mushers because of certain criteria
I needed.


Then you can always just join one of the web blog sites and start your own.
Many are free so there is nothing to pay for. They have templates, limited but free.

[FilthyBroke]

Thanks Stefanie.  I was reading a little online yesterday about starting a site.  IPage was the site Iwas thinking about using, but I'll check out Yahoo again. 
They're a little more expensive, IPage being about  $4.50 a month I believe.  I'll keep digging around for info.

Did you find everything you needed without trouble, or should I expect to be calling customer service for help in setting it up? 

Also, is it easy to edit a page while the site is up and running?

Thanks, I appreciate your help.

[coinsarefun]

with Seriff software its very easy. You just need to set up where you are to publish it to and whenever you
you do updates its very easy

Check this software out
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Serif-WebPlus-X2-Website-Maker-Web-Design-Software-/160541597359?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2561065eaf#ht_2927wt_1141

You need to know the ftp adress and something else I forget.
The best is to contact the web hoster and ask if they would support it.
I will assume almost all can handle it.

It also appears they have some free downloads. You can check it out and see how it is to work with it
http://www.serif.com/web-design-software/

They also have templates
 http://www.serif.com/Templates/


I also just noticed they have a new one out
http://www.serif.com/webplus/


The best thing about these applications is that there is no HTML code to write......which I know nothing of!
You drag, drop, design and publish. It translates it to html

[FilthyBroke]

Great info, thanks!  My 'computer whiz' is coming home for the weekend, I'll ask him about it and then try to get this thing started.  I do like the idea of using design software that isn't straight from the host, sounds like it may help things along a little easier. 

Cool beans!    Thanks so much!!

[coinsarefun]

Let me know how it goes.
When your done we can add you to the links

[FilthyBroke]

Will do.     It could take a while, though.  I hope to actually have a plan in place before I commit to a webhost.  I'll probably sit down this weekend and lay out a rough plan for this.

[coinsarefun]

Give serious thought to gatorhoast.com as your web hosting.
They have tracking available and much other great things.......better than almost everyone else.
link
http://www.hostgator.com/


btw, the guy who helps me with this website recommended them and he was right and a great guy to contact if you need him.
He is listed in the forum under "Networking" His name is Joe
 
http://www.coinsarefun.com/forum/index.php?topic=652.0

[Larry]

William the Webmaster sounds great.  Good luck, filthybroke.  : )

I know the tiniest bit about html and use it to add line breaks, or center a graphic or text, very useful for quotations.
<center>graphic's link</center>
or

graphic's link

That last one worked and I used the left and right square bracket symbols instead of < and >.  You just don't see the code if it works.

Here's an example using a graphic image...

Here I can just add lines of space in a post, no problem.  But on ebay's Coins & Paper Money discussion board, typing returns will not insert blank lines of space before the first text or graphic, or after the last.  So I type br inside < and >and it creates a blank line, a line break, wherever I type it.  I use it at beginning and end of my posts there, and also on the Photos discussion board, and on Flickr for underscores, bold and italics.

colored type.........             [font color=red] type sample[/font color=red]
larger font size...               <big>sample text</big>
bold........                         <bold>sample text</bold>
underline.........                 sample text
italic text..........                sample text


As you can see, only the codes for italic and underscore worked here, in addition to the centering function.  Here we have another way to make underscores, etc., but somewhere is the code and in the code lie the secrets of formatting when you don't have styles listed at the top like we do here.  Just FYI.  : )

[FilthyBroke]

Thanks Larry, I'm hoping to save the fun stuff like html for my son to tackle, or at least walk me through when we get to that point. 
I'm gathering some info this weekend, which is turning out to be a patchwork of little snipets which need to be worked into something
discernable.  The problem is that there is so little information on these things, which is part of the reason I want to take on this project. 

It'll be a work in progress for a while, I guess.  I'm looking forward to getting the basic layout up and running soon, and I'll just add to it as I go.

I appreciate everyone's help here, thanks!