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  1. #1

    Making a web site

    I just found out that I need a make a web site ASAP to advertise a program I just developed at WVU. It can be simple (especially to begin with) and I know nothing about Dreamweaver or Frontpage or anything about this.

    Any hints about what program to use? Are there templates I can cheat off of?
    ~rthomas

  2. #2
    Hi rthomas,

    Depending on your needs, Dreamweaver and Frontpage might be overkill. There are tons of free templates online that provide some basic tools for editing, and if you're a Mac user I'd suggest going with iWeb. PM if you want more help or details.

    Good luck!
    Quote Originally Posted by rthomas View Post
    I just found out that I need a make a web site ASAP to advertise a program I just developed at WVU. It can be simple (especially to begin with) and I know nothing about Dreamweaver or Frontpage or anything about this.

    Any hints about what program to use? Are there templates I can cheat off of?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Huntington Beach, CA

    Template Monster

    Here's the template site that was recommended to me. In the end, I didn't set up a website, but I did look through this site's offerings and liked them.

    www.templatemonster.com
    No soup for you!

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by rthomas View Post
    I just found out that I need a make a web site ASAP to advertise a program I just developed at WVU. It can be simple (especially to begin with) and I know nothing about Dreamweaver or Frontpage or anything about this.

    Any hints about what program to use? Are there templates I can cheat off of?
    Find a simple web site that looks like what you want. You can view the source of that page, copy it to your machine, then edit it. Find a simple book that explains some of the HTML commands. Once you get it working you can then tweak it to look nice and add more features.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Back in the dirty Jerz
    Quote Originally Posted by hughgs View Post
    Find a simple web site that looks like what you want. You can view the source of that page, copy it to your machine, then edit it. Find a simple book that explains some of the HTML commands. Once you get it working you can then tweak it to look nice and add more features.
    Be careful if you do this. I am not a lawyer, but website design and content are copyrightable.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo all have free/cheap web development tools and site hosting -

    The one I'm familiar with is MSFT Office Live - www.officelive.com

    You can have a quick and easy site set up on a 4th level domain (something like http://rthomas.office.live.com) in about 15 minutes.

    PM me with any questions.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by DevilAlumna View Post
    Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo all have free/cheap web development tools and site hosting -

    The one I'm familiar with is MSFT Office Live - www.officelive.com

    You can have a quick and easy site set up on a 4th level domain (something like http://rthomas.office.live.com) in about 15 minutes.

    PM me with any questions.
    Thanks, but I went to http://rthomas.office.live.com and there is nothing there. Can you put all my stuff there for me?
    ~rthomas

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by DukeUsul View Post
    Be careful if you do this. I am not a lawyer, but website design and content are copyrightable.
    True, but he's at WVU, so there have to be tons of academic pages which just contain simple content. It doesn't sound like he's looking for something like ESPN but something more akin to a course web site.

  9. #9
    I have my web site. Took me all weekend to get three pages but it's a start.

    Thanks.

    http://reu.as.wvu.edu

    No laughing. It took me all weekend.
    ~rthomas

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by rthomas View Post
    I have my web site. Took me all weekend to get three pages but it's a start.

    Thanks.

    http://reu.as.wvu.edu

    No laughing. It took me all weekend.
    Hee Hee Hee Hee

    Really it is a nice job.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Watching carolina Go To HELL!
    Quote Originally Posted by rthomas View Post
    I have my web site. Took me all weekend to get three pages but it's a start.

    Thanks.

    http://reu.as.wvu.edu

    No laughing. It took me all weekend.
    You type pretty slowly, don't you

    All kidding aside, it is three more pages of web site than I've ever created, so good job!
    Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!

    Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
    9F 9F 9F
    https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by rthomas View Post
    I have my web site. Took me all weekend to get three pages but it's a start.

    Thanks.

    http://reu.as.wvu.edu

    No laughing. It took me all weekend.
    Looks good.

    One real suggestion. Do something different with your e-mail address. There's a good probability that your current set-up will generate a lot of spam. Maybe move the e-mail link to your name and deleting your actual e-mail address.

    There's also a web-site that will validate your HTML code (make sure you're not doing something too weird). I like using it as a final check of my code. http://validator.w3.org/

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    ← Bay / Valley ↓
    Quote Originally Posted by hughgs View Post
    One real suggestion. Do something different with your e-mail address. There's a good probability that your current set-up will generate a lot of spam. Maybe move the e-mail link to your name and deleting your actual e-mail address.
    you could use an online service that generates an image version of your email http://digitalcolony.com/lab/maskemail/maskemail.aspx (you have to save the image on your own server, or at least that's what the site suggests)

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by hc5duke View Post
    you could use an online service that generates an image version of your email http://digitalcolony.com/lab/maskemail/maskemail.aspx (you have to save the image on your own server, or at least that's what the site suggests)
    How about simply:

    ... contacting the Program Director, <a href="mailto:myemail@myemail.edu">Dr. Richard Thomas</a> ...

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Dallas
    hughs,

    he actually shouldn't do what you're suggesting. In that way, the email address is still visible to any spam-bot that downloads the page and searches for the mail link.

    The "best" answer in terms of usability is to make the email an output of a javascript function, but this depends on the user having javascript installed. An image works too, but is a pain, because when you click on it, nothing happens.

    The most practical solution is to just setup a separate mail account and don't get too attached to it. When it gets inundated with spam, change it.

    Oh yeah, and as far as your page goes rthomas, this is really groovy for a first effort. Seriously. It's clean, readable, and better than 50% of websites out there.

    Suggestions I would make to the page:

    1) Center the content. Right now, everything is stuck on the left.

    2) Make the links more prominent.

    3) Maybe consider a different font. No one really uses Times New Roman for a website like this- usually it's Arial or Helvetica.

    These changes are optional, just based on my preferences and background as a web developer. Leaving it the way it is also okay too!

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Back in the dirty Jerz
    Considering WVU makes your email address available through an open directory search, I'm not sure trying to mask it on your site would be worth it. Normally I'd make that recommendation too, but in this case, it may not help.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Good job, rthomas!

    Out of curiosity, what tool did you end up using?

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by unexpected View Post
    hughs,

    he actually shouldn't do what you're suggesting. In that way, the email address is still visible to any spam-bot that downloads the page and searches for the mail link.
    Ahhh, I see. I didn't think that spam-bots worked that way, but not that you mention it it makes sense.

    I guess the other thing he could do (that would be easy) would be to spell it out, though I suspect that a decent spam-bot would see through that.

    Thanks for my factoid of the day.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by unexpected View Post
    The "best" answer in terms of usability is to make the email an output of a javascript function, ...
    rthomas,

    Here's a web site that uses the Javascript idea. You may want to contact the owner about using it, though I suspect that it doesn't matter.

    http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/ordering.htm

    The script is embedded near the very bottom of the page and is quite small. Look for the "Mail to:" section.

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