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Creating a Web Site - Written by BHendrix (of BHendrix.com fame)

   To make a site you need a host, who will give you space on a server to put all your files. That's actually it. If you want a unique domain name, e.g. www.lebowski.com, then you need to register the domain name. You can do them independently of each other, but most hosts will do it for you. That's it. Then create your pages, put them on the server, and off you go.

   As for getting things rolling, I still like to recommend Burton Hosting (and not just because they have a cool name). I'm actually on another host now, which only makes me realize how much I liked them. Consider them Tina to my Ike. Anyway, for ~$5 a month, you can get the ball rolling. I have a 5GB transfer limit and only last month did I come close (within 100MB) and that was my biggest month ever - like 100+ visitors a day. I think it will cost you like $15 to register a name initially as well. You can go through a third party for like $5 if you feel like messing with it for your name. I think you have to pay by the year with these guys up front, so if the whole thing goes belly-up after 2 months, you can still have thedude@lebowski.com and 250 megs of net storage whenever you need it (which does come in handy). There are some other web host comparison sites out there, so feel free to check them out. I like to get unix/linux hosting because a)it's usually cheaper b)most open-source stuff (gallery and movable type) is linux and c)windows is evil. http://www.burtonhosting.com

   For photo stuff I think the best thing going is Gallery for right now. All the geeks are into it like they're into internet porn. It has a few limitations and whatnot, and it can be a little tricky to configure if you're really going to customize it, but it's pretty simple to get going 'right out of the box', it's free, and it lets you do all the stuff you see on my site. If you get it up and running, let me know and I'll send you the custom scripts I did for random pictures and most recent and all that shite. It's written in php, which is sort of like asp but for linux. It's also object oriented, which means a steeper curve to start but then it gets a little easier. Again, you only have to muck with that crap if you're really, really customizing things. http://gallery.menalto.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index

   For the main 'updating' software, I use Movable Type, which is an okay piece of software. If you know perl, php, or pretty much any programming language, you could write a comparable thing in a few days time, but it's easy to use, easy to set up and it works pretty well. Also, if a 'hacker' targets anything it will be your update(blog) software, and MT is pretty well guarded against that. It's free if you don't want to get too crazy with it, so I'd say download it, install it, play around, and then go from there. If you want help with customizing, give me a shout. http://movabletype.org

   If you need FTP software, I recommend Filezilla. It rules. It's open source, stable, easy to use, and powerful. It works better than wS_FTP, Cute_FTP, and a bunch of others. Plus, it's free to use. (Please donate if you like it.)

   Really, that's all I run for software. I've got a few tweaks here and there, like the most recent comments stuff and tags for 'new' content and all that, and I'll gladly hand over that stuff. Movable type also does 'templates', so I can hook you up with mine as well if you want them. I don't pride myself on visual appeal, but they might help you get started. Other than that, it just takes a lot of time. There's no two ways about it.

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