Websites

[Kangleton]

Ok, you're all smarter than me.

So how do I make my own website? And I don't mean one that goes under the domain of another website - I want my own domain. I want one able to host a large amount of videos, pictures, text, and the like. It would probably be space-intensive and require good connections due to me having the desire of the videos not sucking terribly.

Where is a good place to go, or a good thing to do for this? And how much money am I looking at?

[Phantom Lamb]

Glue, construction paper, and paperclips.

[Gabryal]

$350 minimum for the site if you want it professionally done, if you want color schemes that might kill the casual user, then go through a non professional, my fiance and I do this for a living if you are interested

[Llew Hy]

I'd help you but I haven't made a website in 10 years, and that one I typed on my notepad and hosted on geocities.

[Kangleton]

I'm not unwilling to create the visuals and content of the page myself... I just need a capable domain or server or host or whatever it's called. One that doesn't attach their name to everything, like geocities, for instance.

[Leaving Hope]

Well, Kang, I do this for a living so I suppose I have some expertise here.

You have a number of options.

1.) Teach yourself how, and build it
2.) Use an open source content management system that builds it for you
3.) Pay someone to build it for you.

Personally, if you're interested and technically able, option 1 is the route to go. You will want to learn technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, and a dynamic scripting language like PHP, ASP, or JSP. You'll want to get adept with Adobe Photoshop and Flash.

With option two, there are products like Joomla, vBulletin, word press and others that will get you started. Very likely your website will look cookie-cutter, and you may have the same theme as hundreds of others, but it's often a fast and easy way to get something up.

Option 3 involves going to a web developer or designer. There are students who charge $20 a page to make a quick buck, and professionals that charge over $350/hour. Many times you get what you pay for. If you know someone with the skills, perhaps they'll do you a favor or trade you a website for something else. I suspect many of our users are capable.

After the website is built for you, you will need a host. You can either buy your own server and host it yourself, or you can pay someone to do it for you. I highly recommend you let someone else do it for you at this level. There are thousands of hosts out there, from 1&1 to Go Daddy, all charging varying rates. $10/month is not unreasonable. When picking a host you want to look at a number of things, including the monthly rate, the escape clause, if email is included, how many domains you support, how much space you get, how much transfer you get, etc.

You will also need to find a domain for yourself. It's difficult to find one you like that isn't taken, but with some patience and creativity you can find one. These are usually $5.99 and up for a year.

[Gabryal]

so you need to purchase a domain name, and find a host then, not actually make a website, leaving Hope gave you the one's with the best prices.

[Leaving Hope]

I'm not unwilling to create the visuals and content of the page myself... I just need a capable domain or server or host or whatever it's called. One that doesn't attach their name to everything, like geocities, for instance.

If you want something free, try Google Pages. It might get you what you're looking for. http://pages.google.com/

[nickbeat]

Godaddy is cheap, if you don't mind crappy banner ads at the top. It looks really unprofessional but maybe you don't care so much about that.