Making WebSite contents

[Availor]

Ok, now I am learning to create a website... got a book for Flash, Java and HTML. Got myself a free hosting website so now it's called http://www.dgd.maclenet.com (it doesnt contain anything yet so you will get just an error message).

I created a webpage with rollover buttons in Xara... now how do I upload it so people will actually be able to surf my website?! This is my first attempt in creating a website so I've got absolutely no idea what I'm doing... I'm a fast learner though http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Saz]

You need to upload your pages (along with all your images) onto the server using an FTP program.

There are plenty of free programs out there, SmartFTP for example.

You'll need to contact the hosting company to find out the ftp details. You may well find they're listed on their website.

Any problems, feel free to give me a shout. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Availor]

So how do I upload then? I have a control panel navigation in there... I can add files, but I don't know how to place them in places I want them to be (for example, index.html).

Here is a screenshot
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/Availor/site.jpg

[Mike S]

when you upload a file named index.html that becomes the homepage by default. it will overwrite any other file called index.html. then your links will have to be corrected for the other pages. free web hosting is great but you get limited on how many files you can upload at a time. you should check into some other companys. as long as you pay the year in advance it is relativly cheap. you can get 14 months of hosting for about 77 bucks (usd) dont know what that would be in your neck of the woods.

here is one that a friend of mine uses. really cheap and he loves the 24hr support. he has never had a problem since he has been with them a year ago.
mewebhost

[Saz]

The main thing to remember when uploading is to keep all the file paths the same.

For example, if, when you build the site on your pc, you have all your images in a separate folder, with all the pages you've made linking to those images in that folder, you must create a folder of the same name on your server and make sure all your images are uploaded into it. If you don't, your pages will be full of broken images (white boxes with little red x's in) because it won't be able to find them.

From the image you've posted, it very much looks like all your have to do is locate the files on your pc in that left-hand panel and click the upload button.

On the subject of using free hosting, if you are going to use FrontPage to make your website (though I would recommend you don't unless you really have to), double check with the hosting company to see if they have FrontPage extentions installed on the server. Chances are they don't. Even with paid hosting, it's often something that you have to pay extra for. If they don't have the extentions, then you won't be able to use FrontPage forms because they require these extentions to work. I also have a feeling their dynamic text and buttons use these extentions too.

[Availor]

For instance I create a site on my pc (I was hoping I can do it with Xarax).
If I do it in photosop/frontpage/freehand/flash etc.... how can I upload it into my site?
In Freehand, for example, I can create my entire webpage on my computer, linking pages one to another. Then I have the Publish to HTML and also I have the web navigator option.... so how do I get to use it?

[Saz]

The process of uploading webpages to the internet is basically the same, regardless of what program you use to make it. The only major difference would be if you were to use FrontPage to create the website and the server you were uploading it to had the necessary extentions installed. If that were the case, you could use FrontPage to upload the site. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Now, let's see if I can explain the whole process in a way that people other than myself know what I'm talking about. See I have this marvelous way of understanding everything I'm going on about, even though to others it makes absolutely no sense at all! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Ok, so you start of by creating a folder on your hard drive somewhere to store your website in. For this example, we'll call the folder 'my_website' (It's better to use a _ instead of a space when creating stuff for the web. I never use capital letters either, but I think that's more just a case of habit than need).

You save all the pages you create for your site into this folder. Now, you can create the webpages in whatever program you have available. I use a program called EditPlus to do mine because I prefer to type the code myself.

I dare say you will want to have some fancy graphics on your site too. Again, you can use whichever program you like. Now, it could be quite a confusing mess if you have all your webpages AND the graphics all saved in 'my_website', so you create another folder inside 'my_website', we'll call this one 'images', which you save all your graphics in.

Once you have all your webpages and graphics finished, you should have a fully functional website in your 'my_website' folder. If you open up your browser, you can navigate to this folder on your hard drive (via: file>open) and click on one of your pages to view it. If you've linked everything properly, all the images should show up and you should also be able to click on the links to view the other pages.

Am I making sense so far?

Ok, the next stage is to upload your webpage, so go into your file manager. On the right you'll see your domain. Click on it to open the directory that will contain your website on this server. This is where you will upload your pages to, but first you need to create a folder for your graphics.

See the form field with the button next to it that says 'Make Dir'. Type 'images' and click the button. You should get a folder within your domain folder called 'images'. Open that and we can upload all your graphics.

Using the form fields on the left, navigate to the 'images' folder to locate the graphics. By the looks of things you can only upload 13 files at one time. If you have more than 13 images, don't worry. You can do it in two or more hits. Just make sure that each time you upload, they go into the 'images' folder on the server.

Once you're done uploading the graphics, come out of the 'images' folder on the server and go back to your main directory. Again using the form fields on the left, navigate to your 'my_website' folder, select your webpages and upload them.

You should now have a fully operational website at the address you gave in your opening post. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Availor]

Thank you so much Saz http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
I've been always confused by all this HTML code.... All my knowledge comes from playing around with software. Creating a webpage is something I had trouble with.... Now I'm working on a big project and required to learn as I work http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
I think I can call myself one of the sassiest people... Taking a work without any idea of how to do it.... and learning in the process http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I'm creating a promotion for a company which asked me to make them a catalog for their products.... Also they asked me to make something for their website (which I have no idea how http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif , so I said I can try... and here I am... sitting hours with a Flash book learning to use Flash better....

Here's the headline of the site graphics.. http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...ationslogo.jpg
Designed in Xara. I think maybe I will animate the flash in Xara as well.

[Saz]

That's a very nice header you have there. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

What program are you going to use to put your webpages together?

[jon spain]

I'm no expert so I use NetObjects (so does Gary?) for putting the site together and cuteftp for uploading the whole site. No, they're not free but they're not that expensive either.