Subject: Info: Web Site Wanted From: Web_Site_Wanted@ Sender: Web_Site_Wanted@ I append: http://www.berklix.com/~jhs/std/web_site.txt See Also: http://www.berklix.com/~jhs/txt/domain.html People frequently say they'd like [help/advice to] create a web site. Suggested Reply: ... "So How Long Is A Piece Of String ? :-) ... How thick ? Strength ? Material ? Friction ? Wear resistance ? Buoyancy ?" ie Define what you'd like, & what you must have & will pay for. - Do you just need some cheapo minimal static 5 page package that ISPs sell, bundled with net access for a few Euros per month ? 1and1.co.uk & .de & presumably competitors too often bundle in a domain name for a cheap monthly price. Personally I prefer my domain name clearly mine, with a name registrar not related to where I separately serve data from, (actually I serve data myself). - Do you need just a static assembly of pages with pictures & text ? (The images may still be dynamic in browser). - Would a mere login with a user's ~/public_html/ suffice ? served by Apache on FreeBSD ? I host some friends free, ... depending. - Do you want to use building tools from an ISP to build your own web site ? They will all have different OS & tool constraints. Compare before you leap. Caution: some ISPs entrap you so that pages within your domain can only be accessed within their domain ! Eg http://www.grindler-lambertz.de got trapped by ISP jimdo.com Notice that sub pages cannot be referenced from original domain name, only from trapper jimdo. Avoid jimdo traps ! - Do you want to create a dynamic forum of user discussions ?. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_web_page using LAMP programming: Linux (or BSD or other Unix) + Apache + MySQL or other + PHP or other https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_%28software_bundle%29 Examples http://forums.freebsd.org Not Free! XenForo http://www.forum.exscn.net/ Not Free cBulletin http://www.takethislife.com Not Free cBulletin Or Mail list[s] with web interfaces eg: http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo Free Software https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/ Bulletin / Message boards are more work to set up & maintain. Needing LAMP/PHP & extra packages: think version dependency of your current & future programs, & data, LAMP tools, & base OS, consider varying future upgrade dependencies. PHP & similar applications are security risks (eg periodically social media sites that use them, get broken into), & the heap of data & packages & human messages to administrator + security probes etc all need regular admin/ maintenance time=money. If you want to run forums using: - binary commercial forum software, then I would only be prepared to help at full commercial consultancy rates, & Not hosting on my servers but on commercial servers perhaps arranged by me, my associates or your other providers. - free software with free source code. then I &/or others might well be prepared to run it on our servers as well as other servers, perhaps at much more competitive rates than above. Why ? : Learning commercial software is of no personal interest, learning public software, & fixing & contribute back improvements, is of benefit to public & to me, more efficient & fulfilling work. https://gnu.org/philosophy/proprietary.html - Upload - Will you be using a nasty Microsoft to master your data, or a nice Unix ? - Most of the worlds web servers run Apache which runs on Unix (eg BSD & Linux etc). - Most Clueless users use Microsoft on their PCs. - When they start to design data for web servers, it can be a painful learning experience, & a time wasting hand holding experience for whichever web support staff help them. That's why ISPs offer packages ! To avoid users wasting web server administrators time. - MS users cost more time to support than skilled Unix users. Do they yet realise even basics, like msdosfs aliases upper & lower case, Unix does not. Unix doesn't like space backslash quotes in file names etc. - What sort of upload protocols do you want Ftp ? Rdist6 ? Rsync ? No I don't want to know name o=f some clickey program you use, I want Protocol name not Program name! ;-) - Rlogin / Telnet / Ssh needed ? Or just FTP / SFTP ? - Do you have a client program sftp / ftp to upload from your end ? (Yes putty.exe client can support SFTP from MS to Unix). - Servers: - Do you need domain[s] created & registered with an ISP ? A specific one ? - Found your name yet ? Registered it ? Which registrar ? - DNS serving needed ? (If by me, helps if I'm familiar with ISP's user DNS interface). - httpd serving needed ? (or will you try to serve data on your own ? (not reccomended !) - Any CGI scripts you want to install ? - CGI just shell scripts or binaries from .c files ? - Is your .c portable for eg BSD or locked to obscure Linux features ? - JavaScript needed ? which versions ? Will you write it ? Or who else ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript - Java needed ? which versions ? Will you write it ? Or who else ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_%28programming_language%29 - PHP needed on server ? which versions ? Will you write it ? Or who else ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP - Any particular HTML versions, httpd server or OS version needed ? - Do you need virtual domain hosting or real physical seperate hosts ? - Do you need just your pages under some other domain eg berklix.net ? Or your own virtual server (within a single httpd) ? Or an httpd within your own jailed or (vmware style) emulated OS ? Or your own physical server ? - Page counters wanted ? - Do you want access to logs, or periodic stats ? Do you mind if other virtual domain owners see your logs & vice versa ? - Dual redundancy resilient hosting needed ? - I have that working & offer it. (useful for high availability sites, eg travel network timetables, airline bookings, banks; not necessary for chat sites). - Do you need http or https ? (ie secure data for banks & commerce etc) Do you need transaction security certificates ? Encryption of traffic &/or databases ? - Is it a commercial venture intended to grow big ? - Public's personal info subject to protection laws, data registrar etc. - Will own government later legally demand a back door ? (Yes, not kidding) - Will NSA etc be spying / cracking you ? (may causes traffic, will waste admin time in defence). - Will criminals want to crack you for profit ? (Even if not, Assume there Will be the normal nutters attacking your site at random anyway! If you don't now what I mean, be thankful, but believe defence consumes time, & time costs money. - Presentation: - Would you want to create the HTML ? or me ? or some other company ? - Any extra fancy web features wanted ? Drop down menus, graphical glitz ? I don't like glitz myself, but a paying customer is king. - Do you want "SEO" eg Search Engine Optimisation ? Rather than be seduced by spammers later offering hot air promises, Better to write pages properly titled linked & meta'ed from the start ! Then allow search engines to find you & give you a fair ranking. - Realise its better use of your time & money (IMO) to test your simple non glitzy HTML on many browsers, than waste time writing glitz that is only tested for 1 browser. I usually test on 6 or so browsers. - I avoid dumb boy trendy 'designer' rubbish like Flash on front page, http://www.berklix.com/~jhs/std/no_flash_server.txt & also avoid small dark blue italic font on black backgrounds etc. - Do you want to have the pages good for smart phones ? More Time=Money ! - Do you want an app for smart phones ? Which of several architectures ? You are now talking Serious money ! - Any extra fancy software packages wanted ? on server ? on client ? - Do you want a bunch of photos auto linked to pages ? - Do you want automatic translations, linking, automatic weekly expiry of old forum mail etc ? - Do you need human translations ? I have professional associates for that. - Load: - Data Size & Traffic - What sort of data size ? & Pictures ? Up/Down-loadable media ? - what sort of load (traffic) on servers ? M bytes/month - What time of day (in CET) will traffic impact on other co-hosted domains ? (eg is your target audience mostly in Europe or America or global ? ). - I can host light stuff easy enough. 2 colleagues can host heavy duty requirements, though I &/or they may may be involved configuring it. - Type of data ? Boringly main stream normal ? Or legally / morally questionable ? eg bit-coins, naked pictures, encryption, Onion/Tor, religious, bootleg movie/audio discussions etc. Yes they're not all illegal, but can waste time, defending from nutters, criminals, governments, & lawyers etc). Time is Money ! - Associated mail requirements ? - Me: I have created about 6,500 web pages & files for maybe 10 domains & also mirror other domains on Berklix.net servers. I &/or a colleague or associated company may host larger loads. It might be free for friends, or for serious money, depends what consultancy you need. It won't be for a few Euros per month though, 'cos I & associates are Not in the cheap mass market of standard packages. http://www.berklix.net Domains http://www.berklix.com My Company http://www.berklix.com/jhs/cv/ My Resume http://www.berklix.org/jhs/contact/ Contact me