How To Publish Web Pages To The Internet?

Blackfish · Apr 14, 2014

I read this great article here @ AW on how to make my own Web pages from HTML.
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=279004

Great. But, now, it begs the question, how do I get the pages I have made published on the Web?

I have already a domain and a hosting plan.

Do I need to buy some kind of ftp software that loads the pages onto my space?

How is this done?

Deleted member 42 · Apr 14, 2014

Yes you need an FTP client to place HTML pages on a hosting server, but there are good free ones.

What operating system are you using?

Are you sure you want to hand-code HTML rather than using WordPress or a similar free Content Management/Blogging system?

That article was about making ebooks, more than Web sites.

Brightdreamer · Apr 14, 2014

There are free FTP programs; run a Google search.

I use one called Core FTP Lite, but there are others. It does what I need it to do.

Blackfish · Apr 14, 2014

Medievalist said:
Yes you need an FTP client to place HTML pages on a hosting server, but there are good free ones.

What operating system are you using?

Are you sure you want to hand-code HTML rather than using WordPress or a similar free Content Management/Blogging system?

That article was about making ebooks, more than Web sites.

I am a Linux user. Puppy Linux 5.7.1; Arch Linux; Damn Small Linux; MINT; openSUSE.

I'm not sure what I want to do yet. But I do pay for a domain and hosting, so I could put that to some kind of use.

I wouldn't mind knowing how to do both. I think I am going to need it. I have both WordPress and Blogger accounts, but have never used them.

Deleted member 42 · Apr 14, 2014

Blackfish said:
I wouldn't mind knowing how to do both. I think I am going to need it. I have both WordPress and Blogger accounts, but have never used them.

If you're comfortable with Linux, you can probably use SSH instead of an FTP client; that would depend on your server host.

There are two "versions" of WordPress. WordPress.com allows you to create a free WordPress site; if you want to connect it to your domain, or have ads, or customize it much beyond the basic templates, you will need to pay.

WordPress.org supports the free open-source install on your own server version of WordPress. It's free. It's not hard to install yourself, if you're comfortable with FTP and altering config files and creating MySQL database or using MyPHP Admin to create one.

Your server host may have a "one click" install script to install WordPress. That's by far the easiest way.

I don't want to discourage you or anyone from learning HTML and CSS, but you might want to consider WordPress, especially if your host has a one-click install.

You'll still get more out of it if you know a bit about HTML and CSS.

shadowwalker · Apr 14, 2014

I built my website with html. I find it much easier than trying to navigate wordpress and much more flexible. If I want to change something, it takes a matter of minutes. It took forever just to figure out how to put a picture up on Wordpress, but I think that's because they tell you how to do their stuff (kinda), but not how to do what you really want to.

And yes, you can get very good free ftp software. I use FileZilla.

Blackfish · Apr 14, 2014

Medievalist said:
If you're comfortable with Linux, you can probably use SSH instead of an FTP client; that would depend on your server host.

There are two "versions" of WordPress. WordPress.com allows you to create a free WordPress site; if you want to connect it to your domain, or have ads, or customize it much beyond the basic templates, you will need to pay.

WordPress.org supports the free open-source install on your own server version of WordPress. It's free. It's not hard to install yourself, if you're comfortable with FTP and altering config files and creating MySQL database or using MyPHP Admin to create one.

Your server host may have a "one click" install script to install WordPress. That's by far the easiest way.

I don't want to discourage you or anyone from learning HTML and CSS, but you might want to consider WordPress, especially if your host has a one-click install.

You'll still get more out of it if you know a bit about HTML and CSS.

Thank you. I am going to have a look at my WordPress account again, see what it has to offer.

I will also be checking with my host again. Now that we're on the subject, I do recall something like that one-click installation I read about along time ago while signed in on the vdeck.

The biggest problem, really, is finding something useful to do with a blog and/or a Web site. I know how to write, sort of. But I don't know how to focus as a writer. Haven't found my niche, so to speak. I'm erratic, whacky. I'm a fast-fish, and a loose-fish.

Blackfish · Apr 14, 2014

shadowwalker said:
I built my website with html. I find it much easier than trying to navigate wordpress and much more flexible. If I want to change something, it takes a matter of minutes. It took forever just to figure out how to put a picture up on Wordpress, but I think that's because they tell you how to do their stuff (kinda), but not how to do what you really want to.

And yes, you can get very good free ftp software. I use FileZilla.

Thanks for the tips on WordPress and FileZilla. I will look into them.

Where is the site you built? It would be cool to see that.

I am originally from MN; Twin Cities area. Lived there for 36 years. So, hello, fellow Minnesotan!

Deleted member 42 · Apr 14, 2014

Well, there's no law requiring anyone to have a site. If you want one, super! It doesn't have to be a blog, even if you use WordPress or one of the other options.

It's increasingly difficult though to hand-code HTML and CSS to work on multiple browsers on multiple OSs on multiple devices.

Blackfish · Apr 14, 2014

Medievalist said:
Well, there's no law requiring anyone to have a site. If you want one, super! It doesn't have to be a blog, even if you use WordPress or one of the other options.

It's increasingly difficult though to hand-code HTML and CSS to work on multiple browsers on multiple OSs on multiple devices.

I can imagine. I did HTML a lot back in the late 90s and early 2000s. It's a whole new world since then! But for just writing, it can stay pretty basic.

In thinking about it however, a blog might not be a bad idea, no matter what I put out there. Good place to get comments on my writing and other things along those lines. Lots of practice and having something to show for my time. It's a good idea.

So long as I can't really make up my mind what to put out there, I could just start with a journal-of-sorts. Doubtful that anyone would find my daily comings and goings interesting, but, like I said, good writing practice. And who knows where it might take me?!

PS
One very good reason I can think of to write HTML and publish my own goods on my own site is my having complete control over everything. A site someone else controls can lose all your goods and/or decide to delete your account for any reason at all, leaving you having to start all over again. Hope you saved all your work somewhere besides that site! I burn anything I find valuable onto USB sticks--just in case! I've got entire libraries, books, docs, you-name-it on USB sticks! I don't even like the idea of keeping information on hard drives. They are moving parts which can fail and leave you data-less. All hail the USB stick!!!!!!!!

And if I get too hard-core on a site or a blog, I could wake up and find myself censored or deleted. What fun is that?

shadowwalker · Apr 15, 2014

Blackfish said:
Thanks for the tips on WordPress and FileZilla. I will look into them.

Where is the site you built? It would be cool to see that.

I am originally from MN; Twin Cities area. Lived there for 36 years. So, hello, fellow Minnesotan!

Hello back!

My site is basically a place where I parked my fanfic, and I maintain a directory for the fandom there now. It's my "hobby site"

I did the whole thing from scratch (although I had some help from my son figuring out the css thing for the directory) and it was great fun.

http://shadowwalker.info/home.html

wandering · Apr 15, 2014

I use FileZilla.

Yes, I use that also. All my sites are for businesses purposes but you can design a site for whatever reason you want, and forum are easy to add. You could just start with a "family" site to learn the details.

Blackfish · Apr 15, 2014

shadowwalker said:
Hello back!

My site is basically a place where I parked my fanfic, and I maintain a directory for the fandom there now. It's my "hobby site" I did the whole thing from scratch (although I had some help from my son figuring out the css thing for the directory) and it was great fun.

http://shadowwalker.info/home.html

Great powers of observation. Great hobby you've got there. I read some of your little stories. Very good stuff.

I remember the A-Team! Wow! Been a long time!

Blackfish · Apr 15, 2014

wandering said:
Yes, I use that also. All my sites are for businesses purposes but you can design a site for whatever reason you want, and forum are easy to add. You could just start with a "family" site to learn the details.

I started getting myself together today. I had to figure out how to link up to Blogger and WordPress again. Been a long time since I went to the accounts. I also built a little Web page from HTML. I'm on my way.

Love your walking sticks. I have been using walking sticks my whole life, though I have never made fanciful ones, like yours. They never last long enough with me. I always use them for trekking, combat training, killing cobras, baton-twirling, and they always get broken, shattered, destroyed, and I have to get a new one. One of the nice things about being in Asia is the sticks here are my favorite: bamboo! Bamboo is plentiful here. It's everywhere. Lightweight, super-strong. And even then they don't last. I keep three or four ready to go at all times, in case one breaks. I wrap the ends with hockey tape for grip and shock-proofing, and hit the roads and trails.

That makes for a good article idea. Now, that I am on the subject, I have to write a piece about walking sticks. I'm on it!

Great to meet you!

Later!

Laer Carroll · Apr 15, 2014

Do it whatever way you that you feel comfortable.

What professionals aim for is a site that reflects the “brand” of their present and future writing, which can be very different for each author. Steampunk sites might have a sepia background and black-and-white images. Historical romance sites might have soft pastel colors and images resembling Renaissance paintings.

I’m a professional software & systems engineer with 40+ years of experience. I’ve written software using assembly language, which is roughly equivalent to HTML (or nowadays XHTML). Also C & ForTran, which is equivalent to CSS. Also higher-level languages, mostly C++, Ada, and Lisp. I’ve also created stuff using even higher level languages, mostly Python.

The basic principle is to write in the highest level language possible, then break into lower-level languages when needed.

I defy you to create complex and useful web sites just in HTML and CSS and easily and quickly update them when needed, or when you see a need for even a minor redesign—and they ALWAYS need to be updated, and often need minor redesigns. I’ve done it when there were no better tools, back in the dawn time of the internet. I can almost literally write such in my sleep, I’ve had so much practice. Yet nowadays I only drop down into these lower-level languages when I need to.

After much study I selected WordPress.com for my several sites. I’ve used Blogger & several other free blog platforms, but WP is much superior to all of them. Here is the propaganda for WP.com. Experience has shown that it is truthful.

Professional site builders sometimes create WP.com sites as quick prototypes which they can show customers as part of the “requirements” phase of creating a web site. A customer can write a stack of paper describing what they want, but until they see a working prototype they don’t really understand what they really need. Then the site is copied onto a commercially hosted site via the WP.org software. Or in some cases (low-volume of transactions, usually) remains on WP.com.

Some basic principles of creating web sites is to START SMALL, STAY SMALL as you possibly can. TAKE BABY STEPS to adding features and be ready to back off steps that don’t work. A simple attractive easy-to-use site is seen as elegant, not rudimentary.

Deleted member 42 · Apr 15, 2014

Blackfish said:
One very good reason I can think of to write HTML and publish my own goods on my own site is my having complete control over everything. A site someone else controls can lose all your goods and/or decide to delete your account for any reason at all, leaving you having to start all over again.

If you're using WordPress on your own server, you control the data. You can backup the XML files, the FTP directory, and the MySQL database.

You can back up blogger content and template files as well.

Blackfish said:
Hope you saved all your work somewhere besides that site! I burn anything I find valuable onto USB sticks--just in case!

Please do not think that the USB stick is any less prone to failure than any other kind of digital storage. It's still possibly to damage the file table, the media can fail, the stick can be lost, or damaged, etc.

Always backup anything you value in multiple ways, in multiple locations, i.e. not just multiple data sticks, or drives, but also via a backup method that is physically distant from you—whether you use an online storage facility or send the file (or hardcopy) to a safe and trusted location.

Deleted member 42 · Apr 15, 2014

Blackfish said:
I started getting myself together today. I had to figure out how to link up to Blogger and WordPress again. Been a long time since I went to the accounts. I also built a little Web page from HTML. I'm on my way.

That's great. Do make sure you're going with good HTML practices.

Use CSS rather than tables for layout, reserving tables for tabular data.

Use paragraph tags for paragraphing, and break tags for line breaks.

Use alt tags on your images.

Use cite tags for titles.

W3Schools is an excellent and free resource.

Blackfish · Apr 15, 2014

Yowsa! I had no idea I could do all this stuff! Thank you!

Deleted member 42 · Apr 15, 2014

Blackfish said:
Yowsa! I had no idea I could do all this stuff! Thank you!

If you start doing this a lot, you may want to use a text editor with HTML/CSS support.

Many Linux builds come with emacs, or VI/Vim, or all three. I confess that I found Kate faster for CSS/HTML than eMacs or VI, but text editors are a bit of a religious issue:

http://lifehacker.com/5911460/the-best-programming-text-editor-for-linux

Blackfish · Apr 15, 2014

Medievalist said:
If you're using WordPress on your own server, you control the data. You can backup the XML files, the FTP directory, and the MySQL database.

You can back up blogger content and template files as well.

Please do not think that the USB stick is any less prone to failure than any other kind of digital storage. It's still possibly to damage the file table, the media can fail, the stick can be lost, or damaged, etc.

Always backup anything you value in multiple ways, in multiple locations, i.e. not just multiple data sticks, or drives, but also via a backup method that is physically distant from you—whether you use an online storage facility or send the file (or hardcopy) to a safe and trusted location.

Good points. Thanks.

Blackfish · Apr 15, 2014

Medievalist said:
If you start doing this a lot, you may want to use a text editor with HTML/CSS support.

Most Linux builds come with emacs, or VI/Vim, or both. I confess that I found Kate faster for CSS/HTML than eMacs or VI, but text editors are a bit of a religious issue:

http://lifehacker.com/5911460/the-best-programming-text-editor-for-linux

For me, it's also a matter of resources. I just don't have any of the fancy machinery most people have these days. I don't spend a lot of money on it. I don't agree with any of it. I can't tell if it's the bigger the machines they make, the bigger the software they can write for it; or if it's the bigger the software they write, the bigger the machines they need to build to accommodate it. Maybe its both. I find none of it necessary.

And you can't fix Windows for proprietary code; and you can't fix Apple for proprietary hardware. I dumped them both into the ocean a while ago.

Linux rules. Linux is the obvious choice for me.

Free computing for everyone! HOORAY!

For most people, it's all about getting the latest cool stuff they think they need. For me, it's all about getting rid of everything and anything I don't need. (Getting everything I want, is a completely different story however. I have no problems with that!) :tongue

I spend maybe $100.00 per year on computers. Most of the time not even that much. Right now, I am running a Dell Latitude D531 with Precise Puppy 5.7.1. from a USB stick. I boot from the USB stick, work from the USB stick, and save all the work on the Internet and on the USB stick. There isn't even a hard drive or a battery in the computer. And if I am working on the Internet and don't need to save any work, I don't even need the USB stick after boot. I can pull it out, put it in a safe place, and run the entire operating system from RAM.

If bad weather is imminent, I might stick the battery in the machine in case of power failure, decreasing the risk of losing any work.

If the machine gets lost, stolen, or ruined, no problem. I can plug Puppy into just about any machine that might be laying around and go to work. I can buy an old one from a flea market for ten or twenty bucks and away I go.

I built my little Web page yesterday using Leafpad. I just love Leafpad! Oh, fun!

I've got to do everything with these limited resources. I don't do religion, so I know it's not a religious thing. Maybe it's just a bad habit. Maybe it's an aberration. I don't know. Whatever it is, I just can't help myself. it appears to be the natural order of things with me in everything I do, and I cannot tell what is to be done about it.

Blackfish · Apr 24, 2014

What Is The Best Linux Distro For Writers?

OK, I am back from Hong Kong and getting back into my learning about writing groove.

I started in by rereading this, my last thread, and a question occurred to me while I was at it...

What is the best Linux distribution for writers?

I went to the good ol' Internet and started a search and came up with a lot of stuff. I've even dug up and old article from 2008 that said Puppy Linux is the best Linux for writers! HOORAY!

Most other pieces I found on the matter clearly pointed out two of the most popular Linux out there: UBUNTU and MINT.

Any others anyone might care to mention or highly recommend? If so, would you care to tell me why?

Thanks.

robjvargas · Apr 24, 2014

Blackfish said:
What is the best Linux distribution for writers?

I went to the good ol' Internet and started a search and came up with a lot of stuff. I've even dug up and old article from 2008 that said Puppy Linux is the best Linux for writers! HOORAY!

Most other pieces I found on the matter clearly pointed out two of the most popular Linux out there: UBUNTU and MINT.

Any others anyone might care to mention or highly recommend? If so, would you care to tell me why?

Thanks.

Trick question. Word Processing is not a very computer intensive operation. For writing, Web, and email, any distribution will do.

Ubuntu is very user friendly, I think, but it's grown kind of bloated from that emphasis. I hear lots of good things about Mint, but have never used it myself.

I've always respected the opinions over at Linux.com. Here's an article on their opinion of the best Linux distributions.

I might give Bodhi a try.

Deleted member 42 · Apr 24, 2014

I used Ubuntu in a writing lab for undergraduate students, mostly because it was a bit more consistent in terms of UI.

Like all OS questions, really, it depends on the writer.

Blackfish · Apr 24, 2014

Thanks Med and rob for your comments.

I loved the link. The trouble with articles like that is too much information. Makes me greedy and want to try every single one of the Linux and see what they're all about. But who's got time for all that stuff?

I hate Ubuntu; especially Unity and all that One junk. Makes me nauseous.

I have MINT. I believe it's the latest one. Mint is a spin-off of Ubuntu. I love MINT! It really is great.

I realize that I can use any old program for writing. I am happy writing with anything that has spell check.

I have been reading a lot of stuff on this forum about publishing and sending manuscripts to publishers. I want to be sure that I have all the right tools for getting that job done. I enjoy using the minimalist distros the most, but if they can't cut it, then they need to get cut.

How To Publish Web Pages To The Internet?

Blackfish

Deleted member 42

Brightdreamer

Just Another Lazy Perfectionist

Blackfish

Deleted member 42

shadowwalker

empty-nester!

Blackfish

Blackfish

Deleted member 42

Blackfish

shadowwalker

empty-nester!

wandering

Wandering the west

Blackfish

Blackfish

Laer Carroll

Aerospace engineer turned writer

Deleted member 42

Deleted member 42

Blackfish

Deleted member 42

Blackfish

Blackfish

Blackfish

robjvargas

Deleted member 42

Blackfish