<p>DMD- would you use the site builder tab and then website tonight?
If they offer various packages with 50MG-2GM-4GM disk space and 1-100-200GM bandwidth, how do those choices affect the website?</p>
<p>momof2inca - how hard is it to create “a site using open source content management system called Joomla, with the URL purchased from GoDaddy and the site hosted by Solar Energy Host (all solar)”?</p>
<p>I am very impressed with the “Whoops America” web site referenced by hello84 so I’d like to give it a try, but it sounds daunting!</p>
<p>Is it more difficult than iWeb (which I have used)?</p>
<p>Dreamweaver is the Big Kahuna of website development. Not everyone likes it though. There is somewhat of a learning curve and the frames and tables can be annoying.</p>
<p>I have created mini-sites on Blogger, my D has done a beautiful Blogger site, and now she is building a site for a class using Google Sites. I’m not a huge fan of Wordpress or iWeb. iWeb is easy and attractive, but it costs money!</p>
<p>
What do you mean by this? I am in the process of creating two websites (one is published, one still in draft) using iWeb… and I don’t know of any cost. They are for non-profit organizations I am on the board for. I love what I am learning, but have much to learn.</p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t notice any cost to iWeb… We are in the free hosting period right now and will have to choose a host after that, but mobileme (if we choose that) is $99/year. And iWeb itself was pre-installed on my Mac of course.</p>
<p>I have many of the newbie-type questions as binx spoke of… as I am in the very beginning of the learning curve.</p>
<p>For example, both of these organizations have websites currently - which they don’t like (hence my designing new ones) -… but they DO like the domain names they have. Where can I learn about things like choosing the best hosting situation and how to put a newly designed website “onto” that existing domain name and then move it to whatever host we choose?</p>
<p>Thanks, cc-ers, for again being the Go To place for so much great information and help on so many things.</p>
<p>I have used Dreamweaver. It is okay - but nothing compares for me with the simplicity of ■■■■■■■■■■. Online hosting, very easy to use and it doesn’t require a computer software background. I have had hassles with many website services, but this one is very easy for me to use. </p>
<p>Drag and drop interfaces, ability to add really nifty tools and it is free. If you have a business, you can upgrade to more options.</p>
<p>You can use the long custom url there, or point your domain to this site. When you click on my web domain, it goes to my domain, but it is run out of weebly. (I think that was the most complicated part about setting up the site, truth be told!)</p>
<p>fendrock:
</p>
<p>Fendrock, I used iWeb to build my first website because it was on my computer and they had some nice templates. Joomla is 99% more difficult than iWeb. It’s also much more flexible and much more functional. It’s like comparing a moped to a Jaguar. Buying a moped is easy. Buying a Jaguar takes a huge investment. In my case, joomla kicked my butt for the first 20 days, then we were at a truce the next 60 days and then I was kicking its butt for the last 20 days. It still bewilders me, impresses me and ultimately makes me proud that I can use it. I started a high school news site with all the bells and whistles. You can PM me and I’ll give you the url if you want to look. </p>
<p>joomla is a content management system, so you would want to use it if you planned to have a lot of content and do a lot of moving/storing of content (daily). If your content is going to be static (fixed) for the most part, do yourself a favor and stick with iWeb. </p>
<p>As for domain names, you buy them and pay yearly for the privilege. If you are buying a name for a commercial site, you might want to make sure to snatch up the .com, .org and .net versions of it.</p>
<p>I recommend everyone buy up their own first name.last name.com if its still available.</p>
<p>Thanks, momof2.</p>
<p>Still a little dense here, though: both of the organizations have bought their domain names; I have used iWeb to design the sites. So… within iWeb, when I go to publish, I assume I’ll choose the option to publish using FTP (or whatever it’s called) instead of mobileme. Then will I have the ability to just plug in the desired domain name? Is it as simple as that?</p>
<p>Once I’ve published the newly designed website using the current domain name, will the old site (designed by someone else) just disappear? And be automatically replaced by the new one?</p>
<p>Signed,
Total greenhorn here (but heart is in the right place 
)</p>
<p>jmmom,
I’ve only used mobile me for my iWeb designed sites (two of them), so I don’t know if what you are describing is the way it will work. For my joombla site, I used GoDaddy, and it was a little bit trickier. I had to insert the url in GoDaddy and also go into the cpanel of the joomla site (which is not hosted by GoDaddy but by a different firm) and do some setting adjustments and then wait for it to “propagate.” </p>
<p>I think what you will do is go to wherever the domain name is hosted currently and go into their settings and FTP (file transfer protocol) your mac files into it… you might need some help with this; it seems like if it’s not macintosh, it’s not that intuitive. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>There are some services that offer hosting along with simple online build-a-site tools & premade templates that you can customize. Might be a good option for someone with no desire to learn HTML.</p>
<p>Yahoo Web Hosting offers such a service at a pretty reasonable price:
[Yahoo</a>! Web Hosting: Everything You Need for a Professional Site](<a href=“Turbify.com | Buy a Domain | Websites & Domains | Purchase a URL - Turbify”>Turbify.com | Buy a Domain | Websites & Domains | Purchase a URL - Turbify)</p>
<p>For developing the site you might look at a free open source program called Mura. Mura is a content management system that can be used to build a website. Mura is easy for beginners, but can be customized for those with more knowledge. If you look at the Mura site, don’t let the references to Cold Fusion, jquery, and CSS scare you. Those things can be used by those with experience programming. There is a pretty good online community of people using Mura that can often answer questions. </p>
<p>The nice thing about Mura is that it is responsive to devices. This means that it recognizes what kind of device one is using so the website looks correct. If a student is using a tablet or iphone versus a computer, the site will be adjusted. </p>
<p>I’ve not really used Wordpress, but from what I read one needs to add a plug-in for it to be responsive. (I could be completely wrong on this.) Mura is responsive with one click.</p>
<p>FYI, until the last 2 posts, the prior posts were from 2009 – hopefully the OP figured it out by now!</p>