Webpage/Blog Question

[OrangeFairway]

This may be an elementary question, but then the West Mall gets enough activity as it is. I want to create a webpage, for two reasons: I want to make some writings accessible to a group, and I want a section for discussion. Preferably that I can edit.

Since I am both technically illiterate and comprehensibly moronic, is there a service that has a reasonably interesting template that I can easily use? Or that can host this type of page? Or is having a personal webpage still beyond the ability of someone who has no capacity for learning html or any other technical competency?

 

[dustin_c1]

There are managed services (some free, some paid) that will manage everything for you. There isn't much technical aptitude needed, you just need to learn how to use the service - if you can post on hornfans, you can run a weblog.

The drawback is that these free and even some of the paid sites won't allow you to back up your data like you would want and they aren't very flexible when it comes to software. You can only use what they offer. Also, they go down and because you can't back up your data like you would like, you lose your site. Very recently, one of the more popular free weblog sites just went under. Thousands of bloggers lost their websites.

You also have the option of getting your own internet host ($5-$10 a month for a relatively low trafficked site up to thousands a month for an extremely very popular site) and running your site with them. If you go this route, you have total control over everything. You can buy as much bandwidth as you need and you can install and run any software you want.

You'll need to know what you need - do you need database connectivity? If so, do you need a specific DB server like MySQL? Do you need version 3.23 or higher? Do you need PHP, Perl or Java? Do you need Apache or IIS? If you don't know the answer and aren't comfortable finding the answer to those questions, you should go with a managed service.

If you use a hosting solution, there is plenty of excellent free software available (like MoveableType for blogs or Drupal or PostNuke for community sites) that work "out of the box." With most of them, you just upload to your web server via FTP and run the install script via your browser and follow the onscreen instructions. Very little technical knowledge is needed to install these things on your web server and use them. Many of these software packages allow you to do things like changing background colors, put up title graphics, add forums and such without knowing a lick of HTML. You just follow an user interface. A lot of technical knowledge is needed to enhance and modify them beyond a certain level of customizeability, however.

 

[TexasOwnzYou]

The Link

xanga is a blog that lets users leave comments on your entries.

 

[hornian]

I use www.livejournal.com and love it.

 

[OrangeFairway]

Thanks for the feedback!

I know I am showing my complete igorance here, but I need to do two things: One, have an interactive feature, and; Two, have a fixed set of articles or columns that are seperate, accesible and permanent. In other words, perhaps have a blog with a bar on the left that has a list of twenty or thirty articles grouped in two or three categories.

The options mentioned clearly have the capability to have ongoing interaction. But I have not recognized that they also at the same time have the capability to allow a seperate fixed menu available as well.

Thanks for the leads. I am already far more educated than I was this morning!

 

[fratboy legend]

i use blogger.
The Link

 

[groverat]

I use RippleHost and pMachine for my weblog. pMachine is very good blogging software (free, as well) and with a few hours of tweaking you can get it looking how you want it to.

If you don't mind spending $10/mth pmachinehosting.com will provide you witht he software and hosting all-in-one so all you have to worry about is running your blog, not the hosting or backend software. (You can also do typepad.com for this kind of service but it uses the Movable Type software.)

 

[orange-explosion]

Blogger's good. There are others.
Haloscan provides code you can add for comments. It's good too.
Both services are free.
Once you're up and running you can tweek the design any which way you want, as long as you leave a Blogger and a Haloscan button somewhere on the page.

 

[OrangeFairway]

Well, I've done it. Rather elementary, but it's a start:The Link

Here is a question: Would it be possible to have two blogs going on the same page? One full of observations and the other with a financial focus? Or is that a task best suited to two seperate blogs?