starting your own web site

I really like dreamhost. plus I get credit if I refer someone to them, so click this link and sign up. $8 a month. Not too shabby. [url]http://www.dreamhost.com/rewards.cgi?sparql[/url]

I hit your personal web site as well, and it looks like they're offering the sort of thing that I'm after. $8 a month is about as low as I've seen it without anything looking hinky. Of course your avatar kind of disqualifies it not looking hinky...

What software do you use as far as development and maintenance of your site. I'm demo-ing cuteFTP at the moment, haven't decided for sure whether to spring for it. With that and the basic Adobe CS programs, will I be well set or set up to find out I need GoLive or DreamWeaver?

Depends on what you want to do.

I use edit plus to code all my sites, but I prefer to hand code so I really don't need anything fancy. Editplus is my text editor of choice [url]http://www.editplus.com[/url]

Dreamweaver is pretty good for a WYSIWYG editor.

For FTP i use Filezilla, which is freeware, and quicker than cuteftp [url]http://filezilla.sourceforge.net[/url]

Dreamhost is a very good hosting company. One of the best I have worked with. Plus right now they have the triple bandwidth for life promo which is hella cool. I host roughly 10 sites with them. Plus we host the Cult with them.

I don't have DreamWeaver, but InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator all have XML, HTML, etc. export options. I figured the easiest would be to use the software I know how to use (for print) to design the graphics, export it in a web friendly format, the trick is to figure out how to get my domain registered and hosted inexpensively.

As I say, it's something that hits way too many blind spots for my own comfort level, and I've never been a handbook kind of guy. I've always learned applications on the job, and probably the biggest thing that's held me back in learning more web design aspects is I don't have a boss that will fire me if I don't get a site up on schedule or whatever.

Well, if you sign up with that dreamhost account, they will register a domain for you for free. After that it costs you $15 a year.

Sadly none of the programs you have are really for web design, though they may have some straight to web features.

For example, PS can output all the html and sized images to make a thumbnail gallery.

If you don't want to code by hand, see if you can score a copy of Dreamweaver or Golive. They are probably as good as you are gonna get for something WYSIWYG

I was fooling with the demo of EditPlus, and I can't seem to get my bearings in it. I don't know if I have the budget to go WYSIWYG, so maybe I'll have to learn some actual coding.

Word isn't made to do web sites either, but I know you can save HTML straight out of it. Making it into anything worthwhile is, I'm sure, a whole other issue.

I live in Adobe CS, though I was too cheap to buy the one with 'GoLive' because I haven't been doing web design. I wouldn't have sprung for the license for CS except that I have enough freelance work I have to claim it on my taxes. If the record industry will nail teenagers for a song, I figured using pirated Adobe software commercially and obviously was too risky.

Anyway, I need to figure out how to make HTML files that look right on my local drive before I shell out for a host...

Well, I know you said you don't like books, but I would highly recommend this one [url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0672325195/qid=1106601983/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl14/104-4240729-6755956?v=glance&s=books&n=507846[/url] if you are interested in learning. Seriously, if you read one chapter a day, you will be making decent websites within a week. Then you move on to this one [url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/073571245X/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/104-4240729-6755956?v=glance&s=books[/url] if you really want to learn CSS

The book is on its way. I've figured out a few new tricks in PhotoShop, and started to figure out what some of the tools in EditPlus do. Also, my CS did come with ImageReady, which I'd never really had a cause to use, but it turns out it has some tools that will probably help.

When I clicked on this thread, I thought there would be tutorial like Bob Villa building a house or something..you know...

[U]Step 1[/U]
if you build it, they will come
[U]Step 2[/U]
red pill or blue pill?
[U]Step 3[/U]
you must snatch the pebble from my hand..

[QUOTE=Popcultjunkie]When I clicked on this thread, I thought there would be tutorial like Bob Villa building a house or something..you know...

[U]Step 1[/U]
if you build it, they will come
[U]Step 2[/U]
red pill or blue pill?
[U]Step 3[/U]
you must snatch the pebble from my hand..[/QUOTE]

So far, sparq-l's answers are as close to that as I've found. I've looked at some online tutorials and they don't make much sense, which is why I'm caving in on the how-to book. Last subject I read a how-to book on was homebrewing, and that 10 years ago. Of course, as I got into the hobby I read more and more. I've got about 20 inches of my bookshelf dedicated to technical reference books and books dedicated to beer styles, etc.

Computer apps are just something I've always been able to learn on the fly. I learned desktop publishing by wanting to put out a newsletter, and shortly thereafter was typesetting newspapers for a chain. I was given a stack of folders (with the material from the ad salespeople), a disk with articles on it, shown to a computer and told, 'This goes to press Monday.'

That was back in the cut-and-paste days and the three of us who were working on it really didn't have time to be teaching each other. Computers were slow, paste-up was elaborate, so if you couldn't figure out how to do it quick, you figured out how to do it slow and gave up sleep.

I'll figure out the web thing. I'm just getting to be a linotype operator because I know the print prodution side very well, and I've got freelance work doing design in that area, but to stay competitive, I should also be able to dot-com a client.

And in any case, the need for my own FTP hosting just to park proofs and art hand-offs is getting to be conspicuous, so even if I didn't have to learn to put up some basic web sites for others, I've got to get at least a presentable one up for myself.

I'm ignorant to most of everything that's been said, about scripting, programming, and the likes. I wish I knew more, and I'm going to try to learn, but for me, when I decided on finding a web hosting service to help with my intentions of promoting my first book, I looked around in all of the computer magazines for what I thought would be the best deal, at a reasonable price, for someone like me who was more or less an idiot.

I came to 1and1.com and it filled all of those requirements.

I got three domain names and the works for something like $11 month, and that wasn't even the cheapiest plan.

However, a pitfall that I am finding now is that although I have some of these options that people are talking about, I don't know how to use them and the staff of this site isn't much help.

Mostly everything I use is a template. The site has around 200 different templates, which is nice, but there isn't much room for deviance to move things around.

All of that said, I suppose my point is to just mention that site as another option to check out. Like I said, they have a lot of different options that you can choose from, and their prices are really reasonable to some of the others I've seen.

[QUOTE=Chixulub]So far, sparq-l's answers are as close to that as I've found. I've looked at some online tutorials and they don't make much sense, which is why I'm caving in on the how-to book. Last subject I read a how-to book on was homebrewing, and that 10 years ago. Of course, as I got into the hobby I read more and more. I've got about 20 inches of my bookshelf dedicated to technical reference books and books dedicated to beer styles, etc.

Computer apps are just something I've always been able to learn on the fly. I learned desktop publishing by wanting to put out a newsletter, and shortly thereafter was typesetting newspapers for a chain. I was given a stack of folders (with the material from the ad salespeople), a disk with articles on it, shown to a computer and told, 'This goes to press Monday.'

That was back in the cut-and-paste days and the three of us who were working on it really didn't have time to be teaching each other. Computers were slow, paste-up was elaborate, so if you couldn't figure out how to do it quick, you figured out how to do it slow and gave up sleep.

I'll figure out the web thing. I'm just getting to be a linotype operator because I know the print prodution side very well, and I've got freelance work doing design in that area, but to stay competitive, I should also be able to dot-com a client.

And in any case, the need for my own FTP hosting just to park proofs and art hand-offs is getting to be conspicuous, so even if I didn't have to learn to put up some basic web sites for others, I've got to get at least a presentable one up for myself.[/QUOTE]

i don't think you need much, just a good presentable website that is easy to mantain and update. I suggest Dreamweaver, not becuase of not needing to learn the code (because you still do need it for certain things) but for ease of use and time saver.

I don't know much, but i can do some things in both Photoshop and Dreamweaver, so if you need help hit me up at MSN (xk3zofrenik@yahoo.com).

my website: [url]www.binomialart.com[/url] (In progress) is with [url]www.ipowerweb.com[/url].

I have rented space there for little more than three years. I like it.

I use [URL=http://www.dzones.com]Digital Zones[/URL] for my sites. They're pretty cheap and have a lot of features, but there seems to be about an hour or so of downtime every week. I'd grade them a B overall. I've looked into changing providers but some things that I have set up won't transfer well, so I've been sticking with them despite the occasional flaws.

One thing that has improved for them recently is their live chat support, which has drastically reduced technical downtime problems. Overall I'm satisfied with them.

For all those with their own sites, or those working on them, ask your host to disable remote linking. This goes double if you're making your own graphics, AND paying for bandwidth usage. (If you're not paying for bandwidth, then skip this whole message.)

You will find that people like to use your images, and do stupid things such as having the cool wallpaper you made as their website background. This means that each time their page is viewed, the images are coming from your host/site. This will add to your monthly bill, especially if your site becomes popular.

Also, because you do have your own websites, don't remote link to others unless they say it's ok!!!!!
It may seem like nothing, but before I had it disabled off a site I run, it was beginning to be over a GB of extra bandwidth usage a month.
You do not want to have to pay for people remote linking, don't make others pay for yours!

[QUOTE=DecoyRobot]For all those with their own sites, or those working on them, ask your host to disable remote linking. This goes double if you're making your own graphics, AND paying for bandwidth usage. (If you're not paying for bandwidth, then skip this whole message.)

You will find that people like to use your images, and do stupid things such as having the cool wallpaper you made as their website background. This means that each time their page is viewed, the images are coming from your host/site. This will add to your monthly bill, especially if your site becomes popular.

Also, because you do have your own websites, don't remote link to others unless they say it's ok!!!!!
It may seem like nothing, but before I had it disabled off a site I run, it was beginning to be over a GB of extra bandwidth usage a month.
You do not want to have to pay for people remote linking, don't make others pay for yours!

;)[/QUOTE]

I just started the first of Sparq-l's book suggestions, and it does seem very straightforward. I have to force myself to not skim, because some of it is stuff any surfer would know, intermingled with stuff that might be less than obvious.

I have a feeling it's in an upcoming chapter, but what you're taling about here is putting links on your page to other people's site, right? For instance, if on my web site, I had a section on writing and wanted to provide links to the web pages of some of my favorite writers. Is standard etiquette in such a case to send an e-mail to the web master of that page and say, 'can I put a link to you on mine?'

An obvious case would be the Cult, since that's not only an author site for me, but two of the three writer's workshops I participate in are hosted here. But of course Max Barry has his blog, and for that matter, there's a Pynchon site hosted by 'San Narciso Community College' and so on. Also sites that have info on manuscript formatting for publication, and so on.

The last thing I want to do is launch my web site and promptly piss off the web masters of some of my favorite places on the internet...

[QUOTE=Chixulub]I just started the first of Sparq-l's book suggestions, and it does seem very straightforward. I have to force myself to not skim, because some of it is stuff any surfer would know, intermingled with stuff that might be less than obvious.

I have a feeling it's in an upcoming chapter, but what you're taling about here is putting links on your page to other people's site, right? For instance, if on my web site, I had a section on writing and wanted to provide links to the web pages of some of my favorite writers. Is standard etiquette in such a case to send an e-mail to the web master of that page and say, 'can I put a link to you on mine?'

An obvious case would be the Cult, since that's not only an author site for me, but two of the three writer's workshops I participate in are hosted here. But of course Max Barry has his blog, and for that matter, there's a Pynchon site hosted by 'San Narciso Community College' and so on. Also sites that have info on manuscript formatting for publication, and so on.

The last thing I want to do is launch my web site and promptly piss off the web masters of some of my favorite places on the internet...[/QUOTE]

What you're wanting to do is perfectly fine, and most people are more than happy to have their link your site. What you're doing is regular off-site linking. You may wish to contact them and ask them to link back, as it does help your traffic, as well as theirs. For your favorite sites, look around and see if they have nice banners/graphics for you to download and use as links. (The Cult has some nice ones that people have made)

What I mean by [I]remote [/I] linking is when you put a [I]graphic [/I] on your website, and instead of it being a
[url]http://www.YOURwebspace.com/imagename.gif[/url]
it's
[url]http://www.ANOTHERpersonswebspace.com/imagename.gif[/url]

By having the image on and pointing to YOUR website, that is what you're supposed to do.
By having the image point to someone else's, that's when the problem starts and is considered stealing by many.

Hopefully that makes sense?

In case I didn't explain very well, here are a few links to help explain:
[url]http://www.nhyrvana.com/remote.html[/url]
[url]http://www.draac.com/draaczine/remotelinking.html[/url]

Good luck on your website!

I think I get it. Like Photobucket gets hit for my sig when I post to a forum, right?

[QUOTE=Chixulub]I think I get it. Like Photobucket gets hit for my sig when I post to a forum, right?[/QUOTE]

Exactly right!
Places like Photobucket are meant for this sort of thing, hosting graphics for people.

[QUOTE=sparq-l]Depends on what you want to do.

I use edit plus to code all my sites, but I prefer to hand code so I really don't need anything fancy. Editplus is my text editor of choice [url]http://www.editplus.com[/url]

Dreamweaver is pretty good for a WYSIWYG editor.

For FTP i use Filezilla, which is freeware, and quicker than cuteftp [url]http://filezilla.sourceforge.net[/url]

Dreamhost is a very good hosting company. One of the best I have worked with. Plus right now they have the triple bandwidth for life promo which is hella cool. I host roughly 10 sites with them. Plus we host the Cult with them.[/QUOTE]

It turns out, at least so far, I can ftp just using Internet Explorer out of Windows XP. Not exactly freeware, but since I already paid Bill Gates for my license, until I run into an FTP transfer I can't do with it, I might as well use it.

I got the SAMS book fromt he library, partly to make sure it'd work for me, and partly because it was faster than buying it off Amazon. Did I mention my ADHD, I hate waiting for shit...

Anyway, the only thing I've come across (about 100 pages in) that doesn't seem to jive is when linking. I'm still doing the local links & external links in terms of the exercises, but when I code it (in EditPlus), the way they show it with forward slashes for directories, it doesn't work. But if I use the back slash format path to my local, I can get it to show me whatever I want. I'm working with the 3rd edition book, and I know the current is 4th edition, which I'll probably buy soon, but is that something that's changed since the 3rd edition?

I like EditPlus so far, it gives you 30 days to try it out and then it's like $30 a year for an individual license, and since it shows unclosed tags by color code, I figure it's probably worth $30 a year in stress relief over going through thousands of lines in Notepad or Word to find where I've fucked the dog.

I want to thank you for turning me onto the real thing. When I started making beer, I could have bought one of those beer-in-a-bag kits or whatever, and my first batch would have turned out, probably, to be undrinkable. And I wouldn't understand what whent wrong. Instead, I read books that got into brewing science, water chemistry, microbiology, etc., and books on the history of various beer styles. I also fell in with other people who got their jollies making beer, and the result was I learned a lot about beer and had a lot of fun. And learned to make better beer than I can buy.

As resistant as I was to the 'handbook' approach, with something like this, I have to understand the why before I can have any fun. Your prediction I'd be publishing decent looking web sites in a week might be overoptimistic, but when I bring my site up, it will be worth publishing.

And I'll know how the hell it works.

BTW, I take it from what you said about dreamhost, that I could potentially host multiple domains within a given account?

I ask because it wouldn't be a bad thing if I could offer my print clients web design, and because I can think of a couple of domains that aren't taken as far as I can tell that would be fun to develop web sites around.

get smart ftp

it's simpler to use, at least for me, and you can drag things into the window of the program to upload them.

Depending on which plan you have with Dreamhost, you can host multiple domains. ie: the $8 account lets you host 3 domains.

As for your problem linking to files with the / ...
My guess is that the files you are trying to link to might be in a directory outside of where your html page is stored. This is a windows thing and can't easliy be worked around. Unless of course you make one folder, and put all you files somewhere in it.

ie:

site
|_____images
|_____music
|_______file you want to link to.

If any of that makes sense...

[QUOTE=sparq-l]Depending on which plan you have with Dreamhost, you can host multiple domains. ie: the $8 account lets you host 3 domains.

As for your problem linking to files with the / ...
My guess is that the files you are trying to link to might be in a directory outside of where your html page is stored. This is a windows thing and can't easliy be worked around. Unless of course you make one folder, and put all you files somewhere in it.

ie:

site
|_____images
|_____music
|_______file you want to link to.

If any of that makes sense...[/QUOTE]
Yeah, it make sense, it just runs counter to what Lemay says. Or seems to. The first exercises in linking are relative and absolute links on your local, and I intentionally made it go to another folder on my HD to make sure I understood the code.

I'm sure by the time I get to publishing it online I'll have it figured out, and I don't imagine I'll want any of that code linking to my HD, because if my PC is off, then so is that link.

And of course, I'm a paranoid bugger when it comes to getting hacked, so I figure a link that lets an internet user access a file on my machine has got to pose a security issue. Maybe not, it just seems like a door that I wouldn't want to leave standing open.

[QUOTE=Grae]get smart ftp

it's simpler to use, at least for me, and you can drag things into the window of the program to upload them.[/QUOTE]

Simpler than launching Internet Explorer, typing in the URL and going to 'login as?' If there's a freeware that is simpler and more straightforward than that, I'm game.

I went to get Filezilla, since Sparq-l recommended it, but failed to figure out how to download the program, just kept going in circles. That's whenI found out about the feature in Internet Explorer and just started using it.

Am I being dense? I'm only 150 pages into the Lemay book, so I wouldn't pretend to any expertise. I started this thread specifically because I was aware of my astonishing level of ignorance in an area that is getting impossible to ignore. Especially in my line of work, not having a web site is like not having a business card. Worse, really.

Sourceforge can be sorta confusing sometimes. Here is a link to a mirror with Filezilla...
[url]http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/filezilla/FileZilla_2_2_10_setup.exe?use_mirror=heanet[/url]
if your d/l doesn't start automatically click the link...

It is actually easier than IE believe it or not. Once you have it installed, it will remember the ftp url, your username and password. Plus you can set it up to automatically go to a default folder on your machine, as well as a default remote DIR if you want... 2 clicks beats IE Not to mention it is faster.

[QUOTE=sparq-l]Sourceforge can be sorta confusing sometimes. Here is a link to a mirror with Filezilla...
[url]http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/filezilla/FileZilla_2_2_10_setup.exe?use_mirror=heanet[/url]
if your d/l doesn't start automatically click the link...

It is actually easier than IE believe it or not. Once you have it installed, it will remember the ftp url, your username and password. Plus you can set it up to automatically go to a default folder on your machine, as well as a default remote DIR if you want... 2 clicks beats IE Not to mention it is faster.[/QUOTE]

That was easy. I don't know if it's easier than IE, but it's at least as easy.

BTW, is it worth the dough to buy the fourth edition of Lemay's book?

My instinct is that, given that industry standards evolve, once I understand the logic of the markup language, there are probably online resources for the keeping compliant with current standards. Am I wrong? Once I've got a basic grasp of hand-coding the stuff, it seems like I'd be able to find almost anything in the way of new info at [URL=http://www.w3.org/TR/]w3.org[/URL].

I mainly ask because Lemay tells you how to do this that and the other thing but notes that some of the tags she's telling you how to use are deprecated in HTML 4 (I gather this means going the way of the linotype). And since the third edition was published in 2001, I'm sure I'm learning some dated stuff. The examples still work in my browser (IE), which I assume has to do with backward compatibility after HTML4.

Of course, I haven't gotten tot he style sheets and publishing to the web sections yet, I'm on what Lemay calls Day 8.

Basically, if I'm gong to sink money into a reference book, it needs to be something I'll refer back to again and again.

What about good PHP Sites or books? i have been finding too many training wheels type sites, i am looking for something intermidiate to advanced, that has some samples scripts to play with.

thanks in advance.

If you have a good understanding of the concepts in the 3rd edition, you should be fine. Once you get those things down you can pretty much pick up misc things for the web.

Xk3zofrenik, this is a pretty good book, which actually has useful exercises [url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0672327252/qid=1107146199/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-3377047-0328107?v=glance&s=books&n=507846[/url]

By the way, that 'managed' hosting on dreamhost, not to ask a silly question, but do they just bill you monthly on that?

yes

[QUOTE=sparq-l]If you have a good understanding of the concepts in the 3rd edition, you should be fine. Once you get those things down you can pretty much pick up misc things for the web.

Xk3zofrenik, this is a pretty good book, which actually has useful exercises [url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0672327252/qid=1107146199/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-3377047-0328107?v=glance&s=books&n=507846[/url][/QUOTE]
Thanks.
I ordered it today, it should be here by the 14th.
I also ordered some books from this sites shop, i hope that counts as a referal of sorts.

The book is very good, plus it has MySQL and Apache, and the software.
Muchas Gracias sparq-l !!!
I recommend this to anyone looking out for PHP.

Oh, something that is probably about to be covered in the LeMay book, but when I register domain names through someone like DreamHost, if I want to switch hosts at some point in the future, what are the ins & outs of who controls the domain? Is it as portable as a phone number?

I haven't even dot-commed myself and I already have a print client who wants to know if I'll take over his web hosting. Which on the one hand seems like a snap, because in about four days I'd learned enough HTML coding to do a site like his (which is probably part of why he's keen to find a new webmaster). Repurposing stuff out of Adobe programs is pretty straight forward, you can do flash exports out of Illustrator, XML & animated GIF files out of Photoshop & Imageready, etc. Coupled with EditPlus, I haven't found anything that can be done in a Macromedia application that I can't do with an Adobe application.

How complicated does it get, taking over for another webmaster? How easy is it to switch hosts if a provider quits being stellar?

[QUOTE=Chixulub]Oh, something that is probably about to be covered in the LeMay book, but when I register domain names through someone like DreamHost, if I want to switch hosts at some point in the future, what are the ins & outs of who controls the domain? Is it as portable as a phone number?

I haven't even dot-commed myself and I already have a print client who wants to know if I'll take over his web hosting. Which on the one hand seems like a snap, because in about four days I'd learned enough HTML coding to do a site like his (which is probably part of why he's keen to find a new webmaster). Repurposing stuff out of Adobe programs is pretty straight forward, you can do flash exports out of Illustrator, XML & animated GIF files out of Photoshop & Imageready, etc. Coupled with EditPlus, I haven't found anything that can be done in a Macromedia application that I can't do with an Adobe application.

How complicated does it get, taking over for another webmaster? How easy is it to switch hosts if a provider quits being stellar?[/QUOTE]

The ownership of the domain for many of the webhosting services i know is yours. I haven't checked on Dreamhost, but it should be somewhere on their FAQ.

Taking over another webmaster, might be a difficult depending on how complicated the site is. If it's simple HTML shouldn't be a problem, but if its complicated the coding part as well as any plug-ins he has installed might be a problem re-configuring if you don't know what you are doing (again, i doubt this is your case). I am guessing the only thing, you might have a problem with is figuring out where is what, and some code or javascript, not really a big problem.

Switching hosts depends on the host. I have only switched once and it took a week for it to be changed.

Their FAQ turns out to be as long as a Russian novel. I'd made a checklist, mainly based on the LeMay book and also on things different people I know complained that their host doesn't do, and they not only offer everything I could come up with but an even longer list of things I'd never even heard of.

I went ahead and signed up, I'm still a few days away from 'going live' with my site, which will be crude at best. I FTPd a couple of things up to the domain in a hurried attempt to make an 'under construction' page, but I didn't do it right. I'll get it figured out this weekend.

And yeah, they're explicit that just becuase you register a domain with them doesn't mean they own it. You can bring a domain of your own in or register one through them, it really doesn't matter. Since one comes with the deal, and since this will be my first web site, I just went ahead and registered one of the domains I'd thought of for a vanity site.

I use [URL=http://www.blogger.com/]BLOGGER[/URL] for all of my stuff. I post all of my published work there that my family can't get because they live in Geogria. It's free and fairly easy to use compared to other web programs. But, the downside is that you can't really do much other than make text and photo posts- since that is all I'm doing it doesn't really bother me.

[URL=samrhodes.blogspot.com]Here is my Blog if you are intrested for a gander. Easy stuff.[/URL]

[url]www.midwestrocklobster.com[/url]

Okay, how do I get my meta-data to actually create hits with search engines. You'd think terms like 'Lobsterism' in conjunction with 'anarcho-capitalism' would create a fairly unique hit. I had to take the LeMay book back to the library, and while I'm still trying to figure out enough Java to make my website look like I want it to, I vaguely remember her wrting about web-rings and indexes you can apply to and so on.

What's the best way to make my site show up on radar? Even if I type in 'Midwest Rock Lobster' on a Google search, my site doesn't come up in the top 100.

Not to be picky, but I have better luck hitting my username here at the cult. If I was trying to hide a web page, I couldn't do a better job.

Oh, one of the links reads 'I'VE HAD ENOUGH! GET ME OUT OF LOBSTERLAND!' The link is to Carhenge's official site, which I figure is as good a place as any, but what I'd really like is a script that would generate a random web site hit each time someone clicked that.

The two variables I'd have to control for are 1) I really don't want to send strangers to porno sites and 2) I can't figure a way it would work where you'd be sure you're sending them to a real web site.

So really, I guess, I'd need a script that sends people to a preset list of sites I've selected, and randomizes or rotates the hits. I could come up with a couple hundred oddball sites along the lines of carhenge, I just don't have the first notion how I'd write the script to randomize it.

[QUOTE=Chixulub]
What's the best way to make my site show up on radar? Even if I type in 'Midwest Rock Lobster' on a Google search, my site doesn't come up in the top 100.

[/QUOTE]

All hosting sites work different, but one way to get your site further up the list is by doing a free register with Yahoo, Google, whatever the search engine is. Just type in something basic like 'how do i register my site with _____ " or just type in "meta data" and you should get a bunch of hits. I know with some sites, like the two mentioned above, you can pay them 'x' amount per year to be listed at the #1 position if someone types your web name in. But you can also register for free.

As for the meta data tages themselves, at least in my hosting software there is a section to put the keywords in. If you use too many random words that are by themselves like 'midwest' or 'rock' or 'lobster' you stand to get everything assoicated with them. But if you take obscure words that you use somewhere in your text, or your titles, or whatever, you stand a better chance of getting found easier.

But look into registering your website (free or pay) with those search engines and that should at least help out a bit...

On a side note, I just tested typing Midwest Rock Lobster into Yahoo, and through the Cult tie in, that combination of words brought you to #4. However, it is through a post in the Cult forum.

I scrolled through the first hundred hits and I never came across the exact web address by itself. That, I remember now, is because YOU HAVE to register your web address with them (free or pay) until it shows up. And when you do (this works for all engines) they give you the opportunity to list a brief description about the site. You can throw in key words here as well.

[URL=http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl]Google add link[/URL]

[URL=http://www.directory-pages.com/yahoo-submissions.htm]Yahoo's[/URL]

[QUOTE=JustinHolt]On a side note, I just tested typing Midwest Rock Lobster into Yahoo, and through the Cult tie in, that combination of words brought you to #4. However, it is through a post in the Cult forum.

I scrolled through the first hundred hits and I never came across the exact web address by itself. That, I remember now, is because YOU HAVE to register your web address with them (free or pay) until it shows up. And when you do (this works for all engines) they give you the opportunity to list a brief description about the site. You can throw in key words here as well.

[URL=http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl]Google add link[/URL]

[URL=http://www.directory-pages.com/yahoo-submissions.htm]Yahoo's[/URL][/QUOTE]

Thansk a million, I registered with Google, and it already improved the hit ratio. I updated my site to include Payday (I'll take it off if you don't want to be associated with me).

It looks like yahoo really wants some money to bother with you, and it's kind of silly considering that Google, as far as I know, is the more popular engine. For that matter, I seem to recall that Ask Jeeves and Yahoo and some other engines were basically using Google and putting their own curtains on it. I could be wrong 'bout that, of course.

[QUOTE=Chixulub]Thansk a million, I registered with Google, and it already improved the hit ratio. I updated my site to include Payday (I'll take it off if you don't want to be associated with me).

It looks like yahoo really wants some money to bother with you, and it's kind of silly considering that Google, as far as I know, is the more popular engine. For that matter, I seem to recall that Ask Jeeves and Yahoo and some other engines were basically using Google and putting their own curtains on it. I could be wrong 'bout that, of course.[/QUOTE]

Hell no, I don't mind! Thanks for the link, and I will do the same favor once I add a link site to mine (tomorrow).

As for the Yahoo thing...I added, and didn't pay. You might have to do a little bit of searching...I'm not sure if that was the proper link or not. But there were also generic type sites that you could register to where they'd automatically add your site to a ton of different engines at once. Like I said, if you do a little searching, you'll find them. And they do help. When I look at the web statistics from my site, where people found the site from, whatever, they actually come from all over, and find the links even through obscure engines that I've never heard of. So...it's worth a shot for gaining vistors.

If anything else comes up, if I find another avenue, I'll be sure to let you know...

And thanks again.

Keep in mind that google also takes into consideration the amount of links from external sources when determining your page ranking.

I recently started blogging just a little, and I noticed Max Barry's 'why I blog' thing that made me think I ought to consider making the next version of the Lobster more or less along those lines. Designed pages for specific things, but also have that be my blog, something people can interact with, etc.

How tricky is that, and what sort of code is the best way to approach it?

I know, right now my site is totally plain HTML, not even very complicated HTML. I still need to pursue some CSS knowledge...

[QUOTE=Chixulub]I know, right now my site is totally plain HTML, not even very complicated HTML. I still need to pursue some CSS knowledge...[/QUOTE]
You know Chixulub, I’ve been sitting here watching your signature graphic blink on for awhile and I just have to say something.
I’m outraged that you’re the one who killed the dinosaurs!
OUTRAGED
(I dare you to do it again, only to the mammals this time.)

And here are two CSS links to make this post on-topic.
[url]http://www.w3schools.com/css/[/url]
[url]http://www.echoecho.com/csstext.htm[/url]

[QUOTE=DecoyRobot]You know Chixulub, I’ve been sitting here watching your signature graphic blink on for awhile and I just have to say something.
I’m outraged that you’re the one who killed the dinosaurs!
OUTRAGED
(I dare you to do it again, only to the mammals this time.)
[/QUOTE]

Funny you should mention it, but Chixulub has been an idee fix with me since before I had a screen name. Since before there was much of an internet, much less me bing on the internet. That's why my slightly eccentric spelling. That was the one I came across in the library in the days of physical card catalogs.

Then of course, reading Lullaby, I loved Oyster saying he wanted to be 'what killed the dinosaurs,' and I thought about the fact that Chixulub was my screen name at the Cult. So naturally, I wanted something that hinted at the Chixulub/Chicxulub meteor impact crater. The idea, of course, is to ridiculously over emphasize my own impact on the world.

For the record, as long as we're off topic, I don't even believe the meteor wiped out the dinosaurs. The time lines don't necessarily work when you look at the kind of whole-ecology kill off that a 'nuclar winter' woud cause. Maybe a contributing factor? I don't know.

Just like with supposed global warming. The world has cycled through ice ages and thaws since before we were around to notice. For all I know, whatever climate change is (or isn't) happening is beyond the control of people. Or maybe we're accellerating a natural cycle.

Anyway, I know at least one respected paleontologist, I forget his name, I saw argued that the meteor theory didn't work because the surviving species that did NOT go extinct, from frogs to sharks, would not have been able to weather a storm that took out all the larger reptiles.

Thanks for the CSS links. I'm working on a revised version of my web site, and trying som web rings and whatnot to try and increase my visibility.

By the way, anyone know a good resource for JavaScripts? I've figured out enough in Illustrator to not only make image maps, but I can also do SVG interactie elements. So I can tell it 'onmousover,' for instance, but then it actually expects me to know the JavaScript to type in. Or to import.

Anyway, the stuff I want to do isn't all that exotic, just more a thing where a button highlights when someone hovers over it etc. Then use the image map to link to the page I want to direct them to.

Basically, I want the 2.0 of Midwest Rock Lobster to look a bit more pro.

And while I hear the new GoLive does nice CSS, my Adobe CS is the Standard, and to upgrade to CS2 premium (to include GoLive) would cost me $499. I'd love to upgrade, especially since some of the new Photoshop tools sound really fun, but I'm broke.

[QUOTE=Chixulub]By the way, anyone know a good resource for JavaScripts? I've figured out enough in Illustrator to not only make image maps, but I can also do SVG interactie elements. So I can tell it 'onmousover,' for instance, but then it actually expects me to know the JavaScript to type in. Or to import.

Anyway, the stuff I want to do isn't all that exotic, just more a thing where a button highlights when someone hovers over it etc. Then use the image map to link to the page I want to direct them to.

Basically, I want the 2.0 of Midwest Rock Lobster to look a bit more pro.

And while I hear the new GoLive does nice CSS, my Adobe CS is the Standard, and to upgrade to CS2 premium (to include GoLive) would cost me $499. I'd love to upgrade, especially since some of the new Photoshop tools sound really fun, but I'm broke.[/QUOTE]

I've used [URL=http://www.dynamicdrive.com]Dynamic Drive[/URL] for Java Script help. It's a bit geeky but should be helpful.