Choosing a Web Host

As I stated in my blog respecting my Web site outline, the site I am re-creating already has a Web host. However, I did research this subject as if I were having to start from scratch and I don't mind telling you, given the seemingly infinite number of Web hosts available, it is just a little overwhelming.

I did a google search, went to http://www.free-webhosts.com/. For the most part, all the free sites I looked at offered upgrades for a fee. It helped to compare the two offers as I learned more about what to look for. For instance, some of the free sites do not offer spam or virus protection (http://www.50webs.com/). At http://www.awardspace.com/web_hosting.html/, I discovered that the free service charged $14.95 for domain registration while the first upgrade offered the first year free and the two further upgrades offered "free forever" domain registration. While http://www.atspace.com/ was top-rated site, I was instantly turned off by the typos on the home page. Just what is $0,00" and "3,99$?"

It has always been my opinion that more times than not you get what you pay for and if it's free, you need to really look deep down.

My Web Site Outline

When I started this class, I told a friend of mine that I would be creating a Web site. One of his businesses involves giving historical tours in the DFW area and he wanted to know if I would like to completely re-design the Web site he has for the JFK Assassination Tour he offers. His current site is one page with nothing but a picture and a copy of his business card so I will be starting from scratch. We both benefit financially from this project as he he already has a web host and domain name thereby saving me possible expenses and I'm doing the job for free.

My outline for jfkassassinationtour.com is as follows:
1. Home page introducing the purpose of the site with tabs to go to other pages on the site
2. Bio page introducing the owner
3. Detailed description of the 3-hour tour
4. Detailed description of the 4-hour tour
5. Detailed description of the 6-hour tour
6. A page with links to the owner's other sites
7. A copy of the owner's brochure for other tours that are offered
8. Contact page
9. Site map

I searched Web sites for ideas, but everything I found was way too busy. I want this site attractive but not so loaded with "stuff" that the potential customer forgets what he/she is looking for.

Web Authoring

Note to Self: Take new laptop to the Geek Squad and find out what it has against me.

I won't go into all the details, but between Dell, Kompozer and Winzip, I didn't think I would ever get this assignment done. I'm still having problems but as long as I don't close Kompozer, all is good. I looked at some other Web authoring tools, but wanted to be able to take full advantage of our instructor's assistance.

All things considered, the project itself was fun. I think I could have done more with it but I still have to get this week's assignment completed.

Learning HTML

WOW!!! I did Steps 1 and 2 of this assignment and thought "okay, this is a piece of cake." Then came Step 3 and I started feeling a little shaky, especially when I realized the seemingly inifinite number of codes there are. Thankfully by the end of Step 4, I was regaining my optimism.

I have already marked as a favorite the following website which is great for the person who knows absolute nothing about HTML:

http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp