CavySpirit
Administrator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2004
- Posts
- 6,979
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2004
- Messages
- 6,979
How I create my websites
I've been asked a number of different questions related to the content and format of my websites. I thought I would share how I've created my sites. If someone can learn through all of my trial and error, because that's what it's been, then great!
First of all, I have registered my own domain names ($) and use a 'paid for' hosting company. I currently use Prohosting. I find the prices quite reasonable and their technical support has been truly awesome--both via email and phone. In other words, I'm not using the freebie webhosting companies like homestead, geocities, aol, etc. I just choose to have total control over my environment, and more importantly want good performance and absolutely no ads.
Many technical people snub their nose at Microsoft's Front Page. Sure it puts a few extra files on your site. So what? I like it a lot. Front Page is the tool I use to maintain all of my sites. I also own Dreamweaver and a few other tools, but really prefer Front Page.
I use CuteFTP as my ftp program to upload and download programs.
I use Adobe's Photo Shop to resize, optimize, and occassionally clean up photos. That has taken me a while to get proficient with.
On my old website, which is gone, I created it from scratch. Now I normally search high and low for a template that I like. Most of my templates can be found on (broken link removed). I seem to go with designs from The Theme Gallery. I've also used a theme or two from RTB Wizards. Sometimes I modify the theme, sometimes not. I have been personally attacked for using themes. I guess you have to be the judge. It is my personal philosophy, especially being in the software business, that to reinvent the wheel is pretty stupid. There are so many sites and so many styles and themes out there, the risk of having a "look-a-like" site is very small.
Most of these themes are very table intensive. You really have to know what you are doing with tables in html. If you don't, you will be in a world of hurt. Of course, I learned the hard way. Unfortunately, the table design is part of what makes the pages slow to load on slow dial-up connections. (I was told that a table has to be fully resolved before it can be displayed by the browser.) Oh well. I just hope that the majority of people are able to get them to load in a reasonable enough time to be useful. I made a decision not to code or write to the lowest common denominator.
I also purchased a group of Front Page applets from FrontLook which are little programs which run special effects like the slide show I use on both Cavy Spirit and Cavy Cages. They work great and are easy to maintain.
The software I use for the Your Thoughts page on Cavy Spirit and the (broken link removed) on Cavy Cages was a script from (broken link removed) called GBookit. It is a guestbook application that I've been creative with so that it doesn't seem like the average old guestbook. The only technical problem I've had using these scripts is the inability to incorporate the FrontPage navigation. Oh well.
I thought the use of the Polls might help make my site more interactive and fun. I use the poll script B3Poll from (broken link removed). It's kind of hard to think up a poll that would be appropriate for the Cavy Spirit site. Any suggestions? I had to move them off of the main page to their own page for the sake of loading speed.
The Newsletter script I am using is (broken link removed). It seems to work fine, and as I recall it was free. Some of the scripts I use were free, some required a small fee. Most of them I've found on Hot Scripts -- either the php or the perl/cgi scripts.
The new Search capability I am using is a free service for basic functionality at (broken link removed). I've just recently updated all my sites to use this search engine, and it seems to be working fine so far.
The Graphics. I get a lot of comments about the graphics on my site, especially the piggie graphics. Aren't they great? They were done by Christopher Grotke at MuseArts and are being used with permission by them. They are not mine to give away. Please visit MuseArts Cartoons or their main site at MuseArts.
The forums are a hosted solution by (broken link removed). I pay to have the ads removed. I have two active, independant forums, this one and the (broken link removed).
On Cavy Cages, I am also using (broken link removed) to store/host some photos. The functionality is good, and I also pay there to have ads removed. But, I wish I could find an image gallery script that I could install that I would happy with. I've tried. I've experimented quite a bit. I will likely change it in the future, but for now, that application makes it easier for me to maintain. One huge problem I've found in trying to come up with an image gallery script is this. You must go look at the software and their demos to see how it works and how it looks. All too many of these scripts are targeted towards pornography. One little hit to their site just to look at software, you didn't know you were going to adult site and all of sudden you are getting x-rated junk mail. Good grief. What a pain! Oh well.
I think that's it! That's not to say I haven't wasted money on scripts that I couldn't install or ended up not being compatible or functional. Lots of trial and error and learning a lot about perl, cgi, and php, not to mention html.
I've been asked a number of different questions related to the content and format of my websites. I thought I would share how I've created my sites. If someone can learn through all of my trial and error, because that's what it's been, then great!
First of all, I have registered my own domain names ($) and use a 'paid for' hosting company. I currently use Prohosting. I find the prices quite reasonable and their technical support has been truly awesome--both via email and phone. In other words, I'm not using the freebie webhosting companies like homestead, geocities, aol, etc. I just choose to have total control over my environment, and more importantly want good performance and absolutely no ads.
Many technical people snub their nose at Microsoft's Front Page. Sure it puts a few extra files on your site. So what? I like it a lot. Front Page is the tool I use to maintain all of my sites. I also own Dreamweaver and a few other tools, but really prefer Front Page.
I use CuteFTP as my ftp program to upload and download programs.
I use Adobe's Photo Shop to resize, optimize, and occassionally clean up photos. That has taken me a while to get proficient with.
On my old website, which is gone, I created it from scratch. Now I normally search high and low for a template that I like. Most of my templates can be found on (broken link removed). I seem to go with designs from The Theme Gallery. I've also used a theme or two from RTB Wizards. Sometimes I modify the theme, sometimes not. I have been personally attacked for using themes. I guess you have to be the judge. It is my personal philosophy, especially being in the software business, that to reinvent the wheel is pretty stupid. There are so many sites and so many styles and themes out there, the risk of having a "look-a-like" site is very small.
Most of these themes are very table intensive. You really have to know what you are doing with tables in html. If you don't, you will be in a world of hurt. Of course, I learned the hard way. Unfortunately, the table design is part of what makes the pages slow to load on slow dial-up connections. (I was told that a table has to be fully resolved before it can be displayed by the browser.) Oh well. I just hope that the majority of people are able to get them to load in a reasonable enough time to be useful. I made a decision not to code or write to the lowest common denominator.
I also purchased a group of Front Page applets from FrontLook which are little programs which run special effects like the slide show I use on both Cavy Spirit and Cavy Cages. They work great and are easy to maintain.
The software I use for the Your Thoughts page on Cavy Spirit and the (broken link removed) on Cavy Cages was a script from (broken link removed) called GBookit. It is a guestbook application that I've been creative with so that it doesn't seem like the average old guestbook. The only technical problem I've had using these scripts is the inability to incorporate the FrontPage navigation. Oh well.
I thought the use of the Polls might help make my site more interactive and fun. I use the poll script B3Poll from (broken link removed). It's kind of hard to think up a poll that would be appropriate for the Cavy Spirit site. Any suggestions? I had to move them off of the main page to their own page for the sake of loading speed.
The Newsletter script I am using is (broken link removed). It seems to work fine, and as I recall it was free. Some of the scripts I use were free, some required a small fee. Most of them I've found on Hot Scripts -- either the php or the perl/cgi scripts.
The new Search capability I am using is a free service for basic functionality at (broken link removed). I've just recently updated all my sites to use this search engine, and it seems to be working fine so far.
The Graphics. I get a lot of comments about the graphics on my site, especially the piggie graphics. Aren't they great? They were done by Christopher Grotke at MuseArts and are being used with permission by them. They are not mine to give away. Please visit MuseArts Cartoons or their main site at MuseArts.
The forums are a hosted solution by (broken link removed). I pay to have the ads removed. I have two active, independant forums, this one and the (broken link removed).
On Cavy Cages, I am also using (broken link removed) to store/host some photos. The functionality is good, and I also pay there to have ads removed. But, I wish I could find an image gallery script that I could install that I would happy with. I've tried. I've experimented quite a bit. I will likely change it in the future, but for now, that application makes it easier for me to maintain. One huge problem I've found in trying to come up with an image gallery script is this. You must go look at the software and their demos to see how it works and how it looks. All too many of these scripts are targeted towards pornography. One little hit to their site just to look at software, you didn't know you were going to adult site and all of sudden you are getting x-rated junk mail. Good grief. What a pain! Oh well.
I think that's it! That's not to say I haven't wasted money on scripts that I couldn't install or ended up not being compatible or functional. Lots of trial and error and learning a lot about perl, cgi, and php, not to mention html.