Web Site...

[GR1MNIR]

Hey gang....Could use some help from anyone that's interested. I'm trying to get a better site for my FPS/RTS clan off the ground, but I don't know where to start. I spammed Thunderblades mail box earlier today with tons of questions (sorry!), but I'm still lost. Currently I'm going through Freewebs, but it doesn't have the level of customization that I want. You can check it out here:

www.freewebs.com/wolf_raiders

to get an idea of what we have currently. It looks nice and all, but we've got our core set of players that mesh well....and we're planning on taking our name and making it big...so a better site will help attract some people and will also act as a hub for the existing members to meet up (kind of like here). The overall look I'm trying to go for is kind of like the one we have here, as well as on this other site.

www.outerzone.us

I don't want to directly rip off the design of either....but you get an idea of what I want to do. The thing is, I have no idea where to start. I know I need to get web hosting from some company...so I'll be researching that. What software am I going to need to buy, and what would be the cost? Thunder mentioned I would need Vbulletin for a forum like site, and that's gonna set me back a few bucks (was thinking about asking the good 'ol internet to "hook it up", but not sure of the consequences). I've been trying to gather up information, but like I said, not sure where to start. I know how to use HTML, but I definitely don't want to code everything...cause it makes my head hurt.

If anyone has any knowledge, please let me know, I would greatly appreciate the help. As an added bonus for your help and support, I am offering to buy you all beer/mead ingame for 2 months!! haha...alright, thanks for reading this!

[Nael]

I can help you out, I do web/graphic design. If you have AIM, you can contact me on the screenname 'srslydan'.

Anyways, if you're going to use VBulletin, I think the license is around 80 dollars.. I could be wrong though. If you don't want to spend that you can use phpBB, which is free. There's a large userbase and several mods and addons. You can also customize it however you want, but it takes lots of time. If you have the money, though, I would just buy VBulletin. It's less of a hassle and more professional-looking.

You're going to have to buy a domain and find some web hosting. The domain is cheap.. like 5 dollars a year. I think you can find a good host for around 5-15 dollars a month, but you usually have to pay for 6 months at a time.

When I first started, I used Dreamweaver to write the HTML/CSS/PHP/JS/etc... I have no idea how much it is, but I'm pretty sure it costs a pretty penny (unless you download it or get it from someone *cough* IM me *cough*). There's tons of HTML editors out there, some of them free. You don't even need an HTML editor... you can write it in notepad if you want.

For the actual programming, you're probably going to at least need to know HTML/CSS. If you know HTML, CSS is fairly easy to learn and I can help you out with that. If you're looking to have some sort of a content management system, you may need to learn a backend language. I would suggest PHP because it's widely used and integrates easily with mySQL for database functionality (Oh, and it's free ). If you don't feel like learning another language (it's a pretty big hassle if you don't have any programming experience), you can also buy a CMS or maybe get one for free, but you're going to have to alter them, which would still require some knowledge of PHP. If you're just looking for something not too big, I can write up a code for you.

If you need to do any graphic work, you're going to need a program for that as well if you want something better than Paint. Most people use Photoshop or Fireworks. I can't really speak much for Fireworks since I haven't used it nearly as much as Photoshop, but they both have a learning curve, although it's not that bad since there's so many tutorials online. Judging by all the sigs I've seen on this forum, I think alot of people can help you out in this department if you need it.

Anyways, I need to get some sleep If you need anything, holler at me.

[Dufnial]

well i did offer this to members awhile back.

www.clangamehost.com - it's my hosting company for gamers(no charge)

as for a domain name just get a $10 a year one from www.vizaweb.com then click domains, tell me the name of the domain and youre away with that been setup.

as for the coding of the website im sure i can help you out there as well, erm graphics wise i cant help im not good at photoshop

[Requiem]

Originally Posted by GR1MNIR

Thunder mentioned I would need Vbulletin for a forum like site, and that's gonna set me back a few bucks (was thinking about asking the good 'ol internet to "hook it up", but not sure of the consequences).

I meant if you want a content management / forum type of thing exactly like we have here, then you'd need vbulletin which is $160.00 each for an owned license. But you can use phpbb to get a look very much the same as this site, just need to find some hacks and such to make it look like it.

[IcePROject]

all I can say it opensource my friend just go on SourceForge.net and get everything you need... well except for the hosting

[GR1MNIR]

Originally Posted by Dufnial

well i did offer this to members awhile back.

www.clangamehost.com - it's my hosting company for gamers(no charge)

as for a domain name just get a $10 a year one from www.vizaweb.com then click domains, tell me the name of the domain and youre away with that been setup.

as for the coding of the website im sure i can help you out there as well, erm graphics wise i cant help im not good at photoshop

Hey duf what's the bandwidth like for your hosting as well as storage? I'll definitely look into it for sure, how do I go about signing up for it?

Nael: I have Photoshop, as well as dreamweaver so the programs shouldn't be a problem. I'll add you to my friends list, so I'll holler at you.

[Dufnial]

gr1m just buy a domain name and i will set the whole thing up and theres unlimited bandwidth, storage is 1gb

[GR1MNIR]

oh sweet! Will work on that this weekend then. Going to have a clan meeting (not that type of klan) on sunday....thanks again!

Edit: Actually I take that back....I talked to my Admins and we're gonna do it. Check your PM box in a bit.

[GR1MNIR]

Ok so I created a domain, but haven't recieved an email from them yet....how long does it usually take? I did it around 1 this afternoon, and because I thought I messed up I just did it again....buying two domains with the same domain name?

[Dufnial]

what domain (s) did you register, ill set the account up now and it usually takes around 24 hours.