notrog

I found one way to make a sweet intro page with an image as the design - see the intro page to http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ - my practice site - its a picture of mice - if you click on the brown one running in the wheel - it enters the site - but if you 'miss' the mouse - the mouse's shape is designated in the html by an image map created in the gimp - you can pretty much make your buttons and links shaped like puzzle peices if you want to using an image map - and using the gimp's image map plugin, you can do it simply quickly and easily, for free, and it looks good (i think). The image map plugin in the gimp can be found under filters>web>imagemap. You do have to draw the shapes on the image manually, but the tools are pretty easy, and its not too hard to figure out. Then you save it and it makes your front page for you based on that image and the shapes you drew on it. -Notrog

I use godaddy they give you coupons and stuff it's around $7.20 a year per dot com if you buy them on sale and stuff. Then you get free hosting too, which has an ad, but you can use it to store files if nothing else, since its 5 gigabytes for free!

Here's my version:a) buy a domain name. I use godaddy. Thats the only thing you have to pay for. Alternatively use a free subdomain.b)get a free web hosting account. Godaddy offers a free one but it comes with an ad, thats why i'm here.c)make sure you've got a peice of paper to write all the passwords and stuff down or else you'll forget for sure.d)setup a mysql database in the free hosting account. That lets you have a dynamic website. Again - write down usernames and passwords!e)set the nameservers in your godaddy control panel to point to the nameservers of your hosting account.f)make a new text document, and name it index.html.g)get nvu its free and its like komposor - then install it - then drag and drop the new text file you made, 'index.html' onto the nvu program icon.h)I use the nvu for basic page editing like the other guy was using komposor, and i use notepad++ for actual coding by hand. You can do the same thing with notepad++ - drag the file you want to work on onto the application icon - it saves time.i)I use the gimp for making cool graphics.j)for fancy banners I use the gimp in conjunction with flamingtext.com - you can make cool headings there.k)practice your css on myspace - knowing css will save you time in the long run - its not too hard to learn.l)filezilla to ftp files to your website - upload index.html and you've got your first page!m)to make a dynamic website upload drupal or some other content management system, like joomla, mambo, or one of the countless others. Drupal works fine for me. Visit the main page of your site and enter the database un/pw info, and your full featured drupal site is ready to go!n) if you purchased a domain name, you spent under $10/yr for all of that. If you used a free subdomain, it should be %100 free, forever! Just keep making it better and better!