Hi Everyone! Earths Daughter Intro

[Earths Daughter 0]

Hi folks. Just wanted to introduce myself here. I'm interested in computers, computer graphics, and enjoy surfing the internet to learn new things. I guess I would be called an intermediate computer user. I'm self-taught, having done a lot of reading on and off the internet over nearly 5 years, and it seems like I have tinkered with every piece of software I've ever installed on our computers. I've mostly been interested in studying web design. I'm trained as an Interior Designer, and a lot of that training carries over to designing web sites, believe it or not. I've been wanting to do a website ever since I got on the web, as it's a creative outlet, and I'm a frustrated author besides. The problem is, I'm a serious procrastinator, and I preferred researching building a website to actually building one. I have changed my mind on the type of web site I wanted to do several times over the first few years, as well. When I first started using the web, there were a lot of personal sites that were basically nothing more than a bunch of links to something the site owner was interested in. So at first, I wanted to do a links site with a bunch of links to different kinds of hobbies. Then I decided to narrow it down to just hobbies I was personally interested in. Then I decided to do a clipart site with a bunch of images I found all over the web. I wasn't worried about copyright, as I saw so many sites like that, it seemed everybody just "borrowed" clipart from wherever they could find it. But I found so much clipart, I decided to focus on just one type of clipart - darker stuff. Goth, skulls, blood, monsters, etc. because I'm morbid, and I like that kind of thing, and at the time, I couldn't find a big site that specialized in that sort of clipart.But as I looked for good dark clipart, I kept seeing the same stuff over and over on so many sites, I thought I should have more than that. So I started checking out computer graphics programs and did some background tiles myself. Then on to buttons and dividers, and fonts to make cool buttons with, etc. After a while, I got more interested in fooling around with graphics than actually putting them on a website, and I was hooked. The more I got into graphics, the more I realized just how much time and hard work people had put into doing their own original stuff. Then I thought about all those sites that "borrowed" other people's hard work, and realized it was a bigger deal than I had first thought. So I decided I would only use my own original work on my site. Anybody that thinks it's all right to "borrow" other's work without asking, try making some of it yourself, and you'll understand why it's such a big deal.So then I decided I would make a web site where I offered matching web page sets: background; dividers; buttons; etc. But the more I looked around the web, the more sites I found that offered better stuff than I thought I could make. Also, I liked making stuff that people wouldn't necessarily want to use on their own sites. Then I got into fractals, and didn't care what they might look like on a web site, I just liked doing them. Also, I had done a lot of reading on web design, promotion, etc. and realized there was no point to making a site like a bunch of others already out there. My interests have changed over time, partly from reading so much on the internet. At one time, I also was thinking about doing a webmaster resource site. Then a site with tutorials and tips for absolute newcomers to computers and the internet. I used to hang out in chat rooms a lot, and met people who didn't even know how to cut and paste, or use notepad, or what defragging was for. A lot of people don't even know how to maintain their computers. I got into looking for ways to make money on the internet, getting paid to read email, surf, stuff like that. So I was thinking about doing a "How-To" site on stuff like that, mostly to get referrals for those programs. At one time, I had even decided to make some porn sites, just to make money off of. Then I started hanging around adult webmaster forums and reading up on it. And I realized the success stories of people making a ton of money off of porn was because they got into it early before so much free porn was available, and they had very little competition back then. After the early sites, competition became very fierce, and those people had to spend 50-70+ hours working a week to make money off of porn. I also read at various sites that making and running a really good web site takes a lot of time, so you had better pick a subject you were very interested in and liked/loved. As a woman, I was never very interested in internet porn, I just thought it was a "gold rush" sort of thing for making a ton of money, lol. So when I realized how much time I would have to put into making a go of it with porn, I quickly lost interest, lol. But the more I read about making money on the internet, the more I wanted to do a site on general internet business, so I changed my mind yet again, lol. But as I mentioned above, I eventually realized there was no point in doing yet another site like so many others out there. Especially since I would have to put a lot of time and work into it. I wasn't really that interested in making a business site, I just wanted to make money off of making one. So I finally started thinking about what kinds of sites were out there. Which ones are popular and why, and what kind I had not seen as much of. I started thinking about what I was really interested in subject-wise, especially stuff that I could not find several big or popular web sites about. And I decided my favorite thing to do on the web is actually researching information. I could not find anything on the web at first, and it frustrated me. So I learned to find things for myself, and got very good at it. Now I have the attitude that the web has anything you want, if you can just find it. With the attitude of "it's out there, somewhere", I kept getting more and more into searching for things and finding them. I think searching the web for stuff is like a treasure hunt. It's fun, interesting, entertaining, and rewarding. But I quickly found out most people don't have that positive an attitude about searching for things on the web. A lot of people just use Google, and if they don't get very relevant results right away, assume it's not there, or just give up from frustration.People that I hung out with in the chat rooms would look for info on something for months, give up, and ask me. I would have a bunch of sites for them in a few hours or less. I realized that search engines like Google and others concentrate so much on trying to index everything that they have a little bit of everything, but not a whole lot on any one thing. For finding stuff, they're like a Jack-of all-trades, they know a lot of general stuff, but they don't specialize in being really good at any one thing. For a serious search, they can usually provide a good starting point, nothing else. That's when I found out about vortals (vertical portals). And decided to do one of those. With the way I like to do in-depth searches, it's a perfect thing for me to do, and I'll enjoy it. Also, the web needs more really good vortals. A lot of them are way too small to be considered a serious resource. A huge number of new web sites are put up every day, some of them very good, but people just can't find them.That's when I started reading up on CMS's, and found out about Xoops, which is Open Source, so it's free. I'm not a programmer however, so it seemed a bit complicated to use. Then I read about Fantastico, and realized I needed a host with it installed. Money has been really tight since my Fiance died, so I can't afford a paid host, So I looked for a free host with Xoops and Fantastico, and here I am, lol.I realize this post is long and detailed, but I thought somebody else might be able to take advantage of my trying to figure out what type of web site I wanted to do and why I want to do it. I'm guessing there are a lot of people out there that want to make a web site, but haven't really figured out what and how yet. I think I'll do some sort of basic tutorial on that in general for the tutorial section. Now I'm wondering how many people will actually read this whole post, lol.