Who here has a webpage?

[Sickie Ickie]

Who here has a webpage?

[RRguy]

I don't have one. I have dabbled in HTML and Java, and have thought about it. But I have never been able to think of any type of content that I know enough about that anyone would be interested in.

[Sickie Ickie]

RR, H and C?

[digbugsgirl]

I'm working on mine...www.berrywoodcrafters.com. I'm hoping to have it finished in the next week or two. I will be selling my jams and crafts. I'm hoping to get some paintings done and maybe even one day some props. :)

[Sickie Ickie]

dbg, do you need some kind of food license to sell food?

[woodmizer]

I've been playing with a few free sites just to see how I like them
http://playfx.webs.com/

[RRguy]

RR, H and C?
If you're referring to Halloween and Christmas, there are already so many experts with impressive sites, that I am too humbled to put up the kind of lame site that I would submit.

[Sickie Ickie]

But don't you see, RR? That's what makes this hobby great! People who do it for fun and not just for professional reasons. I can't tell you how many H and C sites I have been to that are amateur and just have one or two projects, but they had some good ideas to bounce around inside my head and give my own spin on.

If your website was a competition against the professionals about who is able to have more technical information, or whatever, then yeah- we may not stand a chance... However, since we are part of a craft that allows the haunter of every age and experience level to share ideas and what they have made, THAT is what draws so many of us into this in the first place! Building props and having fun. :)

VIVA LA HOME HAUNTER AND DECKER SITES! :D

[digbugsgirl]

Sickie - Yes. You do need some kind of license. I have a license through the VA Dept of Ag and as of the 1st, I will be incorporated. I also have my Fed tax ID and state tax license.

[bethene]

I agree Sickie, I enjoy the "down-home" type sites alot, I love to see what other people do. But I also understand RRguys misgivings, I tend to not think my things are as nice as others, am harder on myself than maybe others would be. When I joined the H.F. I was pretty intimidated, but then when I Really looked , mine wasn't the worst or the best, just mine, so I got over that, (alittle),with what I have to work with( I do 2 campground site haunts, a small home haunt,I do a pretty good job, if I do say so myself! LOL!) I am not techno savy myself, but I am going to start taking pictures of things I build as I go along, and maybe have my daughter help me set up a site later in the year. Maybe Christmas crafts (ideas and directions, not selling) and halloween props and projects. We'll see.

[RRguy]

You are all encouraging. I may try it yet. Thanks for the inspiration.

[Sickie Ickie]

Sickie - Yes. You do need some kind of license. I have a license through the VA Dept of Ag and as of the 1st, I will be incorporated. I also have my Fed tax ID and state tax license.

Wow. Who walked ya through the process?

[Sickie Ickie]

B, I'll be interested in your site! :D

[Mistress Muffy]

Oh I think no matter what you do its nice to have a site to share with your family friends! For me....I can't remember anything so I go back & look at my pictures so I can refresh my memory of what goes where!lol

Still its nice to have a history of what you do & to write about it! Best thing is how good it feels when you go back & look at it!

Muf

[RRguy]

I do have a couple of pages. I have a Webshots Page with three public albums but not to many images (username "airforcedad100") and a private photobucket album with mostly avatars and smileys. These don't really count. I also have an account with Freewebs, but I have no viewable content yet. I'm still thinking.

[bethene]

Thanks, Sicki, The only thing I have now is a photobucket site with one of my campgound haunts , forgot about that, but even that I needed help from my son, actually it is more because I have dial- up- takes forever to do anything like that. My daughter actually teaches a computer class at the local library- I think I need her to teach me too, then try to make a site.

[putrid]

I've got a freebee from Earthlink,
http://home.earthlink.net/~jazzfusion/
I'm still working on Holidaycraftology.com. It will be split between my Halloween and Christmas projects. I'll be making each Christmas project again so I can take pictures. Hoping to get the site up how-to by how-to. It'll take a wile to get it all up. Have over 100 project to make. The Halloween side will be almost complete. I'll just copy what I have at cryptopropology. Be adding to that side as well.
Right now I'm using a publisher program to work out all the links and page layouts. Still haven't gotten the web publishing program. Hopefully it'll come today.

For anyone who has something they do a web site it great. It doesn't have to be big or pro looking. And if you can get one for free go for it. Even with adds. The only sites I personally think are bad are the ones with more animation and flashy things than content.

[Blinky]

I have a site too just click my banner to see it.
Oh there is a another free site for those that want to try it I have helped several people to set up their pages .
http://freewebs.com and I know where to go to make banners like mine to so you can link them to your site.
http://www.stylemyprofile.net/banner-maker
just find some cool Images in photo buckets and save them to your harddrive and when you are ready to make your banner it will be easy as falling off a bike. >> But dont fall..

[Sickie Ickie]

*OW!* Mom! I skinned my knee!!!

[Blinky]

Mommy Blinks kisses Sickie knee to make the boo boo feel better

[putrid]

Cool banner maker Blinky. Thanks for the link. Played around a bit with it. Definitely easy to do if I can do it. LOL

Got my software in today. Namo WebEditor 5.5. It's so close to using Front Page that you'd think they were the same program. It's got plenty of options and bells and whistles. More than I need or will use. Unlike Front Page it's easy to learn. Help isn't as cryptic. You don't need to be Microsoft certified to understand what's written. And for .99 + shipping I can't beat the price. I love cheap. Ebay just saved me $149.01!!!!

[Blinky]

Thanks Putrid I thought it was a easy way to make banner too. I used it here on this website as well as the other site. Now when you are ready to write your code to link to this forum let me know and I will help you. Do you know any html coding?

[putrid]

.... Do you know any html coding?

Nope, none at all. I look at the html view of the web pages I've done in Front page and Namo and just scratch my head. LOL Seems to be lots of > and : and | and \. But I do recognize words LOL. Thanks for the offer to help Blinky. Will definitely need it.

[Blinky]

yep you are right about all the sybmols but they are telling the computer what to do with you commands that you type and if you miss one are have it in the wrong place you get squawt. Just let me know when you are ready and I will be Happy to help you.

[putrid]

Thanks Blinky. Just spent a few hours making pages on the site. Will be a bit before I need a banner. Guess I could make a banner to nowhere. LOL Thanks again for the offer. Looking forward to your help.

[Blinky]

you could hook you banner the the home page of your site once you have made it visible to the public and use it as a place marker. so people will know you are working on your site. on the pages you don't have ready yet you can also put a "under construction" sign in that page and go back and edit it later. Like I do on some of my pages in my site. as the pages you finish become ready to show then make them visible to the public and we can follow along and give help/ or words of encourgagement to you. Good Luck with you site.

[Sickie Ickie]

pssssst- blinks has a point! :D

[Brightside]

I hope to be doing a website soon, when time allows. I have a Myspace and my Photobucket pages, but would like something a little better. I have done some HTML (back in the day, when it was the only way) but not much lately.


I've been playing with a few free sites just to see how I like them
http://playfx.webs.com/

I like that one, it looks nice. Let me know which ones are best.



If you're referring to Halloween and Christmas, there are already so many experts with impressive sites, that I am too humbled to put up the kind of lame site that I would submit.

Well, with guys like Blinky and Dave and Crowe and a hand full of others, I completely understand. But at the same time, I am proud of the work I do.
Not to mention, I too enjoy seeing the work everyone else does. Even if it isn't up to "Dave" standards, you get great ideas and see some really impressive stuff.

[Blinky]

play that is the site I have been helping people with.. and I picked the same page to play with,lol
for those of you who need help with HTML there is this website you can go to:
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/
after you have read up on it, it alot easier to understand.. so when people say URl you know what they mean .and stuff like like. and as always I dont mind helping..
bookmark this site it comes in handy..:)
I never use to understand it either but know I read it like a second Lang and I have all I can do to handle english.
RR: put up a site we like looking at stuff. Never say quit or Die unless you on the Halloween forum.lol

[Blinky]

Here is a link to some cool under construction gifs for your webpages
http://photobucket.com/images/under%2520construction%2520gif/

publish your home pages so you can use they as place markers ( if you are using freeweb.com)
that means make them visiable to public so we can help you, design your pages if you want.

[putrid]

RRguy, The only thing I've ever been impressed with on any site is the information itself. If we all could afford Macromedia and other $800+ programs everything on the net would look pro. I started with the cheese free sites I can get with Earthlink. Now I'm making a big site that'll be just as cheese. LOL
Let me get a few how to pages up and then I'll publish the site. I'm still working on how I want to set up links. Here's what I'm fighting over.
Each project type has a hub page. So to get to any of the Santa projects you go to the Santa hub page. There will evetually be 11 hub or project links from this page. Click on a picture and go to that project. (OR that project hub page if there's variations for that project.) Will work with "Cone and Material Santas" It has 3 different variations. So you'd go the the "Cone and Material Santas" and choose which of the three you want to do. That's easy enough to get all the links in without it being confusing. Now comes me pulling my hair out. Each of the three projects listed on the "Cone and Material Santas" page share information. In this case "Making Cones". This information is also needed for 9 other hub pages and all the variations on each. If I listed every link going to "Making Cones" there'd be a multitude of links to choose from on that page and the viewer would have to remember what I named what variation of what project they were just on to get back to it.
OR
Make each shared information link only available on each project hub page. You would go to the Santas hub page. This page would include every link of shared information for all the Santa projects. Click on "Cone and Material Santas" This page would only have links relative to these Santas. Click on the Santa you wish to make. This page only has links back to "Cone and Material Santas "page.
Each project would have links back to it's hub page, the main hub page ( in this case Santas.), the main Christmas craft hub page and the main hub page linking the two sides of the site together ( Christmas on one side, Halloween on the other. )

Me thinks me drowning in links. LOL

Worst case would be to add all information to every project. "Cone and Material Santas" has 3 different materials to make a face out of. Three different things to make hair and beards with. And three different materials to make the coat and hat trim out of. This information is also shared with other Santa projects. The viewer would be flooded wth the same information over and over again.

Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. It'd be a lot easier to have the viewer click on a picture and the page would read:

GUESS HOW I DID IT!

LOL

[Blinky]

yep links can be a PITA..
I liked the idea of "guess How I made it " then you would only have to write one each of the different kinds of Santa's. Most home made prop bodies are all made the same .. some site let you make pages with out having to publish them in the menu.They are called hidden pages then you could link to that page inside the site and the info would be there.

[putrid]

This program lets me do pop up pages, split pages, floating pages and all sorts of strange things to pages. LOL And even hidden pages. I could hide them where I couldn't find them either. It even backs up pages when I make major changes. I can even put meta (spelling) tags on each page to help get hits.

After playing a bit with making pages here's how I've decided to map the site.

All shared information will link to hub pages only. Each variation from the hub page will state what shared information needs to be known to make the item. If there is enough variations to justify there own hub page there will be links from that hub page to techniques needed for the variations only. I wrote this and I'm confused too. LOL

Santa Projects hub page will have a link to making cones.

Cone and material Santas Hub page will not. But will have links to shared information like, making arms and mittens, adding a mantle to the coat and the like that all projects listed on that page need.

It might be a PITA for viewers at first because they'll have to back track to get to all the information they need. But they wont have to sift through 114 links to go back to where they were. Or to find what they need.

Now all I need to do is stop playing around with the site and get some how-to's done up.

Going to do some reading later on to see what I need to do to upload the site.
Thanks for the encouragement and help Blinky.

[Blinky]

Putrid just got done reading your last post and that scared me even,lol
where did you find this site? I would like tp play with that one.
Happy Hallow oops New Year and you are most Welcome

[putrid]

Blinky the program is called Namo Webeditor5.5 and it's a nice package. Don't remember if it was Office Max or Office Depot but one of them sells the later version of it. It's got plenty of bells and whistles and things I haven't a clue what they do. OK most of it I haven't a clue but it's fun to play with. Or in my case, fumble around with. LOL

I need some advice. Can you recommend a FTP program. Went to Cnet and I think they have about 10,000 of them to choose from. Not one of them says' "for the technically challanged" LOL
Happy HallowalmostfullmoonChristmasNew Year to you too.

[Blinky]

Putrid, I haven't used this one but it seams to be easy enough
http://www.globalscape.com/cuteftp/index.aspx?CMP=KNC-Google-FTP&gclid=COiqnrrQ1JACFRGCGgodqzetXw
The website I use provides their own FTP so I 'd have to look for one.; Sorry !! But look that over.

[Sickie Ickie]

Try WS_FTP . I really like it. It is no frills, but does a nice job moving data back and forth.

It's free! You can see info about it from this site: http://saturn.med.nyu.edu/it/help/ftp/wsftp.html

and download it here: http://saturn.med.nyu.edu/it/help/files/windows/ws_ftple.exe

[putrid]

Thanks for the links Blinky and Sickie Ickie. will check them out soon. This is what I've tried so far. I used the FTP that came with the web publishing program. It uploaded for over an hour (dial up). I knew it would take some time so I left the room. When I came back and checked the file names that was going out I saw things like 'sweet gum' and suger and things that had nothing to do with my site>????? I had to shut the computer off to stop it. No idea what our were all that stuff went. As far as I know I'm not missing anything and nothing new has been added to my computer. I checked my site statistics via Earthlink and I have 0 bits used. Then I tried the FTP provided by Earthlink. Did one page. Took about 5 seconds ( on dial up?) but when I went to the 'site' there's nothing there but the blank page with a link to earthlink on it. HELP!

Do you think we should start a new thread about making and maintaining a web site? In case folks in the future would be interested. It would make all this info easier to find.

[Sickie Ickie]

Great idea about the web thread, Putrid! Start it and put these questions in it. It will hwlp many people who come here, and we can direct them there for already answered questions.

FTP just copies stuff into another folder, so you shouldn't have lost anything.

Websites will often have folders already to where you are publishing (picture folders, data folders, etc.) Also your program may add folders, too.

I don;t understand the sweet gum and sugar etc. (?)

[putrid]

I don't understand it either. They were all Gif files so possibly clip art of sorts. Think what I'll do is call Earthlink and see what they have to say about it. They have a 24/7 free help line with there web hosting program. Then I'll type it all down on a new thread so other folks can read it. And so I can re read it and maybe understand it after hearing it, typing down then re reading it. Well, as long as nothing gets lost in the translation. LOL Thanks again for the help Sickie Ickie and Blinky. Hope to see ya'll on the new thread too. Cuz I need all the help I can get. The poor folks at Earthlink will need a bottle of Tylenol by the time I'm done driving them crazy. LOL

[digbugsgirl]

Sickie - I went throught the Dept of Ag for licences. My accountant helped me out some and the business incubator gave me some ideas and tips.

[Sickie Ickie]

Still sounds like a difficult process DBG. :eek:

[Sickie Ickie]

I'm still trying to get SP off the ground. Can anyone here who has a site put SP in their links? Thanks!

[spookineer]

I used www.250free.com for mine, then purchased the domain name and hosted it with them. They provide free software and instruction. www.spookineering.com

[digbugsgirl]

Sickie- selling food is much more difficult than selling crafts or anything else. I make the food so I have to have my kitchen inspected. I'm sure if you are reselling food, it wouldn't be as difficult. If I was just selling my crafts and artwork, I wouldn't have to go through all of that.

[Blinky]

already did long time ago Sickie

[putrid]

I'm still working on it!! This old fart is learning new tricks. LOL You've got a great thing going there Sickie Ickie. I'm positive that by this time next year it'll be huge. Like the Monster List it'll take time to get noticed, added to and grow.

[Blinky]

Sickie did you post it in Google Search?

[putrid]

Sickie Ickie, Have you added 'meta tags' to your site? I used them to attract all kinds of folks to my cryptopropology site. I tried to think of every possible search that could be done for Halloween props.
halloween props,
home made props,
home made Halloween props,
props,
You get the idea. I also did it to every page according to what prop was on that page. You might think about doing it to every hub page you make.
"Blowmolds"
"Centerpieces"
"Cards"
This would direct browsers to individual craft hubs on your site.

[Sickie Ickie]

Thanks Blinks!

DBG, My wife and I some time ago were talking about doing cake decorating, but our kitchen would never pass inspection! LOL

Putrid and Blinks, great ideas! Methinks I'll try. :D

[Blinky]

for those of us that dont know how to do Meta tags cn you do a quick tyt on them here in this thread?

[Sickie Ickie]

putrid, do you put them invisibly on your page, or reduce them to 1pt?

[putrid]

This is the only way I know how to do the tags. Not only the tags but the description of your site that comes up in a browser search. Meta tages are done with a web publishing program. Type in meta tags in your programs 'help' or search for key words. to see wheres and hows. You should be able to do it for every page on you site. Each program will be different so I can't give a good how-to.

Here's a descrption of what they do from my publisher program.

"If a Web site is registered with an Internet search service, the search robot visits the registered site and extracts the meta tags contained in the Web pages. The collected information is used as a database for the search engine. Thus you should specify relevant keywords so that various search engines can easily locate your Web site.

What is a meta tag?
Meta tags are often used to include keywords and a description of a document without making the keywords or description visible in a browser. This is a useful way to control how a document is summarized by some search engines."

Now to set things straight. My free sites have NEVER been registered with google, ask, dog pile or any other search engine yet my tags worked for them all. Well, the first 4 or 5 years any way. Now there's so many sites linked to mine you get there addresses. Mine used to be in the top ten, Now I'm a 'has been'. LOL I haven't added anything new to my site in years. Don't know if that has anything to do with it. JK LOL Used to be when you did a search for cryptopropology you'd get a short paragraph describing the site. Now you get a jumble of words from the home page. Wonder if I went in and changed my meta tags and republished the site if that would change things???? will have to try ( sorry thinking wile I type)
Still, even with my sites tags no longer working folks can find it going to other sites that have linked to it. I still go off line every year so I'm still getting plenty of visitors. Takes 800 to 900 folks going to it a day in October to shut me down by the third week.

[Sickie Ickie]

That would totally be awesome to have that many people visit the SP site daily. :D

[putrid]

Ya, I get a big head over it. A source of swelling pride!! LOL Have you looked into meta tagging for ya'lls sites Sickie Ickie and Blinky?

[Sickie Ickie]

Not yet, Putrid, but I'm planning on it since you gave me the info. :D

[Blinky]

Do you have info on how to do meta tags like a link or something.?

[Blinky]

I started my website alittle after Thanksgiving and had it up in running by the end of the month.
I now have reached 500 hits on my website I know that dooesn't sound like much but I would like to know how to load it in to google and get it near the front/top of the list of post Thanks. and My photo bucket account has had 200 hits already this month,but I now have it passworded. so yu will have to email me or go to my website to see stuff.

[putrid]

Do you have info on how to do meta tags like a link or something.?

Sorry, what's there is all I know.

[Sickie Ickie]

http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167931

[CaptnJackSparrow]

They arent Christmas or Halloween sites, but the few I've made and run..

www.slavjane.org
www.stthomasbcc.org/index.html
www.stmarysbcc.org/index.html
www.qsl.net/k7awa/

were all made with MSPublisher 2003. The hosting compay I use, TotalChoice Hosting, is here in Phoenix and it costs me $55/yr for each including domain registration. I had another dance group website, but turned it over to other members of the group. Each website started out as .html-by-hand, writing it in Notepad.exe, then uploading it using WS_FTP. I discovered Publisher in my search for a good editor. FrontPage is good, but I didnt want to pay for it.. Publisher does what I want it to do.

Here's a great site for making goodies on pages:
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutorials/

TJ

[navidadnm2010]

I have four.
http://www.freewebs.com/owgi - Ghost Investigations
http://www.haunted-hacienda.webs.com - Haunted House
http://www.senorac.webs.com - My Christmas House and Christmas Character Site
http://www.watkinsonline.com/mbryan - Watkins Products

Please do give some Feedback on the first three.
They are New and I would like to know how I am doing on them.
I just updated the Halloween and Christmas Sites.
Everything is in order for a couple of great sites.
I am still playing with Configurations and getting everything just right.
I think I am nearly done, so things are looking good.

[Just Whisper]

http://melissawatts.webs.com/

http://hauntershaven.webs.com/

2 small how to web sites, one for christmas and one for halloween. Both still new and being added to.