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Thread: website info

  1. #1
    Guild Journeyer alucard339's Avatar
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    Question website info

    Due to my own player guide being too big (150 mb in word) and changing too often, I would like to create my world on the net.

    I've also got some persons who ask me about my world cause it's a mix between Dragonlance 5th age and D20 3e edition.

    But I don't know too much about that. So could some of you help me:

    How do I get a website to upload my pages? Does it cost something?

    To make the pages should I use word html or something else?

    Do I need to know others things before starting?

    Any help would be really appreciate,
    Alu.
    Let my fangs find your neck, during the night, so that I can drink your knowledge ...

    So it could be use here : www.l-hazard.com

  2. #2

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    The first thing you'll need is a host for your files. Check with your Internet Service Provider to see if they offer free web hosting as part of your account. If they don't, you'll need to decide whether you want to pay for hosting or use a free hosting site, which will place advertisements on your pages.

    After that, you'll need to decide how to create your web pages. You can Save As a Webpage from Word, but the resulting page will probably not look very good and will be far larger than is necessary. You could try a "WYSIWYG" editor (What You See Is What You Get) like Microsoft FrontPage or Dreamweaver, but those can be expensive. Or you could learn a little bit of HTML and do it by hand.

    The latter route is the one I prefer--all it requires is a text editor and a web browser. If you want to learn HTML, there are loads of tutorial sites available. Here's the one that taught me the most: http://www.extropia.com/tutorials I recommend starting with the one entitled "Intro to Web Design."

    Once you have your web host and your files, you need to get the files onto the host. Most hosts will have a file manager service that you can use to upload your files, and all of them will have details about how to transfer your files via ftp if that's your preference.

    Here's a sample of the campaign site I maintain: http://www.bryanray.name/queen
    The game isn't currently running because the forum we were playing in vanished. Feel free to look at the code ( view > source in Internet Explorer ) to see how it's put together. The formatting information is stored in a separate file here: http://www.bryanray.name/queen/queen.css That's CSS code, which makes maintaining a web site much easier, since you can store all of the formatting and visual effects separately from the actual information (which is in the .html file).

    I offer my own page as a sample because it's relatively simple in structure. There's no confusing javascript or bizarre code in it. That makes it much easier to maintain and also useful for examples.

    Setting up your first web page is a little bit daunting at first, but it's easier than it looks.
    Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
    http://www.bryanray.name

  3. #3

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    Depending on the ultimate size, I might also suggest a wiki. Look at pbwiki for free hosting up to a certain size, then pay beyond that. The nice thing about a wiki is you can easily create cross referenced pages (like wikipedia).

    -Rob A>

  4. #4
    Administrator Redrobes's Avatar
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    Yeah writing HTML is really not as bad as it looks - all those <'s and >'s are in the way but take some simple pages and have a look at the source. On this months mapping challenge I have a link to a quick page I threw together to display the thumbnails of the entrants so look over that source as its not that bad. All done with notepad I might add. Theres no *requirement* to have a big app do it. But if that floats your boat then go with it. I cant remember which are good not using them myself. Dreamweaver and MS Frontpage both ring bells and warning klaxon's...

    To get it there you use FTP. Thats File Transfer Protocol. And there is a daddy of a program FileZilla which is one of the Mozilla-esque open source free things. It also happens to be extremely good at what its supposed to do. By far the best IMO.

    So your ISP or web space host gives you your FTP address and a password and you can put files there. If you put some HTML pages up and you put the address of them in the browser then it shows them. You will have a special starter place for your site and then most of your files will be in subdirectories from there. On the root place you usually have an index.htm file and the browser knows that if you go to the root dir then it looks for index.htm automatically. So your domain web space name shows the root page. You link everything from there. It varies a little from host to host.

    If your brave then you can use dynamic pages and almost everyone uses somebody else's scripts. The most popular are a bulletin board like this - PhpBB or PhpNuke are popular I believe or they might run a wiki - like wikimedia or TWiki or TiddlyWiki etc. You might have to pay extra to get dynamic pages. Its known as CGI or PHP support. You can write your own scripts but that gets more complicated by that point. Dynamic pages are nicer tho as your less restricted and can push out pages that fit with what the user is asking about. Most people don't and run static fixed pages showing info that they create offline and upload.

    In that march challenge link, right now thats static so I have to FTP new pics up every time I want to keep it current. I would like to have it dynamic where some post on these boards controls the page. Thats the kind of difference that were talking about.

  5. #5

    Post

    Quote Originally Posted by Redrobes View Post
    Dreamweaver and MS Frontpage both ring bells and warning klaxon's...
    Dreamweaver's not so bad, although I really think it's only useful if you already know what you're doing. Frontpage makes a mess, but it's got some features that are useful for getting functionality fast, so long as you don't care about efficiency.

    I have both at home, along with a couple of other miscellaneous helper apps, but I write my code in Notepad, as well.

    The wiki suggestion is a very good idea. I thought about mentioning it myself, but I've never used one, so I don't know how difficult it is to get set up.
    Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
    http://www.bryanray.name

  6. #6
    Community Leader pyrandon's Avatar
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    I know nothing about setting up a wiki, but adding to/maintaining one is awesomely easy and perfect for gaming. Been doing it for 1.5 years now and cannot imagine going back (see my sig)
    Don
    My gallery is here
    __________________________________________________ _______
    "Keep your mind in hell, but despair not." --Saint Silouan [1866-1938]

  7. #7
    Administrator Facebook Connected Robbie's Avatar
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    I'm considering setting up member galleries/portfolios/blogs as an expanded feature of the site. This renews my desire to do this...I'll get back on that process and see what I can do...other than that I'd just recommend the Wiki thing on your own hosting...preferrably godaddy...they're the best (and our host here at the guild)
    All Hail FlappyMap! Long Live MapFeed!

    Robbie Powell - Site Admin

  8. #8
    Guild Journeyer alucard339's Avatar
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    Post

    Thank you all,

    I knew I could count on my little guild , for info and all.

    I think I'll try wiki.

    I'll be sure to let you know about the progress.

    The only 2 think I want to put on my site will be a publicity link to here and to elfwood.com (a great picture site). Can I do that

    Arcana, you idea of the member galleries/portfolios/blogs should really be good cause we are getting more and more active members this years and most of them got a good background for that.

    Sea U Hall A-round,

    Alu.
    Let my fangs find your neck, during the night, so that I can drink your knowledge ...

    So it could be use here : www.l-hazard.com

  9. #9
    Guild Journeyer alucard339's Avatar
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    News from the grave.


    I just finish uploading my little web RPG world.

    Sorry that it still only in French but before this summer the English version should be up too.

    Just go take a look and let me know what u think.


    www.l-hazard.com

    Note: I still need to create a forum or a blog section to take visitors comment and answers questions. Anyone know how I should do it


    Thanks to all of you who help me with the web setup,
    Alu.
    Let my fangs find your neck, during the night, so that I can drink your knowledge ...

    So it could be use here : www.l-hazard.com

  10. #10

    Post

    Pretty sophisticated for your first go. You'll probably want to turn the scrolling on in the left frame. I'm viewing it at a screen resolution of 1024 X 768 in Internet Explorer, and I cannot see the bottom of your navigation bar or the far right portion of your banner.

    It's always a good idea to look at your web site at a resolution that matches what most of your potential readers will be using. At the moment, I'd say 1024 X 768 is the highest you should design toward. I still shoot at 800 X 600 most of the time.
    Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
    http://www.bryanray.name

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