Your own web site [Archive] - Mandolin Cafe Forum

John Bertotti

Dec-31-2004, 8:24pm

Builders and merchants and private individuals of this cafe have their own websites. Scott has the board Mandohack has jazzmando Michael and other builder have intuitive websites.
How did you choose your host how do you know how much space need etc.. How would any other individual of this board start one up on their own. Website that is. This is short on mando content so email me if you chose I just thought here would be a good place to start gleaning such information. I also thought others here may have similar questions, their seem to be a lot of different bands represented and I wonder how many actually have their own website. thanks John HAPPY NEW YEAR

Greenmando

Dec-31-2004, 8:51pm

Often your IP has set aside space for you to use to create a webpage with links.

grandmainger

Dec-31-2004, 8:52pm

The steps are fairly straightforward:
1) get a domain name
2) pick a host
3) create and upload your site to the host.

A typical static website (eg most personal sites and many small business sites with no e-commerce) with good image content will probably require no more than say 25MB.
A dynamic website (eg mandolincafe, amazon, etc) will require more space and also cost more to host.

The easy solution is to go with a host that does everything, from domain name registration to hosting. I use www.oneandone.com
It's a bit more expensive than shopping around and using various companies, but it's fantastically hassle free.

Otherwise, google words like: domain name registration, cheap hosting, etc, etc.

HTH http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Germain

pdlstl

Dec-31-2004, 9:41pm

www.godaddy.com

peter.coombe

Dec-31-2004, 11:27pm

Usually your ISP will provide some web space as part of the package, or for an additional fee, and this is a good place to start. You do not need to get a domain name, but it is worthwhile if you expect your site to be around for a while. A domain name is essential if you are more serious. How much space you will need depends on what you want to do. If you want a lot of pictures and sound files, then you will need a lot of space, particularly with sound files, but if you are just going to put up a few pages then 10 or 20 Meg will do it easily. I think my web site is less than 40 meg and there are a lot of pictures on it, but I can go up to 100 Meg if necessary. My ISP does offer web space, but it was not cost effective to stay with them once the size of my web site went over 10 Meg. Do not underestimate how much time is involved in preparing a web site. This stuff is VERY time consuming once you get past the half dozen pages and want it easy to navigate, provide good information, look good etc.

It is a good idea to get a tool for creating web pages, e.g. FrontPage. These tools make it easy, you do not have to learn HTML, but the more powerful tools have a steep learning curve. There is an awful lot you can do if you have the time, but there are traps. What works on a PC or over a LAN does not necessarily work well over the Net, so you need to bear in mind download times for users on slow dial up lines, how search engines pick up your site etc. You also need to be organised, and as it gets bigger, structure the site so it does not become unwieldy and unmaintainable. Pretty standard IT stuff. I outsourced my web page to someone else at first, but he ended up dumping it back on me and what I got from him was an unmaintainable mess. No structure or organisation at all, just a huge number of files all in the one directory. Took weeks to sort it out, and I cursed over and over.

For me it is a necessary evil that has taken up a huge amount of time, but I hate web sites that are just advertising, so I have spent a lot of extra effort to provide additional information. It is never ending, the site is never finished.

Chip Booth

Jan-03-2005, 6:54pm

I've been using seanic.net for my own websites and a few clients. It is nearly free ($4.00 a month), no adds or other junk, plenty of space and very reliable. I have no financial interest, but I do recommend them.

fatt-dad

Jan-03-2005, 7:06pm

I went to godaddy.com and registered www.fatt-dad.com I also have a comcast.net email/isp account (cable modem). It's widely available. The comcast.net account offers me some web page space. So, I just redirect my www.fatt-dad.com to my comcast.net web page information. You can see that if you type www.fatt-dad.com the URL in your web browser reads with comcast with some ~'s and /'s, etc.

To actually make my web page, which is very amaturish, I just used the web building tools through comcast. Fairly basic wizzard stuff.

Hope this helps.

fatt-dad

danb

Jan-03-2005, 7:15pm

John Bertotti

Jan-03-2005, 7:21pm

There are many reasons I want to do this but one of the fun ones is with Scott's permission I'd like to link the cafe to it and have a cafe cook book. You know recipes people of the cafe like and want to share. I seem to remember this coming up a year or so ago but didn't see anything happen with it. Do you think that would fly? Scott is that ok? #John

You may or may not play a flat back but if you use these recipes you'll join the order of the bowl...Belly! http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Scott Tichenor

Jan-03-2005, 8:03pm

The cafe (message board especially) is fairly specialized to run as it gets fairly heavy traffic. I work my day job as an IT consultant, so I set up everything for this site from scratch. Most of the time you are alright hosting a basic site with an ISP for a very low fee, where essentially you copy files up to it that make up your web page.
And he does a fine job, believe me. May I shine your shoes Mr. Beimborn? Another glass of fine single malt you say? Yes sir!

~:>

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

Scott Tichenor

Jan-03-2005, 8:40pm

John Flynn

Jan-04-2005, 7:33am

Cooking is my other hobby.
So would this new site be called "The Mandoline Cafe?"

edmando

Jan-04-2005, 7:52am

www.doteasy.com
free web hosting. no banners or popups.

fatt-dad

Jan-04-2005, 7:52am

Cooking is my other hobby.
So would this new site be called "The Mandoline Cafe?"
Whew, that is scarry - I almost made this exact post!

So, how about this? Can someone develop a link where I can browse CDs that showcase 'cafe members. I read about Scott's recordings and the mandolin tasting CD. I know that folks around here have local bands, play gigs, go to festivals, etc. How many have CDs for sale and where would we go to purchase them (other than random luck at amazon.com)?

Just another idea. . . .

f-d

mandopete

Jan-04-2005, 8:18am

There are many reasons I want to do this but one of the fun ones is with Scott's permission I'd like to link the cafe to it and have a cafe cook book. You know recipes people of the cafe like and want to share. I seem to remember this coming up a year or so ago but didn't see anything happen with it.
John,

I started a thread on this subject a couple of years ago thinking that it would be a nice break from the deadly serious subject of mandolins #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

I posted under the "other" category that got nuked due to issues with the threads that were posted there. #But I saved all of the recipes and I can send them to you if you like as a starting point.

Pete

onlyagibsonisgoodenuff

Jan-04-2005, 12:18pm

#Can someone develop a link where I can browse CDs that showcase 'cafe members.
How about the MP3 link on the Cafe's home page? Most of these folks have CD's for sale.

dtb

Jan-04-2005, 12:42pm

my latest cd was just reviewed at recordingproject.com, and they just linked my e-mail for info about purchasing.

John Bertotti

Jan-04-2005, 5:54pm

mandopete, I remember now. Yea I gave up on that section and this one for awhile the issues being discussed really started to get me down and wound up all at once. I think Scott did right eliminating that section. There was some good there also and yes I would love those to get started.
As far as showcasing other members I think a person can put as many links on a web page as they want so maybe I could have a links page also. I doubt if I'll have enough room for mp3 files but links should work. I'm just learning so give me a little time.

As far as a name I like the recipe page to be Italian.. Like
"Ristorante Mandolino Family" Any Italian speaking people out there to check my spelling? What the heck is the word for family? John

Brian T

Jan-04-2005, 6:51pm

The word for family is 'famiglia'. 'gl sound is pronounced sort of like the 'll' sound in Spanish. Almost, but not quite a 'y' sound.

John Bertotti

Jan-04-2005, 8:07pm

Thanks Brian T. Would this be the correct syntax then
"Ristorante Mandolino Famiglia"

I like anyone else? John http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

craig

Jan-05-2005, 7:26am

resaber,

i use www.150m.com to host the Mandolin Project. there is a free option that gives reasonable free space. you can pay have PHP capacity and more space, etc. www.webmonkey.com has some good instruction for writing basic html. there are loads of other sites and forums too.

good luck

craig

elExtranjero

Jan-05-2005, 8:57am

I have used Yahoo! Webhosting (http://webhosting.yahoo.com) for several years and have found it to be very reliable, have good features, and competitive. I have a business hosting account there that allows me to setup bulletin boards PHP BB (http://www.phpbb.org/) and portals PHP Nuke (http://phpnuke.org).

I JUST started work on a portal there that you can see at Fretboard Patterns (http://www.fretboardpatterns.com). This only has a few hours of work in it but you can see that the basics are in place. I'm a BIG fan of PHP-BB and PHP-Nuke. Yahoo! Webhosting has a very simple, three click, process to setup PHP-BB or PHP-Nuke and provides real time phone support that has been very good for me.

I have about 10 domains setup through my master domain. The additional domains only cost $5 a year and are hosted as subdomains through the master domain. This allows you to setup test and pilot sites very easily.

YMMV...

sweetmusic

Jan-05-2005, 8:03pm

I built my first webpage with FrontPage way back in the early '90s (at that time it was included free with MS Office). I use http://impacthosting.com/ for all my websites as their tech support is awesome and when you're a little guy like me you often wear many hats - web master is one of my traits I guess (or faults?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif).

I use FrontPage 2003 for all my design work. I like it because it does all the HTML for me. Oh, yes I have to go into the code sometimes to tweak here and there, but mostly I can set it up and publish it in a matter of minutes. And when I'm on the road, it's nice to be able to post new pics or info to the site quickly.

I learned to work in Flash a few years back, but found that most people don't like flash as it's a bandwidth hog. The program itself is expensive ($500) and it's hard to learn. I've also learned GoLive and a few other WYSIWIG editors, but always come back to FP as the easiest and quickest editor out there. I guess maybe I'm just too lazy (or too busy?) to change.

I found having a really good digital camera has been helpful. I use a Canon PowerShot Elph with 4.0 megapixels. It takes high resolution shots, is lightweight and compact (fits in my pocket) and I can transfer pics from it to my laptop in minutes over USB. Off and on I sell things on eBay and it's great being able to take classy photos on my own without needing to hire someone.

A decent desktop scanner can be helpful, but it's not as important as the camera. So if you can't afford both, go with the camera. I use my scanner mostly for text images, copies of checks from the bank, stuff like that.

Most of all you need a broadband connection. Trying to design and run your site over dialup is agonizingly slow. Uploading pictures alone takes hours, let alone mp3s of tunes or videos. Splurge a little and find a local DSL (if you're in the Northeast Verizon's good) or cable hookup, or if you're in a rural area invest in a satellite link. You'll thank me later.

That's all I can think of now.