Getting Your Website Online

  1. Overview

    • Publish a website: An overview; To get your website online you need a domain name and a web hosting server; clients are devices used to connect to the internet and have client side programming languages: like HTML, CSS and JS; server computers are devices that store the website files that you upload, and also have server side programming: PHP, Ruby, and Python.
    • What is the cloud?; Is an online storage drive: like Google Drive; and is basically the internet.
    • Domain Names; The domain name is a unique name that helps navigate to the site, but there are also IP addresses that help the computer identify the site too; There are three sections to the domain name: TLD: which has .com, .net, and .org, along with some more that are restricted to certain organizations: .edu, .gov; the second level domain name must be unique for each website; the subdomain is like a subsection of a website name.
    • Domains and URLs; A URL is different then a Domain name because it contains more detail and tells the exact location of the web resource files; the domain name is also a part of the URL.
    • What is hosting; Shared: multiple websites are stored on the same server and share memory and disk space. VPS: multiple sites are also stored on this type of server, but less then a shared one; and if one site recieves more traffic then the others, it won't affect them all; also it usually costs more. Dedicated web hosting: stores only one site for the whole server; no shared resources so cost is higher; mostly for websites with high trafficking; allows for more technical control over server. Cloud hosting: operates across multiple servers that work together; acts lke a dedicated host; downtime is reduced because of server backups; can also be a pricier option depending on the company. Wordpress hosting: Is a specific hosting support system for the Wordpress CMS; Automatically handles wordpress needs; and is ideal for people with low technical knowledge. Email hosting: Host custom domain email accounts for different things.
    • Purchase domains and hosting; Buying them together: can streamline the process where everything is in one spot; hosting companies may offer discounts for domains (sometimes only one year); and you only have to deal with one provider. Buying them seperate: More TLD options; if a server goes down then not everything goes down; more flexibility when switching services. Hosted websites: website is hosted on a server, but you can't access the source code. Self-hosted websites: You create your own web files; and you're responsible for setting up domain, hosting, and technical maintenance.
  2. Hosted Websites

    • Website builders; The steps a web builder takes to make a website are relatively the same: 1. Choose a template; 2. Customize; 3. Publish. The advantages to using a web builder are: Quick setup; high quality templates (options vary); Doesn't require technical/programming knowledge; usually more cost effective; and streamlined publishing. Disadvantages are: Many other sites will be using the same template design; limited customization options; content may not fit well; and no choice over hosting options. Here are some web builders: General purpose: Squarespace, and wix; Ecommerce: Big Cartel, and BigCommerce; Content Management System and Blog: Wordpress has two different types of wordpress: wordpress.org, and wordpress.com. Wordpress.org is the self-hosted version and wordpress.com is the hosted version.
    • Squarespace; Watched how she did it
    • Wordpress.com VS. Wordpress.org; Wordpress.com: Similar to website builders; Hosted by Wordpress; Uses a subdomain by default; Theme options are limited; No Plugins. Wordpress.org: Requires knowledge of HTML, CSS, JS, and PHP; You are responosible for managing domain and hosting; Access to more themes and full access to source code; 1,000s of plugins.
    • Ecommercial platforms; Squarespace and wix could be used for Ecommerce websites but their are some that are made for ecommerce websites too: BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Big Cartel, Etsy
  3. Self-Hosted Websites

    • Set up domain and hosting together; There are three steps to it: 1. Search for domain name; 2. Pick a hosting package; 3. Pay for it; 4. These are some hosting options to use: DreamHost, BlueHost, SiteGround, NameCheap. If the domain name you search for isn't available then you can use the WhoIs search bar to figure out who has the domain name you want, and buy it form them if they will allow it.
    • Nameservers; Is a computer that is permanently connected to the internet and translates domain names into IP addresses. you have up to 2-3 of them.
    • Set up a domain seperate from hosting; The steps aren't that much different from doing it together, just seperate: 1. Search for a domain name; 2. Pay for it; 3. Pick a hosting package; 4. Pay for it; 5. Update your name servers. Use hover to register your domain, then use whatever companies hosting nameserver you have and update those settings.
    • Host multiple sites; You can host up to three websites with NameCheap; and to add those other two: Add the domain as an addon domain, and change the nameservers
    • FTP/SFTP; FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and SFTP Stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol. To conect to the server to start uploading your files, you will need some FTP/SFTP client software, found here: Cyberduck, FileZilla. You will need this login info in order to FTP your files: FTP Server Address; FTP Username; FTP Password.
    • Self-hosting with WordPress; It is different than self-hosting static sites; It still uses HTML, CSS, and JS, but it also uses and runs on PHP; and it also requires a database to store and retreive content and data. There are a few steps to set up a wordpress hosted site: 1. Download the wordpress core files from WordPress.org; Set up a local server to run the PHP files and database. 2. Add content; Revise themes styles or create a theme; add functionality with plugins. 3. Upload all wordpress files via FTP/SFTP including: coreframework files, themes and customization, images, plugins. 4. Export your local database, create a live database in your web server, import local database file to the live database. 5. Update all URLs to the domain you have. 6. Edit the wp-config.php file, which contains information related to the database; update the database information to conect to your live database.
    • GitHub pages; GitHub is another website builder which is not a self-hosted or hosted website, though somewhere in between. Git is a version control system used for tracking changes and coordinating updates among multple contributors; GitHub is a service for hosting Git projects, another is BitBucket; all project files are contained in a repository.