Wanting to set up church website. Help!

[Rusty T]

I'm wanting our church to have a website. I'm willing to make this my ministry there, or at least get it off the ground. They've talked about it forever it seems, but no one took the reins. I have felt lately like I should. I have designed basic webpages before and I feel I can do a decent job of it. Nothing special.

What I need is answers to a few questions:

1) Once I register a domain name (and where do I do that?) how do I choose a company to host the site? And can I register and host with the same company?

2) Should churches be .org instead of .com?

3) What's a good price for hosting services? We're not talking about a lot of traffic here.

4) Any other suggestions for someone who's only published on his personal ISP websites.

tizzi

[prgmrdave]

Today @ 09:37 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=122660#post122660)
tizzidale:

I'm wanting our church to have a website. I'm willing to make this my ministry there, or at least get it off the ground. They've talked about it forever it seems, but no one took the reins. I have felt lately like I should. I have designed basic webpages before and I feel I can do a decent job of it. Nothing special.

What I need is answers to a few questions:

1) Once I register a domain name (and where do I do that?) how do I choose a company to host the site? And can I register and host with the same company?

Well, the company that hosts TWeb (http://www.pixiehost.com/) comes highly recommended. (http://theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5759) Most hosting companies (this one included) will register your domain for you as well.

2) Should churches be .org instead of .com?

Definitely. If the church has the funds, it's a good idea to register .com and .net as well as .org, just to make sure less-savory elements of the population don't register them and trap unwary searchers of your site.

3) What's a good price for hosting services? We're not talking about a lot of traffic here.

TWeb's hosting service starts at less than $7 per month, with an additional $9 per year for the domain name. There are surely less expensive services, but you have to choose carefully so that you are getting the quality of service you want.

4) Any other suggestions for someone who's only published on his personal ISP websites.

How do you create your web pages? This pretty much only matters if you use Microsoft FrontPage; then you need to make sure your hosting service supports the FrontPage extensions. If that didn't make sense, either you don't use FrontPage, or PM me and I'll explain it better :smile:

Hope this helps!

[Rusty T]

Thanks for the answer. Now - about email. Does an email account come with a registered domain. For example if i registered firstpentecostalbaptist.com, how do I receive email at ******@firstpentecostalbaptist.com?


I know I'm being silly, but I'm ignorant not stupid :)

[prgmrdave]

Now - about email. Does an email account come with a registered domain. For example if i registered firstpentecostalbaptist.com, how do I receive email at ******@firstpentecostalbaptist.com?

E-mail comes with the hosting, not with the domain. Your hosting provider will allow you to create some number of e-mail addresses with your domain name. Each will have its own password, and you can generally use Outlook or Outlook Express to read your e-mail.

I know I'm being silly, but I'm ignorant not stupid :)

I know. I keep hoping you'll post another logic puzzle :thumb:

[dizzle]

Definitely. If the church has the funds, it's a good idea to register .com and .net as well as .org, just to make sure less-savory elements of the population don't register them and trap unwary searchers of your site.


Yep we own theologyweb.com and theologyweb.net as well.

[Rusty T]

Thanks for all of your help. I'm registering the website I have chosen with the company that hosts tweb. I believe I'll use them since they come highly recommended.

I'll let you know when I have it up and running, but I'm first going to try to learn DreamWeaver and use it to publish.

Are there such things as DreamWeaver extensions? I know that if I use FrontPage that the server has to support extensions. Is there a similar circumstance for DreamWeaver?

tizzi

[dizzle]

Today @ 10:30 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=122787#post122787)
tizzidale:

Thanks for all of your help. I'm registering the website I have chosen with the company that hosts tweb. I believe I'll use them since they come highly recommended.

Yes they have gone above and beyond with helping us.

[$cirisme]

Are there such things as DreamWeaver extensions? I know that if I use FrontPage that the server has to support extensions. Is there a similar circumstance for DreamWeaver?

I've never used DreamWeaver, so I don't know.

But even if there are, I wouldn't recommend it. It would be better to get a Perl/CGI script, or a PHP script to do whatever it is you want it to do.

There are tons of sites out there that offer free scripts that will do pretty much anything, and they'll be more feature packed(usually, :brow:) than a proprietary system.

[$cirisme]

Yes they have gone above and beyond with helping us.

Far beyond our previous hosts.

We're powered by Pixie dust!

:bunny:

[prgmrdave]

Today @ 04:37 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=122755#post122755)
Dee Dee Warren:

Yep we own theologyweb.com and theologyweb.net as well.

I didn't realize theologyweb.org was considered the "main" domain name...

Now I'll have to go change all my TWeb bookmarks :frown:







(:lol:)

[dizzle]

EEek!!! My bad!!!! I do not even know if .org and .net are yet pointing here.

[prgmrdave]

Today @ 03:47 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=123105#post123105)
Dee Dee Warren:

EEek!!! My bad!!!! I do not even know if .org and .net are yet pointing here.

:smile:

These don't work:

http://www.theologyweb.net/
http://www.theologyweb.org/

These do:

http://theologyweb.net/
http://theologyweb.org/

And since cookies are domain-specific, using these means you have to log in again.

[$cirisme]

I didn't realize theologyweb.org was considered the "main" domain name...

It's not, com is.

But it doesn't matter, all three get you here. :smile:

EEek!!! My bad!!!! I do not even know if .org and .net are yet pointing here.

They are. :bunny:

[$cirisme]

PHP Scripts----> http://php.resourceindex.com/

CGI Scripts-----> http://cgi.resourceindex.com/

At first, they can be intimidating to install, but after a while it gets mundane. :brow:

And when you get finished, send me the link, please. :bunny:

[dizzle]

AJ, dave says that they are not pointing here with the www prefix....

[$cirisme]

I've done all I can, Yx will have to take it up with our registrar.

[prgmrdave]

Isn't that the fun part? :smile:

[Rusty T]

Okay, i've registered my domain with Pixiedomain and i've set up a bronze account with pixiehost. I haven't received my account info email (they said perhaps 24 hrs) but what do i need to do when i get it. I know i have to change the DNS info in my Domain settings. Do I upload files through FTP? just wondering.

tizzi

[$cirisme]

Yeah, they'll send you the login information to connect via FTP, and from there you can open the folder "mainwebsite_html"(or similar--depending on setup) and you will be in the root directory.

Uploading the files here will allow you to access the files at yourdomain.com/filename

[yxboom]

06-14-2003 @ 07:30 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=122787#post122787)
tizzidale:
I'll let you know when I have it up and running, but I'm first going to try to learn DreamWeaver and use it to publish.

Are there such things as DreamWeaver extensions? I know that if I use FrontPage that the server has to support extensions. Is there a similar circumstance for DreamWeaver?

tizzi

I have Dreamweaver MX and used it to build yxboom.com which I don't have anymore cause I got bored. Anyway all the static pages on this site were originally created with Dreamweaver but not anymore as the whole system for static HTML pages became templated. It supports all the web page formats, HTM, HTML, XML, PHP 2-4, etc. What would be in your favor is it has a code view as well as a preview page so you can simulataneously see the page while editing code. You would use FTP access to transfer files from your local computer to the server.

[kswiss]

say if you're looking for another domain name registrar and hosting service do look into doteasy too. www.doteasy.com. I use it for hosting and it's quite inexpensive.

[$cirisme]

/ot Hey, kswiss! Welcome to TheologyWeb! :smile:

A friend has a web design business hosted on doteasy. Dunno how he likes it, as I haven't heard from him in over a year. :shrug:

[AmericanD]

Hello,

I've found www.askhosting.net hosting company to be extremely helpful :)

yeah for church's domain .com would be good as its easily remembered.

later