The lazy mans way to making a website
For along time people have made websites using HTML and WYSIWYG editors, but i ask why do you even bother, there are pre-made scripts that can do it for you.
One of the hardest things you can do is make a forum, and i ask why do you bother, there are loads of forum software that you can use, some paid and some are free. The best and most popular open source forum is phpBB, and almost all free forums are made using it, it takes no effort whatsoever making themes and just getting free themes from someone else.
Forums are not what you are looking for, but you still want to make a quility website? I would recommend using a CMS (content management system). My site uses a CMS because of the simple fact that i am crap at coding, and the fact that my websites always fail in the end, that is until i downloaded and used a content management system. There are many of these to use, i personally use e107, i have tryed php-nuke before, and i did not like it, you still have to code the pages, but using bb Code instead of HTML, and you code it, and the links appear automatically, and all content works. The main reason i use e107 is because of the fact it is easy to customize and it does not need a copyright at the bottom of the page. I can also disable annoying features that “clog” the website.
If you ever need to make a website, just use e107.
Here is some information i quickly put together to help the e107 user and general problems you may encouter. I would recommend running an intergry check every few days, as it has a habit of losing information and pages. When this happens, just go to e107.org and download e107, your current version and replace/add the content that is missing. If you get anything with HTMLarea in it, just ignore that, as there is no problem with that content, and it is not important.
To install a theme, just upload the content in the “e107_themes” folder, and then in the admin control panel for e107, go to preferences, and go to theme/styles, and then just use that as a default theme, the users can still change the theme if they wish.
To install a simple add-on/plugin, go to e107_plugins and upload the plug-ins there, then you go to e107 admin area, and go to plugin manager, and then you will get a list of things, go to the bottom to see a key, which i used, and then just install what scripts you want. When you click install, and go to mySQL Databases in cpanel, and then go to PhpMyAdmin and the database _e1071 you will see that each time you install a script, and extra mySQL table is getting created, this is completly normal, and will increase your mySQL usage slightly. Be careful as some hosts have mySQL database usage limits, most just add it to your webspace instead.
I recommend before installing any Plugins to go to Backup in cpanel, and then find the area to download e1071, which is what the scripts libary calls it, and you will download a file called “e1071.gz”, do not worry about the extention, that is also quite normal.
The reason of a backup is to be able to restore it afterwards, in cpanel, go to mySQL databases, and create and add a user to a database, and call the database e1071. Then go to PhpMyAdmin, and go to the left frame. Select the database and then it will load, then on the right frame, go to the link called “SQL”, then select the file you have just downloaded, then in the radio buttons click “Gzipped”, and then upload it, this will take a while because the server has to unzip the file itself and them add them to the database. Once you have done this, then upload the same version of e107 from e107.org, and upload it to the directory you want. Go to e107_config.php or config.php, which is in the lowest directory and enter the new mySQL details in the php script. You can somehow find out the password in PhpMyAdmin if you have forgotten it, or you can recreate a new user. Once you enter these details, you should have you previous information working, and your site is back.
{I added the below because i got bored, like a history lesson of what i did before in august 2004}
To run e107 you will need 1mySQL database and php installed, then you are ready to enjoy an easy to manage, and good lucking website.
Another quick and easy way to make a website is rather interesting and different, when i made my first website i use www.freewebs.com, and it was the best at the time. The only problem is the fact that you cannot use Script languages which means that you could not install anything like php, mySQL e.t.c. That is the main reason i am using a free php host is the fact i want to use dynamic content and not everything that uses .htm content instead. Another reason is the fact that they had a 50 file upload limit, which made it pointless.
I know (myself) very little about scripting, which made life hard when making websites, this also helped me a lot when making a website is to use good content. My sites lack content to be honest.
For now i prefer using dragonfly cms, which i have used for many of my websites.
