creating a website

[benji79]

Hey guys, i was thinking bout building a small web site, just to show family and friends my work. I went to register an Australian domain name and it tells me you need a registered business to get a .com.au address Why is this? Do you need one for a .com address? My father in-law owns his own business, i don't work for him, but can i use his ABN? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks.
Benji.

[silentC]

Anybody can register a .com or .net

The rules for .au domains are a bit more strict to stop people from domain name squatting.

Or try a .id.au name: http://www.whois.com.au/personal_domain.html

[abitfishy]

Benji,

The policies for .au domains are fairly strict. In the old days, it was basically you could only register a domain that pretty much matched your business name. ie bunnings could register bunnings.com.au or maybe bunningshardware.com.au. These days, they are a LITTLE less strict, in the regard that you still need to be a sole trader/business/corporation etc, but you can now register domains that RELATE to your business, so bunnings could now register hardware.com.au, nails.com.au, plumbingsupplies.com.au etc etc. But they could not register computerparts.com.au.

If you want to register a domain relating to boats, like myboatprojects.com.au, unless your father-in-law owns a boat type business that makes boats, you won't be able to.

However, its so cheap to register a business name, about $130 for 3 years, and if its not 'used' as a business, theres no need to bother with an ABN etc (you can register a domain with your Business number which you get when you register a business), if you are really keen just do this 'Benjis Boats' and then you can register benjisboats.com.au. Make sure the domain you want is available before you register the business name though.

I've had a fair bit of experience registering domain names (I own about 8) and organising web hosting etc, so if you require any more help, feel free to PM me.

But no, there are basically no requirements for a plain old .com domain.

Keep an eye on what your registrar are going to charge you as there is a huge difference in pricing of domain names, my latest I registered for 2 years I found I could pay anything from $27.95 (which is pretty cheap) to $99.99 for the same period, so shop around.

As silentc said, you can register a .id.au domain, however my personal opinion is if someone can't exactly remember your domain name address and are trying a few or guessing, and they know its something about 'benjis boats' or similar, not too many will try .id.au as the extension. Keep this in mind. I think a plain .com is a better alternative unless you REALLY want some .AUstralian connection in the domain name (but you could always do Benjisaussieboats.com)

Hope this helps.

Martin

[Rossluck]

Hello benji79. I don't want to hijack your thread, but I'm sure the following questions could be helpful to you as well.

Once you have a registered domain name, what's the best process by which to set up a page. Should we buy software, or are there some reasonable programs that are downloadable?

What's the process after you have designed a page on your home PC?

[ozwinner]

I use this program.
http://www.wysiwygwebbuilder.com/purchase.html

Once you have your domain registered and the web page designed the program uploads it for you, nice and simple.

The program is easy to learn too.

Al

[Grunt]

If Al can learn it, it's gotta be easy.

[abitfishy]

OK, that wysiwyg creator looks ok for $34.95, there are a few others around that do the same sort of thing. Do a bit of a web search and see if there are trial versions to download.

Keep in mind too, that once you register a domain name, you need a web hosting account as well. That is, somewhere to upload your pages, images, etc etc. Basically if you register a business name, you need to lease a shop to show your wares. A Hosting account is the web equiv of leasing a shop, but you are leasing space on a web server computer. I've used a combination of different registrars and web hosts, however recently discovered www.intaserv.com.au or www.webhostsaustralia.com.au which are very well priced. Forget using your ISP to do it all (like bigpond etc) unless you have a few spare $$$

Once you register a domain and get a hosting account, you will get the info required to upload pages onto the web server etc using an FTP client.

[ozwinner]

If Al can learn it, it's gotta be easy.

Thats the way good programs should be.

Al

[Dr Jan Itor]

For an excellent comparison of domain pricing, check www.whatsinaname.com.au

[rayintheuk]

WYSIWYG web editors are OK, but - because of the modular way they write code in the background - they often make the sites large, clunky and slow to load.

HTML is dead easy to grasp and writing sites is much more efficient than dragging and dropping. The best (and totally free) HTML web editor is HTML-Kit from Chami Software. This has more features than some editors that you have to pay for - a brilliant piece of software!

To see how easy HTML is to cope with, have a look at a tutorial I did a while ago which sets out all the necessary basics. All you need to invest is a little time and effort. The tutorial includes how to obtain free tools and how to upload your files, together with the conventions needed to make a site work. HTH

Ray.

[Rossluck]

Good info everyone. Thanks. We already have a com.au and are trying to find the time to set up a page. Thanks for the tutorial Ray. It looks good.

By the way, Freddie Flintoff is an Aussie.

[silentC]

WYSIWYG web editors are OK, but - because of the modular way they write code in the background - they often make the sites large, clunky and slow to load.

I'd go a step further and say that WYSIWYG editors are the bane of my existence. If I'm ever asked to maintain a site written by one of them, I would rather rewrite the whole thing from scratch.

HTML is a markup language derived from what they used to use to format documents for printing and display back when a computer took up a whole room. It is dead easy to learn. Take the time to learn it (probably no longer than it takes to learn how to use a WYSIWYG tool) and you will find it much quicker and easier to do what you want and you'll have much more control.

I used to use notepad but now I use a tabbed text editor, which is really just a beefed up version of notepad with tabs so you can open multiple files in the one window.

[craigb]

from what they used to use to format documents for printing and display back when a computer took up a whole room..

You mean they don't?

[silentC]

Not the ones manufactured since 1977

[Wood Butcher]

I used to use notepad but now I use a tabbed text editor, which is really just a beefed up version of notepad with tabs so you can open multiple files in the one window.

Which program is that? I do a little bit of basic html with school and that sounds like it would make life easier.