posted
As a lot fo you know, I am currently enrolled in a nursing program. My school did not have a nursing association for LPN's, so we started one this year.
We'd like to set up a website, but since I am one of the more tech savvy people (God help us) they asked me to help with the web site.
I have never set up a web site, so I have a couple fo questions before I start.
Does anyone have any recommendations regarding free web hosting? We don't have any cash right now, and we would like to have a web site independant of the school so we can allow non-students (graduates) the chance to continue to partcipate. How hard is it, do they have any tools to help set them up.
posted
OMG. These questions fill me with the realization that I really, REALLY don't know much about what I'm doing. *shame*
I know you can get cheap web hosting (and often ISPs will offer some space for free with a paid account) but since a friend offered to host my site for free (at least until fall, when the bill comes due) I am not well-positioned to offer advice.
There are lots of website building programs. I've heard most people talk about Dreamweaver. We used Joomla, because we needed multiple contributor log ins with a super-easy user interface, and they had one we liked. (Though some of my contributors are very tech savvy (running IT systems in US embassies, for crying out loud!), some aren't -- so I needed the absolute lowest common denominator.)
However, Joomla is not something I would recommend unless you need its functionality. It's a bear to set up because it's new and the resources are not optimal--though once you have a handle on it, the CMS is pretty simple.
That said, most of the tools out there are completely unknown to me, so ... you probably shouldn't take my advice. I wish I could be more helpful. Maybe in a year or two, I'll know what I'm doing well enough to be helpful, but not yet. *shame*
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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No shame at all, it isn't a huge deal. I need something simple to set up....not because I can't figure things out, but because I am in nursing school and don't have the TIME to play with something. I am a fairly good end-user of computer programs, but it takes me a while to learn new programs, and I tend to get distracted by all the bells and whistles.
My focus has to be mostly on school, and while knowing how to set up a a website is cool, it doesn't help me prep for finals in 3 weeks. Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Have you ruled out getting the school to host the site? Lots of schools provide alumni-oriented web content. (I don't, however, know the typical institution's attitude toward hosting content developed by [I'm inferring] non-professionals.)
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Pretty basic stuff. Limiter pictures of association activities, and maybe a couple of links to coordinate activities and share resources.
Typical "click here" links for redirection to actual nursing resources as well, probably.
I want to be more than a yahoo groups site, but it doesn't have to me crazy. A small forum would be nice, but not a deal breaker.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
For everything but the forum, web space provided by your school is fine. You just need to put up some html and image files.
Also, there are free forum hosts out there that could probably handle your level of need.
Alternatively, you could start a blog somewhere (such as blogger), modify the template to have the links you want, make posts that include the images (then add them to the links), and have the comments on each post be pseudo-forums.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
For just a few basic static pages with some links, Google Sites would probably suffice. (I haven't used that one myself, but I have used its predecessor, Google Page Creator.) What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get page editor, easy to use without needing to know any HTML at all, and free.
I don't think it has any forum functionality, but you could use it for the main page and link to a forum (or Yahoo Group?) hosted elsewhere, if desired.
Edited to add: I have no experience at all with this, but for a free online forum, ProBoards seems worth a look.
Posts: 884 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I wish I could be more helpful. Maybe in a year or two, I'll know what I'm doing well enough to be helpful, but not yet. *shame*
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