I finally took the plunge and got a hosting plan.

I'm a newbie to website design, but not a newbie to computers. I've done MS Access programming in the past (I know, different ballgame), I learned the basic concept of how websites work via Pagemill quite a while ago and I'm rusty. I also have extensive page layout experience in Adobe Pagemaker and more recently Adobe In Design. I have Adobe Go Live and Dreamweaver to work with, but am not ruling a different package out. I'll want to eventually build an e-commerce store on a couple of my sites, if that has any bearing on a recommendation.

I have a number of sites I want to get going, but thought I'd start with a site for my family - to learn on. For the family site, I want to have a splash page, then a welcome screen. From there, I want to have links to pages for specific activities and also a link to a page of photo albums that can be viewed like a slide show. I'll dump pics from family reunions, vacations, etc in there.

So talk to me like I'm 5 and have some patience. I know I can do it, just need a little help to get going in the right direction.

Thanks!!

 

If you use picasa to organize and view your pictures it will allow you to export an album as a webpage. I cant really help you with any other webpage stuff

 

Mike, remember this thread?
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f98/microsoft-powertoy-html-slidehow-42269/

Makes a simple slide show.
I have not played around with it though since making that one.
Perhaps when I get the rig out again in the furture.

 

As long as your host has PHP support, which it probably does, I'd recommend using a PHP Gallery Creator. They are pretty slick. Doing gallerys with HTML is a thing of the past, I couldn't belive what a pain in the arse they were.

I'll recommend http://gallery.menalto.com/index.php if you choose to go this route. It can easily be integrated into your website and fully customized however you choose.

Good luck!

I should really start doing this... I have the webspace for it...

 

I forgot about that one. I DL'd both that one and Gallery. I haven't installed either yet. Which one seems to be easier to use?

After creating the slideshow, do I just use an FTP program to upload?

 

Yeah, I use Cute FTP to transfer all my files to my server space.
I think it makes a folder for you, and you can probably rename it before the upload.

I will have to play with this some more later.

 

I have not been able to get the MS HTML slideshow to work right. It generates the pages etc, but if I follow the links it creates, it is saying it can't find the html pages. It is almost like it is putting the files in the wrong directory or something. From the other thread, I followed your link Corey and it seems yours has the same issues as what I'm experiencing.

I also tried unzipping the Gallery software and couldn't find an executable in there anywhere.

 

It is working for me.
http://www.pnw4runners.com/My%20Slid...ow/default.htm

 

I get two screens that say "click here" to view slide show, then I get a file not found message (The requested URL /My Slide Show/html/html/0.htm was not found on this server.)

 

Once you click into the slide show, you must wait a bit, as it DLs all of the pics.

Works OK with my cable, but may give dial up accounts trouble.

 

I have DSL which has never given me an issue. I'll be more patient and see how that plays out.

 

OK, I got my slide shows set up and even got them uploaded to my host.

BUT, when I go to the address, I get a folder list. How do I get the index.htm file to load automatically? What's the trick?

Be gentle, this is my first time....

 

OK, here is my default folder.
http://www.pnw4runners.com/index.php...0Slide%20Show/

Inside of that you will see the default.htm file, that is the one that takes you to the URL above, and lets you click into the show.

 

I got it together during the day today. I'm so thrilled with myself.

My issue with the index not displaying was as simple as a capitalization error. Linux needs to see index.htl, not Index.htm.

I also had problems with everything talking via Cute FTP (upgraded my Ver 5 XP), which they helped me get straightened out. My host has a live chat 24/7 which has been working out beautifully.

One thing I noticed with the Slideshow creator, even if I tried to get it to compile the "advanced" option, (with the filmstrip below the images) I would get the same "standard" slideshow.

Hey, this web stuff is pretty fun. I'm getting good at uploading since I've changed everything like 10 times already...

 

I don't know why, but I'm still getting errors on yours Corey. It must be a setting on my end.

 

Take a serious look at using Gallery. You can see working examples both my personal site and on the WATTORA site. All you have to do is get the photos into Gallery and it will thumbnail them, size them, arrange slide shows, pretty much anything you might want. You can configure your galleries to allow comments, to have captions, etc and EVERYTHING, including uploading the photos themselves can be done via the control panel. You can FTP the photos to a directory and then suck them out of there or you can use the built in web upload tools. Gallery can also be configured to match the theme of your site by simply tweaking the style sheets.

Easy as cake.

 

I couldn't get the Gallery software to install. I'll go back to it and give it another go.

LEARNING IS FUN !!!!!!

 

Take your time and read the instructions twice before you do anything. Then proceed slowly. It's picky during setup, but powerful and worth the hassle once you get it done.

Also, make sure that you are following the correct instructions for your host. How you set permissions and set security depends upon the features your host has.

I have set it up a half dozen times and now and other than some stumbling about the first time, all the installs have gone flawlessly.

 

I was reading the documentation. Am I reading this right? I need to install Apache and a number of other things first. It also appears that you don't work locally then upload like the MS one?

This one may be over my head - I want to try it, but need to make sure I don't screw up my system in the process.

 

What web service are you running on your host? I saw Scofco's post and that led me to believe you had PHP running, which is most common on Apache boxes...

Gallery takes care of all stuff you would normally do locally automatically. All you have to do it upload the photo to the gallery, it will resize it, caption it, etc...