My father has asked me to help him get a new website up for him, to promote his artwork. He'd have information and images (maybe video), but wouldn't sell through the site or anything like that. I figured some sort of website builder would be best, because I want my parents to be able to tweak it themselves (without much in the way of interweb skillz). I just need to figure out the best one to use would be. So, what's the best to use? Or, am I going completely the wrong way? What I'm looking for is: * Easy-to-use website builder * Own domain name * Ad-free * Free of charge (not a requirement, but since they don't need a shopping cart or anything like that, I think it may be attainable) * Host images
"entires"? WTF. If you're looking for cheap hosting, find it at at 1and1.com (send me a referral if you do), plus they also have WebSite Builder you can use, and it's easy (I don't know how much computer madskil your father has) to use. WebsiteBuilder entry page: I've created sites where I just make a template for additional pages, and allow the client to input their data in a form that stores new "news stories" or "blog-like entries" on a form, then adds them auto-magically on the main page of their site.
Thanks for the responses. Joomla looks interesting. I worry that it might be too complicated for my father. I won't be able to test it until I get home (and the girls go to sleep). I read that 1and1.com will be free, but only for 5 pages. After that, it is still cheap. That may or may not be enough for me. Pages.google.com is no longer accepting new customers, because they want to push sites.google.com. I've read not-nice things said about Sites. Moreover, it sounds like they'll be putting ads on your site. Is that so? I can't allow that. That's the same problem with the Windows Live option and a couple of others.
I used google and it worked great. I was just using it to post pictures and a description of my apartment -- it's not the most intuitive system ever, but it's free, and the final product usually looks pretty good. Also, I didn't have to put ads on my site. You should be able to choose if you want ads or not -- if you want ads, you get a portion of the revenue. If not, it's just a free service.
With 1and1, you can have MANY MANY subdomains for other things Buy yourdomain.com from them, then make photos.yourdomain.com (to host the galleries and photos), blog.yourdomain.com (install WordPress there), store.yourdomain.com (for selling stuff), etc. This is the way I do my sites. I am hosting EXTERNAL sites on my space, and charging my clients to host THEIR sites there. Not a big deal, and you don't worry about other maintenance in other managers. You can also have emailaddresses@ yourdomain.com ALL tied together.
