Decided to host and design a website...

[bcredeur97]

Hey guys, my Father is a bit in need of a website for his business, he is a Jeweler. I want to know what would be the best possible method to building his website on our own server, at his office. we have some hardware that we are using to Litecoin mine at the moment, but being that we are almost one with it, I thought it would be great to host a website off of. I am somewhat familiar with setting up some web hosting software, but i have never actually done it. what i do know is: how to get a domain name, how to install any OS(Linux/Windows/[Mac]), i know how to use Windows fluently, and i know enough about Linux to actually do something with it(providing i have instructions) and i am a quite a quick learner as long as enough info is given to me. I have a feeling the best enviornment will be to use Linux for this website, but i am unsure. This will be the 1st time I have ever made a website on my own server, and this needs to be a really good one, and very professional. If you guys can help me with this, i will be very grateful, and I am very willing to learn:)

 

 

BTW: yes ive done a little reasearch on this via google, but a lot of it is outdated or the methods of using are not the same.

 

 

The server is NOT currently set up so to start i will need a very good intro on how to this, or at least what software to use.

 

The internet at my Father's office is commerical grade fiber optic internet, with all ports unblocked, and the ISP will let me host a website on it.

 

 

Thanks in advance for your help guys!

[colonel_mortis]

Most entry level webservers use apatche, a linux distro. As far as I know, there's no GUI (I've only used it inside windows and remotely), but you can do whatever you like with it. To get a domain name, there are loads of companies scattered around the web that offer that stuff, so just shop around for the best price. You have to pay every year (just make sure it's not a per month contract etc). If you'd like help with building the website, the programming subforum is really helpful, or you can ask somewhere like stack overflow.

[bcredeur97]

I have a feeling making the whole website with HTML would take too long... I've used wordpress before, is there something like it where I can actually make a professional looking site without coding all the HTML?

[colonel_mortis]

There are lots of places around - if a blog style site is alright, wordpress.org is a good and flexible blogging platform. I've seen wix in a couple of places too. It's also possible to hire a web designer to do it for you, but I don't know what your budget is. Personally, I like the challenge of coding myself. I made a website myself from scratch in a couple of weeks, then have been completely redesigning it for the last few months (not doing much each day but slowly making it better) so that now it's almost at the stage where I feel happy releasing the new and much better site to the world.

[rashdanml]

Kimsufi 2G is a good starting point. Something along the lines of $5-6 USD per month for a dedicated (yes, you read correctly, dedicated, not VPS) server with an Atom processor, 500GB of HDD and 2GB of RAM. Should be more than sufficient to run multiple sites on the Atom processor. 100Mbps speed, and I believe 5TB traffic. Beyond 5TB, you can either purchase more at /TB pricing, or get knocked down to 10Mbps speed.

 

Great value, IMO. Easy to set up with any distribution you choose (plenty of "Perfect server" guides for just about any distribution used as a server). The pre-configured ones come with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, iirc. Less setup involved.

 

e: Just noticed you plan on using your own hardware: check with your ISP to make sure the needed ports aren't blocked. If it is, and they won't unblock it for you, you're SOL. Nevermind, I need to read more.

 

Ignore everything I said, simply google "[OS] Server setup". Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Debian are good server OS's. Buy a domain from namecheap, and once you have the server set up with a static IP, you can set the domain to point towards the static IP. Should work with a dynamic IP if setup correctly.

[dalekphalm]

I have a feeling making the whole website with HTML would take too long... I've used wordpress before, is there something like it where I can actually make a professional looking site without coding all the HTML?

Unfortunately, it really depends on what kind of website you want to make. As Colonel_Mortis has stated, if a blog-style website is the direction you want to go (Fairly static layout with many repeating "articles or updates", but much less flexibility with other "sections"), then wordpress is great.

 

However, I wouldn't say it would look "professional", not in the way that a jewellers website should. You could still use a content management system (CMS) program to help "build" the website, like Joomla, or Drupal. Both of these will be more complicated than Wordpress, and to do it properly you WILL need to do some coding.

 

As for doing it yourself, well that entirely depends on what the website's function is. Will it be fairly static? As in, not a lot of changes or updates being made? Is it mainly informational? (Eg: Info about business, location, contact info, pictures of store, examples of merchandise). If so, this can be easily coded in NOT that long. Especially if you can use Adobe Dreamweaver, it would really speed things up. If you don't own it or otherwise have access, you can download a 30 day trial, which should be enough to get you most of the way there if you're dedicated.

 

If you want to have a webstore, you could do that with a static webpage, but it's a lot more complicated. There are webstore webapps you can install onto the server that will make thing easier, or you could code your own, but if you're not familiar with web design, then I would leave a webstore for after you've gained more experience.

 

Using a CMS like Joomla, ideally, would be the best, because after you design the site, Joomla will have interfaces available so that your father (Or anyone you create a user account for) can get access, and make basic updates on his own.

 

As for setting up the server, there are PLENTY of how-to guides on setting up a LAMP server (Linux - Apache - MySQL - PHP: The most common type of webserver) from the ground up, showing you every step of the way. In terms of hosting the site in the office, as long as you have a static IP Address for the server, then there shouldn't be too much trouble. Even if a LAMP setup guide is several years old, the basics will still be valid.

 

If you have a Dynamic IP Address, then you'll need to use a 3rd party Dynamic DNS server (There are free and paid ones online - GoDaddy might even offer this). Dynamic IP Addresses are very bad for web servers though, even with Dynamic DNS. The problem is, if the IP changes, the DNS server needs to update, which takes time, and you WILL experience downtime occasionally where someone tries to access the site, but it's still redirecting to the old IP Address. Granted, they don't change THAT often, but it will be often enough, and another point of failure, to cause enough problems to want to avoid.

 

I usually buy my Domain Names through GoDaddy.com, but really, search around, there are plenty of options. Domain names are sold Yearly. You can buy multiple years in advance (As much as 10 years I've seen) with, or without auto-renewal via a credit card. With GoDaddy, they have a nice online user interface that allows you to configure the products or services you buy. In terms of the Domain, it allows you to specify DNS addresses (Most likely, your LAMP server will act as DNS server as well if you're self hosting).

 

Kimsufi 2G is a good starting point. Something along the lines of $5-6 USD per month for a dedicated (yes, you read correctly, dedicated, not VPS) server with an Atom processor, 500GB of HDD and 2GB of RAM. Should be more than sufficient to run multiple sites on the Atom processor. 100Mbps speed, and I believe 5TB traffic. Beyond 5TB, you can either purchase more at /TB pricing, or get knocked down to 10Mbps speed.

 

Great value, IMO. Easy to set up with any distribution you choose (plenty of "Perfect server" guides for just about any distribution used as a server). The pre-configured ones come with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, iirc. Less setup involved.

 

He has the hardware already, and is going to host the server himself in their office. They already have commercial Fiber Optic Internet, and there is zero need for them to lease a server. If their machine can mine litecoins, then it can act as a single-site webserver. A P4 box from 10 years ago could do it.

[bcredeur97]

Here is what my father wants, he wants to be able to post updates about what he is doing, or show off projects he is working on, he wants to be able to have a small section where he may sell some jewelry, and he wants it to be very clean and proffesional. Im fine with using wordpress as long as it will work for this situation. And i know there are some ways to manipulate wordpress so that it is more usable.

 

 

How hard is this to do in HTML, how long would a person with no experience have to work to do this???

[colonel_mortis]

It really depends how much you're able to understand how it works and how easily you can bend html to your will. Also, if you want to be able to post updates easily, something like wordpress  it much easier than a custom site, where you would either have to manually edit the code or design a user friendly method of parsing and uploading it. Personally, I would suggest if you're familiar with wordpress, use that, then if you, while learning to code, make something which you feel is really great, you can always just remove the wordpress stuff or stick it in a corner and use your own code. Making a shopping section might be harder though - you would need a digital certificate I think, which I don't imagine is particularly convenient. As others have said, there are apps you can get to do the shopping bit for you, but I would guess you still need a certificate.

[Dodge]

What do you mean by "a small section where he may sell some jewelry"? A simple form that sends you an email or a professional online shop?

[bcredeur97]

What do you mean by "a small section where he may sell some jewelry"? A simple form that sends you an email or a professional online shop?

A professional shop, like a listing with a pic of the item and the price underneath. Maybe rigged to something like paypal.

[rashdanml]

Wordpress with some kind of eCommerce plugin or skin should be the easiest to get started. Will definitely need some for of database to handle the eCommerce side of things, and "posting updates" is essentially a blog.

 

PHP and MySQL are the main components behind Wordpress. A bit of Javascript won't hurt either. Not going to mention CSS or HTML as both are essential to know before diving into PHP or MySQL.