How do I create a web page for free?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around how to create a web page for free, addressing various methods, tools, and hosting options. Participants explore different text editors, web hosting services, and programming languages relevant to web development.

Discussion Character

  • Homework-related
  • Technical explanation
  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest using basic text editors like Notepad or TextEdit to create web pages.
  • Others mention the necessity of finding a web host for the created pages, noting that free hosting often comes with limitations such as advertising and unreliable service.
  • Notepad++ is recommended by some as a more feature-rich alternative to Notepad.
  • Participants discuss the use of Google Sites for those who prefer a no-code solution, but highlight the limitations regarding portability of content.
  • Some suggest running a local web server using software like Apache to test web pages privately before uploading them to a live host.
  • Brackets is mentioned as a powerful and user-friendly text editor for HTML development.
  • Weebly is recommended for its drag-and-drop interface, making it accessible for users who may not want to code.
  • Node.js is introduced as a way to write interactive web applications using JavaScript.
  • There is a humorous exchange regarding the use of vim as a text editor, with mixed opinions on its usability.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a variety of opinions on the best tools and methods for creating web pages, with no clear consensus on a single approach. Different preferences for text editors and hosting solutions are evident, indicating a range of acceptable practices.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the varying levels of knowledge about HTML and web development among participants, as well as the differing requirements based on individual goals for creating a web page.

Math10
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Homework Statement


How do I create a web page for free?

Homework Equations


None

The Attempt at a Solution


Do I need an editor for this? If so, how can I get one?
 
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Since you used a computer to write your post then you must have an editor available.

Windows OS has notepad, an extremely basic editor.

MacOSX has TextEdit or vim...

From there some knowledge of html tags and web page formatting is required.

You read more about it here:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html
 
So can I use the notepad to create a web page for free?
 
Math10 said:
So can I use the notepad to create a web page for free?

Yes, but you have to find a HOST for it, and that can be free if you look around. A web page sitting on your desktop (or laptop) isn't going to do you much good, except as an exercise in creating one.
 
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phinds said:
Yes, but you have to find a HOST for it, and that can be free if you look around. A web page sitting on your desktop (or laptop) isn't going to do you much good, except as an exercise in creating one.

so true

I have always used notepad in windows to do all the html editing for my www site ... It may not be the prettiest editor
but it works well for me

There are a number of www hosting sites that are free. They are free because
1) you have to live with their advertising
2) their help service may be somewhere between zero and non-existent
3) they have regular drop outs of service ( ie .. .your www page being unavailable)

Dave
 
davenn said:
There are a number of www hosting sites that are free. They are free because
1) you have to live with their advertising
2) their help service may be somewhere between zero and non-existent
3) they have regular drop outs of service ( ie .. .your www page being unavailable)
Or
a) They are offered as part of a different contract (internet access, job-related, ...)
and none of the above applies.

Finding someone to host the website is the more interesting part. A text editor is not hard to find. Depending on the goal of the website, you can also look at existing packages that do a lot of formatting and so on for you so you do not have to start from scratch.
 
I have found notepad++ to be an excellent (and free) replacement for notepad. It has MANY more useful features including syntax highlighting for HTML
 
There are many sites that offer free hosting and one good example is dyndns.org. Here is a tutorial

If you don't know HTML or are more interested in "quick, pretty and feature-full" there are quite a few free tools available. The big 3 are Apache Web Server, PHP, and MariaDB (a free spinoff by the originator of MySQL which was "appropriated"). If you project is ambitious there are apps that integrate other tools. These are harder to find for free but some are not absurdly priced. An old windows example would be Cold Fusion.

Not quite in the same league as Cold Fusion is (or was... can't recall if it still exists) PHP Scripts. These are blocks of code somewhat analogous to Legos. There really is no need to write code for a radio button, for example, when it has been done so many times. Just drop one in that you like and move on. Here's some http://www.hotscripts.com/category/scripts/php/scripts-programs/
 
If you want to explore internet programming there's node.js where you get to write javascript code for the web application server and javascript code to make your web page more interactive.
 
  • #10
Math10 said:
How do I create a web page for free?

It depends on your reasons for wanting to create the page. If you simply have some information that you want to put on the web, and you have a Google account (Gmail, Youtube, etc.), you can use Google Sites. You fill out forms that generate the pages, and you have options for different layouts, visual themes, etc. No HTML code at all is needed. You get a certain amount of space for free.

However, if you ever want to move the information to another (non-Google) site, you can't export the pages, as far as I can tell. You have to take the information and create new pages from scratch on the new site. And you can't take complete HTML pages that were written for another site, and drop them into a Google site. You have to copy and paste information into the Google Site forms.

If you want to learn HTML, CSS, PHP, etc., and be able to move the code from one site to another, you'll have to use a traditional web-hosting setup.
 
  • #11
Thank you so much, guys!
 
  • #12
jtbell said:
If you want to learn HTML, CSS, PHP, etc., and be able to move the code from one site to another, you'll have to use a traditional web-hosting setup.

In fact, you can even run your own web-host by installing web server software like Apache on your computer. I have a complete copy of my hobby website on my Mac, which runs Apache in the background. I can call up a page in my browser with a URL like http://localhost/path/to/my/page.html . I can edit the HTML code with a text editor, save my changes, click over to the browser window, hit the "Refresh" button, and see the result. And nobody else can see my mistakes. When I finally get things the way I want, I upload the finished page to my real web-host.

People often install the combination Apache + MySQL + PHP using a package designed specifically for Windows (WAMP), MacOS (MAMP), or Linux (LAMP). Do a Google search on something like "WAMP server" and you'll probably turn up some packages and lots of how-to's. This would be a good way to learn how to code all that stuff.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #13
jedishrfu said:
Since you used a computer to write your post then you must have an editor available.

Windows OS has notepad, an extremely basic editor.

MacOSX has TextEdit or vim...

From there some knowledge of html tags and web page formatting is required.

You read more about it here:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Html
I would recommend Brackets: brackets.io . Pretty, powerful, free, open source, lots of features, and extensions, the list goes on and on.
 
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  • #14
  • #15
adr00 said:
I would recommend Brackets: brackets.io . Pretty, powerful, free, open source, lots of features, and extensions, the list goes on and on.

Brackets looks interesting thanks for posting.
 
  • #16
jedishrfu said:
Brackets looks interesting thanks for posting.
It is imho the best text editor out there, and i have use many.
 
  • #17
I've just been looking it over and in some regards (general flat file editing) it is not as good as notepad++ but for HTML it is clearly better. Thanks for posting about it :)
 
  • #18
adr00 said:
It is imho the best text editor out there, and i have use many.

Yes but vim is crunchy! :cool:

 
  • #19
enorbet said:
Yes but vim is crunchy! :cool:


Hmm... I could never really get into vim, but maybe ill give it another try. That shift-semicolon thing looks AMAZING.
Also: Semi-relevant xkcd: http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/workflow.png
 
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  • #20
57436ecaa4fc374dd70b4353178b52e8.jpg

Humor! Har Har :)
 
  • #21
Personally, I recommend weebly
It's an easy drag and drop interface,
and it's scalable.
Good luck and have fun!
 

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