[Leica] Website Questions

[Paul Roark]

I'm a dinosaur.  I think hand coding HTML is so easy and cheap, and makes
such a fast-loading and compatible page for desktop as well as smart phone
computers that I still do it.  The big software-generated photo pages are
fancy but complex and slow, particularly for those increasing numbers who
view on a phone.

HTML is just a mark-up code that is easy to do in Notepad.  You just copy
and paste the basic linking options.  People like me don't memorize code.
It's copy and paste from one page to another.  I am not a software
programmer.

And once you're comfortable with the approach, you have total control.

I started by reading a couple web-based tutorials and copying some basic
HTML pages.  I use Go Daddy for web space and purchase my domain names
through them.

Browsers allow you to see the underlying code.  Compare my simple code with
what the big software packages do.  Their coding is so complex, you're a
captive of them.  You can never tweak or debug things easily if it has been
written by a complex, professional program.

Everyone starts by just copying the code from existing pages.  So, copy my
code, play with it on you computer (not on-line) before you ever buy
anything, and see if it's something you are comfortable with.

Before uploading a page, you preview it using your browser.  So, I write a
page using Notepad, save it into my C:/ ... /Documents/Webfiles folder, and
open it with my browser (Chrome) using Ctrl-O in the browser to tell it to
open a page on my computer.  You don't need any domain name or ISP to start
experimenting with this.  It's all on your own computer.

About the only codes I remember are <br> for break and <p> for paragraph.

So, I stay with the KISS approach.

This week I put together a page of shots from a trip to Kauai.  See
http://www.paulroark.com/Kauai-Wedding-trip.html .  The work is in the
images, not the HTML code.

Each photo put into the selection used the following code with the Jpeg
name copied and pasted, initially into three places (the ends of the first
3 lines), then the Jpeg name at the end of the second line was edited to
add "small" to the thumbnail image (which was made 100 pixels in PS and
renamed with "small" at the end), and add text to the description that
appears on the page (end of the third line).

The basic code skeleton:

<a target="blank" href=

"><img align="middle" src="

"></a>

<br><br>


I don't remember all this; I just copy from one page to another with very
slight modifications.  The webpage still has this blank format at the end
of it for copying and pasting in case I want to add something.  It's
doesn't show on the web because it's empty.

BTW, I still use an old Windows 95 File Transfer Protocol program on my
Win7 Desktop to upload things to my page.  Once the page address and PW are
in the program, I don't have to remember anything.  Keep it Simple!  I
copied and pasted the entire Win95FTP folder onto my old laptop desktop so
I could put this Kauai page together while sitting at the gallery for a
while.  It all worked with their connection.  I have no idea what the
addresses and PWs are.  It's all just copy and paste.  For the initial
setup, I did that on the phone with the Go Daddy real people who speak
English (maybe with a slight Texas accent).

At any rate, this is one dinosaur's approach.

Good luck.  Every photographer should have an appropriate web page.

Regards,

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com

On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 6:20 PM, W.C. Clough <billclough042541 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> USA
> TEXAS
> VICTORIA
> 02 June 2016
>
> Hi there—
>
>   I would like to create my own website.  I'm new to this, so I have a lot
> of questions.
>
>    For those of you who have your own website:
>
>    1. Did you use a company to create the site or did you do it yourself
> with using a template such as Wordpress and then choose a host?
>
>   2. Can you recommend any website company you feel offers the best
> templates/security/ongoing pricing?
>
>    3. Did you have your own domain name or did the company help you obtain
> one.
>
>    4. What are the pitfalls in using such a company?
>
>    5. What are the costs?
>
>    Feel free to reply on the LUG or contact me privately at
> billclough042541 at gmail.com <mailto:billclough042541 at gmail.com>
>
> Thanks in advance—
>
> —Bill
>
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