Shai Dorsai

I mentioned earlier how to get a name for your blog. The domain name is what someone will type in the location bar to find you, or what may be returned from a search engine. [Like this blog would be search engine ranked? I think not].

So, you have a name - it need something to point out. Like most people, I started off with a static HTML page hosted on my Internet Service Provider(ISP) web space.

You could find me by typing something like htt p://my.isp .com/my username

Not only was the page irredeemably naff, (well, it was written in 1995) it was difficult to maintain with hand coding, and when I changed ISP it was marooned as a snapshot of my views and abilities in 1995. For what it’s worth, I was 37 then, and still hoping to get involved with IT - like every year for the previous 13 years… I recently opened a Pay as You Go account with that ISP, for no other reason than finding my way back to that page and icing it for ever.

OK, in case you weren’t aware - many pages aren’t gone for ever - you can find them in the Wayback Machine.

Be that as it may, you are best of finding somewhere to put (or host) your pages that won’t be lost to you if you change your ISP. This is called a hosting company.

Easy to find - once again, GIYF. Look for web hosting.

Mine costs £24 a year, and lets me host as many domains as I want…

They provide nameservers.

You go to your domain host, and change the name servers to those of your hosting company. You will have been given an address/port number to put in your browser. Go to it, and suddenly, you can control your domain.

You will be able to transfer files to it by FTP, from anywhere - not just when you are attached to your own ISP. You’ll be able to manage files, directories, and depending upon your hosting company - applications on the domain.

I got access to my domain, and using the cPanel interface I used an option called Fantastico to install WordPress. Now, there are all sorts of caveats about what Fantastico will/won’t do - but for a n00b to get WordPress running in less than 10 minutes was pretty good fun.

I mentioned Post2Blog before; this post has been sent with a neat little Firefox plugin called Deepest Sender.
Again, probably loads of tinkering before I decide what I like best.

I’ve also managed to get Akismet running; that should, I’m told, reduce comment spam. Like I’m going to get comments. Sheesh!

Actually, that was even simpler. Go to Wordpress.com, and get a user account. That provides you an API key.
Go to my WordPress installation. Click “activate Akismet”. Enter the API key. Robert is your mother’s brother.

Well, you can log into the site; you can blog by email (of which more later); or you can blog with a client.

I’m currently playing with Post2Blog as a client, and it seems OK so far.

It lets you easily add bits from pages you view in your browers of choice; as long as that choice is IE or Firefox.

Looking at all the blogs of other folks, I was deeply taken with how nicely they managed to get the blog running under their domain.

I’ve my own vanity space, but wanted to experiment under another name and not be quite so recogniseable.

I needed a domain name. That’s what people will type in their browser, or the name of the site…

There are loads of places to get one; for some people (Google Is Your Friend) GIYF , but I knew of a couple of others. I went to a company called 1&1 for this name, because a friend had recommended them.

In the past, I have also used Just the Name, and Registron. I’ve also used domain names supplied by my Internet Service Provider (ISP), but then you can end up being a bit tied, and one lot tried to charge me more than £100 to release the domain name. Fotunately, they were later taken over, and I got my name back for peanuts.

The names cost between £5-10 for 2 years; ample time to have a play about.
Once you have the name, you’ll need to know where to point it.

That’s another post.

It took a while, but I’m finally here.

It looks like I’ve managed to get

• hosting
• domain name
• working installation of Wordpress.

Why, you ask?

I work in IT, and decided *I* needed to understand a little more about how easy or difficult it is to establish newer style web presences.

I’ve had vanity sites, and even my own domain name for years - mostly used for email.
I developed my vanity site to use Cascading Style Sheets/XHTML, but realised that - while fun - was harder to update than a blog.

If you’re reading this, think yourself luck you’re not trying to find your way round my joomla site - quite why I decided I neede to learn a CMS in now beyond me.

Mostly, this is designed to be a voyage of discovery - for me - and I’m looking forward to learning how to tweak Wordpress…