ROVIN’
AND RAVIN’ WITH MIKE
Copyright © 2002,
2000 by Michael Segers, All
rights reserved
Who
Wants to Be a Web-master?
(In this article, web addresses in green are not functional links.
They are given just for illustration.)
Nowadays, you can’t
escape the “dot com” world, on television, in magazines and newspapers, even
on billboards, and you may be tempted to jump on the Internet bandwagon
yourself. It is much cheaper and
simpler than many people imagine. This
week and next week, we’ll rove through all the things you need to set yourself
up as your own web-master (or mistress) and rave about all the free resources
available to
First of all, you need some space on the Internet, and that’s some real
estate that you can get a good bit more cheaply than you can buy a bridge in
Brooklyn. In fact, there are many
ways that you can get web space for free. If
you are a member of Peanut.org, your forty-acre spread is waiting for you—mule
not included. You can click
on “Users’ Web Pgs” in the left margin (frame) and see what some of your
neighbors in the cyber-peanut patch are up to on their homesteads.
If you are not a member of Peanut.org, you still have a number of
options. Some are quite well known
by now—
Geocities
(now partnered with Yahoo) and Angelfire provide free web space in exchange for
displaying advertising on your page. But,
for a wide range of other free web space options, check—
After you read the terms of use of these companies,
you may want to pay someone to host your site.
You can find a variety of reasonably priced options, such as—
Before
I go any further, let me emphasize that I am providing these web sites for your
reference; neither Peanut.org nor I can vouch for the services provided by any
of the companies which I mention.
Now, you are ready for a domain name, that is the
familiar “www-dot-something-com” address for an Internet site.
How do you start? First, go here to check for the availability of the name that
you want—
You may be surprised at the options available to
you, but you may also be surprised that I cannot register www.rovin’&ravin’.com,
because apostrophes and ampersands are not allowed.
But, when you select a domain name, there are other considerations, based
on the psychology of people interacting with the Internet.
Recently, for example, I helped a friend, a Vietnam
veteran who is now speaking to high school students about his experiences, set
up a website to go along with his presentations.
His name is Kenneth Leland, and so, he wanted www.kenleland.com.
That was already taken, but he could have had
www.kenleland.net
or www.kenleland.org.
I suggested that he take www.kennethleland.com,
which was available. Usually,
shorter domain names are better, but “dot com” addresses seem to be a little
more impressive.
A number of people are buying up domain names with
the idea of re-selling them later. A
friend of mine recently had the idea of publishing poetry on a website.
She entered a likely domain name into her browser—
Feel free to try this one at home.
You’ll be forwarded to a site where you find a list of domain names
which you can buy, including that one.
[2002 update -
no longer true.]
The price of registering a domain name for a year
is $35 or less. The process of registration
has changed recently. For official
information, check InterNIC (Integrated Network Information Center—now part of
the US Department of Commerce) and ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers)—
From InterNIC, you can access a list
of FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) as well as a list of accredited registrars, through whom you register your domain name.
These companies offer various services and prices.
Some also provide web space; others do not.
It is even possible to reserve a domain name for a site on free web
space. Here are two companies that
can help you—
Both
register your domain name; one requires a two-year registration with a
ten-dollar rebate. The other will
register the name for one year. From
both sites (again, just offered for your reference, not with our
recommendation), you can check for the availability of your desired domain name.
One of them maintains useful lists for people searching for providers of
web space and other services. Both
offer three especially valuable services for low-budget web-masters: e-mail
forwarding, web forwarding, and URL locking.
E-mail forwarding allows you to receive e-mail
addressed to any name at your domain. Actually,
the e-mail is forwarded to an e-mail address that you already have.
Let’s say I register a domain, www.worthcountywriters.com.
Then, on my web site, I can include such e-mail
addresses as—
publicrelations@worthcountywriters.com
careeropportunities@worthcountrywriters.com
investorinfo@worthcountywriters.com
mike@worthcountrywriters.com
E-mail
sent to any of these addresses will be forwarded to the same box.
I can build my website on free space from Angelfire,
Geocities, Peanut or any other provider, so that, in fact, there is no such page
as one with the URL http://www.worthcountywriters.com.
Instead, there would be the long, sometimes awkward URL such as www.geocities.com/dinomichael/tg.html.
(That is a working URL for educational materials about dinosaurs that I have
compiled.) With web
forwarding, however, the registered domain name would take you to the
appropriate place.
Finally, URL locking means that only that URL or
domain name would appear in the address line of your browser.
For a good example of URL locking, consider the page you are on now.
I assume you got here from—
If you did, you see a frame down the left margin
and the domain name, www.peanut.org,
in the top address line of your browser. It
is possible that you came directly to this site.
If so, you do not see the frame, and for the URL you see—
www.peanut.org/users/mike/text/webmaster.htm
That, by the way, means that once you get to
www.peanut.org
[not an active hyperlink],
you are going into the directory for users, then specifically into the
subdirectory for the
user known as
mike, then into mike’s
texts, and finally,
to this article.
But, if you come in from the Peanut.org home page, you do not see the longer URL, and neither do you see the URL of any site to which I link you. That is the reason that I rarely use hyperlinks in these articles. If I want you to look at the Online Film Critics Society, I will tell you to go here—
If you click on that
URL, you will go to that site. Of
course, I could do this: “You can
find a directory of film critics who are members of the Online
Film Critics Society.”
You can click on that hyperlink (as it is called) and go to the same
site, but with the locked URL, you won’t know for sure where you are.
It is possible to find some companies that do not
charge for registering your domain name. While I am sure that some of them are fine, reputable
services, I have heard enough about some problems with some of them that I am
not going to give you any leads on free domain registration.
So, I have about raved out for one week, and I
think I’ve given you plenty of sites to rove to.
I especially suggest that you snoop around the Peanut.org patch and see
what some of our neighbors have been up to.
If you are seeing this with the frame on the left, click on “Users’
Web Pgs”; if you don’t see the frame, go here:
This will give you a partial list of pioneers who
have staked out there territory in our freenet. I hope you will visit some of
these sites, see what is going on, let the homeowner know what you think, and
get some ideas for your own site. This week, we looked at finding web space, free or otherwise,
and registering a domain name.
Next week, in “Who Still Wants to Be a Web-master?” we’ll look at
the tools you need to create a web page and to get the page you create to your
new home on the Internet. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn that such tools are
available for free—
www.peanut.org/users/mike/text/webmaster2.htm
Finally, in “Web-masters and Mistresses of the
Universe,” we’ll look at how
you can add pictures, sounds, e-mail, guest books, and other features (again,
for free) to your site—
www.peanut.org/users/mike/text/webmaster3.htm
Keep your feet dry, but keep them rovin’ through
our neighbors’ sites, and keep your heart full of noble thoughts with which to
enrich your new home on the Internet.
Find more articles about creating your own website.
Rove to the Rovin' and Ravin' opening page.