Advice on creating a website for beginners?

[Sojourner]

I am keen to build a website for my car club which currently does not have a website. The problem is that although I can surf the net well, I am not that great at using most types of computer software but eventually get the hang of it after repeated attempts!

What I am wondering is if anyone can advise me of what i really need to get started?

From what I have read online and it seems a little confusing, is that I need a HTML editor and some type of software to upload that document to the webspace?

I am using an Apple Mac and running an early version of OSX, I have seen a programme from Apple called iLife which would do the job well, yet will need to upgrade computers in order to use it, so I am keen to find out if there is a way that I can go with the existing Mac?

I am allocated webspace through my ISP which will get the site started, yet will have to organise the domain name and space later on, yet I am fairly certain that I can get the basic page up to start with!

Anyway any advice or suggestions would be very much appreciated!

[Wedgie]

Get your hands on a copy of Dreamweaver mate and it'll be a piece of pie, try and get a basic knowledge of HTML before going ahead too. You'll find some mags at the Newsagent which will be a great help and also there's heaps of books on the subject.

[zipzap]

The program that comes with iLife is iWeb and it won't come any simpler than that. It's intended for people who don't want to get bogged down with coding etc. So with that in mind it's good and produces a nice result. Where it falls down is managing it and uploading it - it's quite cumbersome but if you just want to bung something up quickly that looks good it might be a good option.

I set my dad's work website up with the Sitebuilder software provided by their host Webcity. http://webcity.com.au/
It's dirt-cheap, template based and very simple to use - another good option if you're starting out.

But overall, when you want to get serious I agree with Wedgie. Dreamweaver is a beautiful piece of kit and can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it.

[Dissident]

Building a website can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it. It all depends on the quality of what you want to end up with, compatibility, and ease of updating.

Maybe someone else in your car club has some experience with building a website. From my experience, car clubs site reflect the nature of the club; high end, polished and oozing quality; I would think you'd want something that remotely reflects what the club is about.

What IS the club, anyway?

D

[Sojourner]

The club is the Ford Zephyr - Zodiac Owners Club of S.A, we did actually have a website at one stage but the member who ran the site became to busy to maintain the site and it was taken down, he has emailed me the jpegs of the club logo and etc which would be a good start no doubt to getting another one up and going. The club has about 40 members and gets maybe 15 on a good night to a meeting. We are working quite hard to promote the club and I am hoping that by having a website where we can post up the pics of the club runs and the like that we can get some more interest, I have heard that people are less likely to visit clubs or other groups if they cant view a website first, so I do think its something of a priority that we need to get sorted out!