Site Layout & Advice (lots of Qs) - NEWBIE

[HelixOmnimedia]

Hey,

I’m a relative newbie when it comes to iWeb. I had to design a site for my university production company, and it worked great as I used the templates.

Now I’m needing some serious help and advice.

I currently have iWeb Version 1.1.2, I will be upgrading to a new MacBook Pro sometime this year, so I will get the new version of the iWeb then.

Since I graduated from Uni in November, I’ve been wanting to design my own website to host my university work, but also allowing me to continue some of my work as writing projects.

Also a few specific question I’m unsure about…

What’s in a name/address?

I have a .mac account registered with my screen name for here “helix.omnimedia” it’s a trail which as since expired. This will be the main site “overall name” Helix.Omnimedia – helix is cool image, means spiral (sort of like my life), and Omnimedia – means all media (movie, radio, music, photos…ect...ect.)

So what will that the Website’s Address be?

http:web.mac.com/helix.omnimedia/<SITENAME>

Is there anyway to change this to something like…

www.helixomnimedia.co.uk (or com) and for the other “projects” just add the rest?

www.helixomnimedia.co.uk/untitledmovie Page about a movie
www.helixomnimedia.co.uk/tvshowtitle Page for TV Show

Then again, for my CV University Stuff… do I really want to have my own Virtual Production company in the address, when I’m applying to real production companies.

I’m really confused about the addresses and what goes into getting a .co.uk address…. Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

Sorry for being long winded, and probably confusing at sometime, but I need advice from people who know what they're doing... any and all help and advice is greatly appreciated.

THANKS

 

[HelixOmnimedia]

Until someone gets back to me with a reply, I've been browsing through some old files, and I must have created a 'teaser' page for what was to come, until I got the site finished.

I forgot I originally started this in winter 2006...

 

[eclipse]

From one web design newbie to another....

First, check this thread out for examples of the stuff iWeb can do.

Second, work through all the mac tutorial stuff you can find in help, on the net, etc... and JUST START PLAYING with iWeb. Practice stuff, make mistakes, have fun, save it, sleep on it, start again, and once you have a few pages saved to your hard drive, see if the browse function let's you "preview" your site before uploading it to the net.

Third, website names can be "forwarded" to another host name, but this sometimes has problems in that if you leave "domain masking" on, users can't bookmark specific URL's that they might like.

Fourth, I really am a web design newbie so don't ask me a million questions, I'm too busy asking others here! But the thing is, we have to try. Us newbies have to read through some of the software help tutorials and learn the basics. So if you have iLife, you could try subscribing to VTC for a bit and watch all the movies here on iWeb, (and learn everything else you are interested in cause you'll have a VTC account for a whole month!)
http://www.vtc.com/products/Apple-iLife-08-Tutorials.htm

Then read everything you can, and when you've tried things a few ways and genuinely get stuck, come back with a more specific question and I'm sure people here will jump at helping you. If they see one huge long post, they're going to file it in the "too hard" basket.

Fifth, and this could be just me.... and I really don't mean to be rude or anything, but I'm not finding the URL name catchy? It's a bit verbose... too many syllables? Maybe I'm finally getting old. What do others think? Why not http://www.helixdude.com/ or http://www.helixman.com/ or something?

I know... let's have a name comp!
Hmmmm, movie production hey? "Burning Chrome"... ? D'oh! My cyberpunk reading is coming out. "Fire-films...." no, too much like "Fire-fox". "Double-helix?"

I know, I know! After watching the Simsons I've had some inspiration. "Movie King"! Yeah!!!

 

[HelixOmnimedia]

It's nice to know that it can be done. I thought I was over complicating things... I just had an idea of what I wanted but don't really know how to implement it.

In iWeb, down the left it says "Site Organizer"... for every 'project' that I'm wanting do I need to create a new site for everyone.

For example:
1 = Main Site - contains: about site, movies, tv shows, and then has inks to the individual projects
2 = Project 1 - cast, synopsis, multimedia, episodes
3 = Project 2 - cast, synopsis, multimedia, episodes
4 = Movie Project 1 - synopsis, cast, trailer, promo art
5 = Movie Project 1 - synopsis, cast, trailer, promo art


PS.
I think your right about the name, will think of something a lot easier.

 

[eclipse]

Thing about the name is that "Omni-media" is a big enough idea on it's own... adding a Helix is too much. I think it's one or the other. Personally, I like names that can also appeal to kids... because if we are honest, they can appeal to us more also.

EG: What does a kid make of "Microsoft" compared to "Apple"?

It seems in names, as in design, less is more.

 

[Trip.Tucker]

Until someone gets back to me with a reply, I've been browsing through some old files, and I must have created a 'teaser' page for what was to come, until I got the site finished.

I forgot I originally started this in winter 2006...

1st tip: Put a site up when its done. Not before as in never, ever put UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Seriously, unless you are making a parody of an early to mid 90's website, put it up when it's complete.

 

[eclipse]

1st tip: Put a site up when its done. Not before as in never, ever put UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Seriously, unless you are making a parody of an early to mid 90's website, put it up when it's complete.

Oops. There's my newbieness coming out again... I've done that lots... even with my main website there... you're right! Blargh!

 

[HelixOmnimedia]

1st tip: Put a site up when its done. Not before as in never, ever put UNDER CONSTRUCTION. Seriously, unless you are making a parody of an early to mid 90's website, put it up when it's complete.

Yeah, that's a newbie mistake.. sorry. Good thing i only did it on a trail account, as it was created in late 2006 - lol

Anyway, yesterday and this morning, I created a couple of 'Test Sites' - just to see if my basic idea would work, and it does seem to work. I just need to either - pick a template to go with, or create on (probably the former unless anyone knows how to download some for free).

I just have a quick question... Is there a limitation to how many sites you can create in iWeb and upload to a single user .Mac Account? Also, If there are 10 Sites in one domain file, I read that somewhere it'll take a while to load. Is there a way to split these files up, so it doens't take too long?

Thanks again for any information.

 

[HelixOmnimedia]

Hey...

I need help with the Navigation Bar and Links and i don't want to start a new topic.

On main page, I have the navigational links along the tops and then there's the automatic break line I think that's what its called... and then below that I have a couple of other links which I've placed within a round-edged-rectangle.

Now obviously the top one stay on every new page, but this there anyway to get the links i've created to stay on all the pages, much the like the default navigational bar?

Thanks for any help/tips/advice. Much appreciated.

 

[HelixOmnimedia]

Domain File Question

Hey,
Over the last couple of day I have read some conflicting reports about the Domain File. I done a quick test and basic layout of my site which i want and it so far totaled to 9 sites with 7-10 pages in each, all linking from a main Home Page.

Now some articles have said that these sites should be split into separate domains, as its easier to edit, publish, and not everything is lost if the (whole) domain is split.

Is it a good idea to split each site into its own domain file?
What happens when it comes to publishing them to .Mac, do you have to do it all individually?

Thanks for any help.