COOL! here goes.... it'll sound confusing, but it really isn't that bad. remember.... babyStep! before starting any of this make sure your ISP will allow PORT 80. (see step #8 below) if not... you cannot HOST your website on your home computer.
CAVEAT #1 - this will be based on running (HOSTING) a website on your home computer. there are tons of sites that will HOST your website for free, but they usually have strict limits on size & bandwidth. the reason i started HOSTING my own website was that i had tons of photos (and now videos) that would have killed both limits on the free sites.
CAVEAT #2 - i'll try my best to keep this straightforward. not all steps have to be done in the order given, these are just guidelines. kinda like setting up YOUR favourite SCUBA kit (BC, REG, FINS, MASK....) there are millions of combo's, but they all end up with the same thing.... a combo that YOU'RE comfortable with.
CAVEAT #3 - this will be based on running on a PC. I don't know diddle about MACS. there are slight differences between XP and W2K. i'll try to note when there's a big difference.
1. get IIS (Internet Information Server) up and running on your PC
1a. this is NOT usually installed by default so you'll have to START > SETTINGS > CONTROL PANEL > ADD / REMOVED PROGRAMS > ADD / REMOVE WINDOWS COMPONENTS (on left hand side) > click the box next to IIS then click next. follow the prompts and voila! - you're on your way to hosting your very own website.
1b. pay close attention to WHERE your website is located. by default it's in C:\INETPUB\WWWROOT but you can change that later if you'd like
2. to get to the properties of you new website LEFT CLICK on "MY COMPUTER" > MANAGE > click on the [+] next to SERVICES AND APPLICATIONS > click on the [+] on INTERNET INFORMATION SERVICES > click on the [+] on WEB SITE > LEFT CLICK on DEFAULT WEB SITE and choose PROPERTIES.
2a. you don't need to change anything here for now, but when you do....
3. now that your DEFAULT WEB SITE is highlighted, you will notice little VCR like buttons at the top of the COMPUTER MANAGEMENT box. If your website isn't RUNNING, click the VCR like button to start it up! (or as is always the case, there is more than 1 way to do something on a PC, you can also LEFT CLICK > START)
4. so.... how do make sure you've been successful so far? no worries.... fire up a browser, and enter
HTTP://localhost as a URL. you should get "YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO VIEW THIS PAGE" - sounds bad, but it's actually good. this means that IIS is running, but there's nothing there yet!
1a. if you get "THE PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED", you have NOT configured your IIS properly.
5. build your web page(s). it is WAY beyond the scope of this post on how to do this, but there is litterly 110,000,000 results on GOOGLE for "BUILD WEBPAGE" - start simple and work from there! HTML editors are like NLE editors, some are good, some are cheap, etc etc etc.... i personally use DREAMWEAVER, but i've heard that the old versions of MS FRONTPAGE are free and pretty good. heck, you can even build webpages in MS WORD!
6. (semi) officially, most first pages of websites are called INDEX.HTML - (some software wants to build pages with .HTM extensions... either is fine, just choose 1 and go.) once you have your first webpage (INDEX.HTML) built, you can test as above but you'll see your webpage instead of the "YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED...." message.
7. ok, so now YOU can see your delightful new webpage(s)... how do i get the REST of the world to see my little gem? no worries.... i won't bore you to tears about HOW the Internet works, but essentially, you need to convert the IP number of YOUR computer to a DOMAIN NAME that rest of the world can know about. go to
http://www.whatismyip.com/ and it'll tell you what YOUR IP number is.
8. this next part gets a little sticky and will depend on YOUR ISP and NETWORK configuration. web pages by default Most home computers are connected to the Internet with a small ROUTER that connects to your ISP. by default webpages are answered on PORT 80. *** is PORT 80? who cares.... by default 'most' of these routers do NOT allow PORT 80 to pass through so you will have to configure your ROUTER to allow PORT 80 to pass-thru. read your manual or call your ISP to get this done. in some small cases your ISP will block PORT 80. i know VERIZON FIOS in the Tampa, FL area blocks PORT 80. guess what? i flipped them the bird and changed ISP...
9. now that you have PORT 80 open EVERYBODY will be able to get to your webpage(s). that's cool, but.... who wants to tell folks their webpage is at
http://70.40.88.15 ? this is where DNS (Domain Name Services) comes in. DNS converts a name to a number. so piddlefish.servepics.com converts to 70.40.88.15 - easy eh? well, no, not actually. this gets funky because your ISP will sporadically change your IP number and not bother telling you! everytime you reboot your PC you take the chance of getting a new IP number. This is where the
http://www.NO-IP.com or (as HOWARDE noted)
http://www.everydns.net comes in. These services put a small program on your computer that runs and checks your IP number and sends it back to the service and updates the DNS if YOUR IP number changes. cool eh?
9a. the FREE service with NO-IP.com makes you choose a name based on names that THEY already do DNS for.... that's why my website is piddlefish.servepics.com - HOWRDE great suggestion of
http://www.everydns.net sounds even better, but i haven't tried that (YET!)
when the
http://www.everydns.net has been tested (it seems) you can even use your OWN DOMAIN NAME. now that'd be cool.
X. buy a domain name. there are scads of places that will sell you a domain name. i've always used
http://WWW.GODADDY.COM - good price, good FAQ. plop down your cc for $8.95 and you'll be the proud new owner of you own little piece of the Internet.
