July 19, 2006

• Congrats! Shoulda prefaced the question with "Curious George:". Try doing a search for "website hosting" and going from there. Good luck!
• Well, first you should consider if this is really in your family and your child's best interest.  The web is used by real people all over the world and like most groups of real people, a certain percentage of them are creepy and a smaller percentage are really bad.  You may not want to let them focus on your daughter. Some social networking sites are free or cheap and can let you set up protected pages and don't require much web knowledge.  A LiveJournal may suit your needs, for example, or a TypePad blog. However, if you're embarking on running a web site on your own domain, there are basically two options: The first is hosting the site on your own computer, and it's not one I'd recommend to you.  It can be complicated and annoying and if you're not ready to dive into managing a machine on the hostile public web, it's not safe for you or for other people. The sunnier option is "hosted" web space.  There are plenty of providers who will, for a small fee, provide you with a web address and a canvas on which to paint.  Many of them have tools that they provide for managing your web site and tutorials on how to do it.   I cannot vouch for it personally, but I have friends who recommend dreamhost.  Like any publicly available service, it also people who have been unsatisfied. Good luck!
• yep - you need a webhost, and you need to fill in a couple of lines of text to act as a pointer to the host's servers. most hosts will have explicit instructions to walk you through the process. I have been with Dreamhost for a couple of years, and have nothing but praise for them.
• Yep - I second MCroft: he speaks with wisdom I'm thinking you want family and friends to have access to this site, not creeps and perverts. Take the advice and get a limited access. Your darling will thank you, especially if you're a really dedicated parent and keep this up into puberty. I can't believe you'd DO this to me! Why'd you post that crappy picture! I could just DIE from embarassment! Stop it, daddy! Congrats on the babe. You now have a "hostage to fortune."
• Actually it sounds like what you want is or what would be easiest is a blog. Something like Typepad is pretty simple. It isn't free, however. Blogger is free bot more limiteded. Dreamhost is supposed to have automatic wordpress installation which is another popular blogging software but adds the advantage that you own the site. I think that any of those would work.
• Cheers for the replies so far. Dreamhost looks good, I take it they'd have no problems with accepting a UK payment card.
• Congrats! This thread is useless without pics!
• Yet another voice in accord with MCroft who speaks with much wisdom. I have designed a number of websites, including a few that were intended for a small audience. I was astonished at what happened once I used a counter to track visits; the half-dozen folks I'd pointed to the site turned into something like 1200 hits over two weeks, and I can guarantee those were not all friends and family! Fortunately the site contained no sensitive content or I'd've been very nervous indeed. Password access is a good thing, trust me. Also good is letting someone else host. Fewer headaches. There are plenty of sites out there waiting to assist you, and some very nice little tools like gifbuilder to make things look snappy. Go hunting! Congratulations on your new family member! May she live to see peace.
• Blogspot.com for a simple way to set up a blog page to share with your family. It can be made private so no one but those you provide with the link can see it. For free picture hosting, photobucket.com.
• my sister went on vacation this summer, and wanted to create a family/friends-only blog. I found a good solution with BlinkLife - it works like a blog, but you can regulate who sees it, and it sends out each post as an email to a list of people you choose. She's very privacy-conscious, and this satisfied her needs, and is apparently pretty easy to use to boot.
• oh, and its free.
• Congratulations! What MyCroft Holmes says is correct: too many creeps around, so you might want to keep access restricted. Go with a Typepad or a Blogger account: big, reliable, and with a future. Easier than getting a hosting for your own site. Pictures: www.flickr.com: You can limit access to your friends/family, and then post the links in your typepad blog. There are a lot of plugins for that.
• My baby girl was born early this month and I used Blogger to set up a simple blog where we post a picture every day. Or used to, until you guys weirded me out with all this talk about creeps on the internet. On the other hand, no harm seems to have come to Trixie MacNeill so far, and her parents have been putting up very public, near daily pictures of her for almost three years.
• I can't believe someone plugging Dreamhost, which is the host I use as well, didn't add, "and say 'myusername'" referred you!" Because they have a referral bonus of almost $100. This has paid for my hosting once or twice in the last six years. It's like multi-level-marketing without the evilness.
• PS If you're really clueless about hosting and sitebuilding, you don't need to buy a domain & hosting. I agree with the people who recommend Blogspot or Typepad with Flickr for photos, if this is your first site. You could also try a "paid account" at Livejournal, which has security levels and photo-hosting space built in.
• Or used to, until you guys weirded me out with all this talk about creeps on the internet. I guess it's a matter of luck, MelancholyPlatypus. It's like leaving your door unlocked when you go out. Some people have done it for years and nothing's happened; other people get burgled the one time they forget to lock up. Have a great time, lloyder!
• Congratulations, lloyder. Have fun with her.
• congratulations lloyder! and remember to sleep when baby sleeps. re the posting of kids' pics on the web, i think the most important thing to avoid is providing too much personal information. specifically, don't make it possible for a stranger (stalker) to pretend he/she knows you or your close family members. also, password-protecting pictures is easy enough to do, so why not?
• Congratulations, lloyder! People here are wise. Do stuff they tell you to do. A few things to add. Wordpress.com is another hosted blog option to consider alongside Blogger and Typepad. It's just as good (IMO) - and if you want to run a blog from you own hosting instead (either right now or in the future) then WordPress has probably got the best combination of ease-of-use, flexibility and freeness of any blogging software around right now. (There's also plenty of options to make private either the whole blog, or just specific posts.) Also, while I too have heard many good things about Dreamhost, just for the sake of variety I'll point out that 34SP are a very good UK-based host (I've never had any problems with them) and their hosting starts from £17.95 a year. Good luck with everything...