Should I give up and pay someone?

[JoeGuy]

Hello everyone (who reads this),

I have started in spurts with my website - and haven't spent much time in the last couple weeks, working on it. But this week, now, I am ready, from here on out. (hipcrits.com).

I have installed joomla, and I believe filezilla. I also installed PageWizard. I've played with PageWizard, edited and THOUGHT I published, with no changes. Do I need to go to a specific index and republish or give it another nudge, somewhere? I admit, I am a complete novice - and an economically challenged one. But once I learn something or am taught something, I do learn and remember. Also, once I've installed Wordpress, where do I go to use it? Every time I go back to the WordPress option, it just keeps giving me the install page. I already did this. Where do i go for the actual use of it? It's not intuitive ot me at all. I will spend more time checking. I read questions people ask on here and it seems they are all a lot more advanced.

Here's another question(s): I edit and publish in PageWizard and nothing changes on my website. I also get errors, sometimes, that says I need a newer version of mozilla (firefox), but I install it and then restart my computer, to no avail. Is there something I need to do to make it "take" on mozilla browser. I have had the same problem with adobe's flashplayer or whatever it's called, having it stick on mozilla. Do I go to my computer, to the file and somehow install it manually on mozilla?

Also, should I do something else to make it "take" from my edit screen on PageWizard.

The thing that's most difficult for me is that I install these programs and yet there's no ABC explanation on how they connect, like how to build the website after installing the programs. I need to know more about files, making them show up on the site. I think there are so many choices that I'm confused.

For instance, on the "getting started" site, there's no option to FrontPage, although that's consistently referred to. Do I need to install it? Or is it auto installed, merely because I'm a subscriber to hostmonster. The "getting started" tutorial keeps referring to the "extensions" and installing them, etc., but never really mentions Frontpage, almost assuming it's already on there. Well, if it is already installed, shouldn't there be one reference that it's on my site, working?

One last thing (shadmego, are you reading this? - you've been such a help):

Is hostmonster a Christian or Mormon owned company - and are they going to have a problem with a political site? My site is a sociopolitical parody/commentary site. I don't want any interference. I'm not out to offend anyone, that's for sure. I respect people's opinions, etc. But I also want free speech, w/o interference. (no nudity or swear words, but I want to comment on what I perceive as today's socioeconomic abyss - and my site isn't a "feel good" site. It's meant to be humorous but somewhat vitriolic).

Joseph

[shadmego]

Greetings, Joe.

There is A LOT in this thread that needs to be addressed, but to do so effectively, I am going to try to start at the beginning and work my way through. I doubt I will get to everything you addressed in your post, but eventually, everything will be discussed.

First, it sounds to me like you are getting a whole bunch of terms confused.

You mentioned Joomla!, FileZilla, PageWizard, Frontpage, Firefox, Flash, Wordpress and others.

You also mentioned that you read all the tutorials, but I want to focus on one I think is pretty important, especially for someone starting out where you are.

http://www.hostmonsterforum.com/showthread.php?p=11219#post11219

That post links to a bit I wrote some time about that defines several very common terms when talking about web sites and the technologies that help manage them.

I also wrote a tutorial on how to build your first web page/site. You can find this tutorial on my site (http://www.4christministry.org/xhtml/what-is-xhtml.html).

Please read both of the links I gave so I know where you are. We can start there.

As far as PageWizard goes, I highly recommend you do NOT use that program. I haven't used it ever so I can't tell you how to publish your pages with that program, but you shouldn't use it because it seriously restricts what you can do with your pages and it gives a false sense of knowledge on web design languages and standards. If you want to learn the right way, I would definately stay away from that program.

Joomla! and Wordpress are systems that allow people to manage and build websites with little to know knowledge of programming languages. Both programs benefit from having a very active community and lots of documentation to read that teaches you how to use them.

Frontpage is a program by Microsoft that is considered a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) program. It is no longer in development and was replaced by Web Expressions (again by Microsoft). These programs are bought and installed on your local computer. FileZilla is also a program installed on your computer and is used to transfer files from your local hard drive to your web server using FTP. You can read about FTP in the first post I listed.

As far as Hostmonster's religious affiliation, I am unsure. I do not think they will ban you for allowing political speech. If you are concerned, read their Terms of Service here (http://www.hostmonster.com/terms.html).

I believe the only thing they don't allow is adult-oriented content and hosting illegal software. I haven't read the terms in a few months so I can't remember if they say anything about political speech.

This is a good bit of info to sort through. Get started on that and post back any questions you might have after going through those links I gave.

I can help you out fairly well with the basics and I can show you how to use Joomla! and Wordpress (basically).

~regards

[JoeGuy]

Hi Shadmego

I appreciate the time it took to distill what I was asking, and reply in such a thoughtful way.

I have been here, at the library, using their wi-fi, sifting through all the info out there, trying PageWizard (which I wholeheartedly agree, is a royal pain to use or try), but more than anything, continued checking the forum to see if anyone replied.

So here I am, reading your post - and I'll follow your directions and read it all.
I'm headed for your links, but wanted to quickly reply and say thanks.

Joseph

[JoeGuy]

hi shadmego.

When I went to the link for your tutorial; i.e., "I also wrote a tutorial on how to build your first web page/site. You can find this tutorial on my site," it gave me a mozilla "can't find" error. Can you recheck what you wrote? I will keep trying.

Joseph

[shadmego]

Thanks for the heads up. I made a mistake putting the link in. I guess that's what happens when you go too fast!