Before setting up a website you have to pose yourself a few questions:
What is the purpose of the site?
Who is your potential target audience?
What will the content be?
How will it look?
Do you learn how to build it yourself or pay someone to do it instead?
How much will it cost to run?
I've been wanting to get a website for ages now, to upload all my resources and share them with other MFL teachers. Blogging has been good for exchanging ideas and storing links in the same place, but a website would offer even more possibilities.
In February, I sketched out the idea to send an email to the Linguanet forum looking for a web illustrator to commission to create some of the necessary artwork for the intended project. I was impressed by the reponse and pencilled in a few names. In the end, I drew on local talent Al Rowe who just shaded it with his humorous illustrations drawing comparisons to traditional cartoonery à la The Beano.
His website Potting Shed Cartoons illustrates his whimsical artistry beautifully.
I wouldn't hold your breath for the website itself though. I still need to decide on a suitable web designer!
But with your Typepad blog you can get into the HTML (or your web designer can) and make it look any way you want to, offering the advantages of manipulating to your heart's content while being able tp change and publish quickly. There are loads of examples of pages which are blogs but don't look like it. Le Monde is one example, but many more are listed in Loic Lemeur's posts (http://www.loiclemeur.com)
Posted by: Ewan McIntosh | 27/05/2006 at 17:41
Thanks Ewan,
More food for thought!
Posted by: Joe Dale | 27/05/2006 at 17:58
Getting your own domain name and setting up a website is not expensive. I set one up recently for a small local business (Mirakel) that sells wedding shoes. It's hosted by Titan Hosts and costs around 50 pounds per year. Here's Titan's URL and the URL of Mirakel's site:
http://www.titanhosts.net
http://www.mirakel.co.uk
I use Dreamweaver to create and edit websites that I maintain. There's no need to learn HTML these days.
See Module 3.3 at the ICT4LT site for advice on creating your own website: http://www.ict4lt.org
Posted by: Graham Davies | 29/05/2006 at 01:17
Dear Graham,
The problem is that I want to charge an annual subscription and therefore will need to have appropriate security on the site to stop individuals using it for free. I certainly don't have the expertise at the moment for implementing such security and I would need to pay someone to build the site for me, for that reason. I understand that a simple website can be quite easy to set up, but that's not what I have in mind. Any suggestions?
Posted by: Joe Dale | 29/05/2006 at 09:14
Joe, since I've met you, you've been talking about getting your own website! I am quite looking forward to seeing it and by the way you plan it (unlike me...) I am sure it is going to be great! I have learnt a great deal on how to do a website especially with all that happened to atantot in the last year! I think there will always be a few surprises as you go along. I've enjoyed doing atantot and I guess it is appreciated by a few people since the number of hits is freightening: since January 2006: 1 086 411 hits...(5 months!!)
Good luck and I'm looking forward to using your stuff! hi hi hi.
Esther Mercier
Posted by: Esther Mercier | 01/06/2006 at 10:59
Fair point, Esther.
These things take time, as you know yourself!
Now, I've commissioned Al to create some artwork for the proposed site though, there's no excuse. I've got to go for it.
I do need to sort out the security issues first. And then there's ...
Posted by: Joe Dale | 01/06/2006 at 20:39