How create a website with Linux technology

[BSG Fan]

when I have no experience in webpages development.
1- Where I should start?

2- Can I use my own computer as my server? How can I do that?


Thanks in advance

[HiImTye]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ApacheMySQLPHP

[Lars Noodén]

For the web pages, look up HTML 4 for structure and CSS2 for layout.

http://www.w3.org/Style/Examples/011/firstcss

Then as you get comfortable you can move to XHTML 1 and CSS3. One of the tools for pag editing would be Bluefish, but Geany or Kate would be fine too at the beginning. You'll have to look around for tutorials that match your learning style and level. As always the ultimate reference source for HTML and CSS is the W3C. Anything else is either derivative or wrong. Use it at the beginning like you would a dictionary or thesaurus.

• http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/index/elements.html
• http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS1/
• http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/

The link provided above by HiImTye shows how to set up Apache2. That's all you need for web pages on your own machine, you don't need PHP or MySQL at the beginning. Which version of Ubuntu are you running?

[BSG Fan]

For the web pages, look up HTML 4 for structure and CSS2 for layout.

Which version of Ubuntu are you running?

I am in the prehistory. I am using Ubuntu 10.04

[Lars Noodén]

It would be a very good idea to move to 12.04 or 14.04 because Desktop 10.04 was discontinued a year ago and won't get any updates of any kind. If the GUI is a problem on the new versions, which it is for many, then you can look to install MATE or Xfce. The latter is quite popular and comes as part of Xubuntu but can always be installed a la carte.

[T.J.]

Hi BSG Fan!

Wow, you are asking a big question. Let me see if I can help. =)

"1- Where I should start?"

You will need to install Apache, and perhaps other software from the repository, depending on what you want to use: such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, PHP, or Ruby. You may have to do some hand configuring to get it up to spec. Feel welcome to send me private message here on the board if you want to set up some "one on one" help. It would probably take a lot of space on the message board to explain it thoroughly.

"2- Can I use my own computer as my server? How can I do that?"

Yes, you can! I highly recommend it for local design and development, as you can edit and view your changes, exactly as they will be on a live server.

Actually serving webpages to the rest of Internet however, is another story. It gets considerably more complicated, as it involves your Internet service provider routing requests to your computer as well as registering your site's URL with the DNS system. Simply, it will cost you some money because all of those things have to be setup and maintained. There is also the consideration that if you serve your own sites from your home you have to pay the electric to have the computer on 24/7.

[Mark Phelps]

There is the additional problem that if you run a web server from your personal Internet account, your ISP may consider this a "commercial" operation -- and then charge you commercial rates, which are a LOT higher than personal rates. It depends very much on the particular ISP you're using.

[Lars Noodén]

There is the additional problem that if you run a web server from your personal Internet account, your ISP may consider this a "commercial" operation -- and then charge you commercial rates, which are a LOT higher than personal rates. It depends very much on the particular ISP you're using.

True. But just installing Apache2 or nginx won't do that alone. You have to go out of your way to adjust the router to make it publicly available before the terms of service come into the question. For a home lab, things should be quite ok with the defaults.

[Alley_Oop]

You could bypass all the above and just start with a free website from wordpress.com or blogger.com. Wordpress is easiest plus it has the added bonus of not having to learn HTML or CSS or XAMP.

[spynappels]

Ummm, I think the OP actually wants to learn?