The Time is One (in the morning) here and I am (finally) Fired Up about Web Dev!
WOW I had time away from my blog after that first week chatting about wellness. That first Wellness week had me fired up about getting the blog off the ground, and then I needed to invest in my own wellness!
Nevertheless, week two would have been a Web Dev week, and I’m back in Season 1 Week 7! And it’s back to Web Dev! So, essentially, my next posts were about Web Dev any who.
Topics I am investing in this week are: (A) Web hosting, (B) Open-source, and (C) Web Development Resources!
Topic (A): Web hosting!
Web hosting can come from free hosting resources or paid hosting resources. Having noted this, more often than not, hosting is acquired from web hosting businesses whom usually will provide the customer with a control panel complete with a personal login.
Free web hosting companies were quite popular in the 2000’s around the world. Today, it is not as popular as social media took off in popularity in recent years. But, it should be noted that open-source resources, which I will discuss in the next topic are becoming more sophisticated after years of community-driven development by kind developers and designers working together to given options to world-wide web enthusiasts who crave a personal web space, a home-away-from-home and social media companies. I encourage a web search using the terms “free webhosting” or “free cPanel hosting”.
Web hosting companies, whether paid-for hosting or free hosting, more often than not come with a control panel of sorts that give a plethora of utility options for creating content. These control panels – cPanel hosting for instance – may allow for automatic free, open-source web application installations that resolve around, perhaps, your custom domain name you may have purchased from a domain registrar. Domain registrars can be at times independent from web space hosting companies; however, web searching for “domain registrar” is a solid search reference to find registrars out there with options for custom domains. Registrars should allow for custom domain name server redirection. So, if you choose not to buy a custom domain name through the web hosting company you want to buy from for the website space itself, both registrars and hosting companies should allow for and provide domain name redirections of sorts. By this I mean the web host will provide their own domain name service links which are inputted into the registrars control panel somewhere involving domain server resolutions. Qutie frankly, it’s a process to separate domain name registration via registrars and hosting via a web hosting company and link the domain to the hosting when done this way. However, at times worth it.
The great thing about control panels in terms of open-source application deployment is the automation! So, let’s go over open-source resources!
Topic (B): Open-Source!
An Open-Source application in the web development community is World-wide web jargon for free, community-driven applications/software/code. Open-source resources are essentially free-to-use and modify without copywrite infringement, licensing restrictions, or a fee of any kind.
What needs to be known about open-source resources is that developers and designers are out there on the web dedicating their time and knowledge to, quite frankly, get people interested and going creating their very own personal web space complete with one’s very own custom domain name.
When web hosting is acquired and one has access to a great control panel, something you may find in the control panel is options to auto-install free, open-source web applications! As I noted in web hosting, open-source applications and the sophistication some have achieved over the last decade or so is amazing! Many applications have personal logins and a control panel for complete oversight of web pages and community involvements if say you want to allow visitors to create content on your personal space!
I would like to now discuss two open-source applications I have come to enjoy over the years:
WordPress! — It is free and open-source and geared toward blogging! The community behind this application is amazing and the application itself allows for a ton of customizations. The WordPress control panel is extensive and user-friendly, will automatically update if any new version becomes available, and libraries for plugins and themes can also be accessed and installed via the control panel when logged into the app. There is also a WordPress mobile phone app (at least I know for sure Android does) for accessing your website’s control panel if you feel like writing a blog article while sitting on a park bench or at a beach. Although, something to note about plugins and themes for the overall effect and design can be bought and paid for. Yes, the WordPress application IS free and open-source, but there are developers out there ready to make a buck developing custom plugins and themes for your needs when readily free plugins and themes are just not available or appealing.
phpBB! — this free, open-source software has been around for decades! It is a bulletin board/forum application ready and able to help you create your own community for whatever. Fan clubs?? This has got you! Book clubs?? This is a great option! Gaming community?? This software is where it’s at! This forum software let’s community members signup for a login, creates profiles for people, and allows for community-driven topics, posts, and replies. The idea is simplistic enough, there are plugins and themes available on the official phpBB website complete with installation instructions, and the administration control panel for community oversight has what it takes for smooth sailing.
These two free and open-source applications need a few things from your webhost provider, but as I mentioned, more often than not, the control panel the web host provides customers access to will likely offer free-of-charge a way to install them directly in that control panel. Simply follow instructions. Those few things needed for the application to run without hazards will likely already come with the hosting. So, essentially webhosting companies today are now on the up-and-up as for the needs of open-source applications to run at a moment’s notice with whatever free installation tools for open-source web applications the control panel may have ready for you once the hosting is acquired.
This is it for the Open-Source topic. Perhaps with all the marketing I was trying to do regarding this topic will get you hyped to explore the free and open-source side of the web that has been around for decades and thriving today. So, a little less time of social media and little time to yourself to explore alternatives to personal web spaces! Hooray free!
Topic (C): Web Development Resources!
Those open-source web applications – WordPress and phpBB – have been under community development for years! But you can always make web pages from scratch like a dinner for 5 from a recipe. The recipe aspect of web page creation from scratch involves learning basic web languages which visitors to your website via whatever browser they are using can get a visual of. We just can’t get visuals without source code for the browsers to read, interpret, and translate into all of the visuals.
Here is the best kept secret of learning just about everything needed to make web pages from scratch by learning just about everything from the basics to some of the most sophisticated web pages you can imagine! This best kept secret comes from the World-Wide Web Consortium (or W3C): the people who practically build the world-wide web! They have created an open-source learning platform instructing anyone and everyone interested in web page creation. Here is the link! ~
Not only can you learn to create stunning web pages and applications, they offer those who may be interested in a web development career certification course that people can pay for and that companies in need of web developers love, because you learn from the people who created the foundations of the world-wide web! So, check this resource out! And if a career isn’t what you want to pursue, W3Schools is likely here to stay for all hobbyists and enthusiasts!
Once the basics to web page creation is understood well enough, there are applications to consider whether free or paid for.
Adobe is a well-known company and their web development software along with graphics production software has always been incredible software to get to know. Dreamweaver is fantastic developer software for web development and design. However, Adobe has made moves toward monthly payments for the software-as-a-service (or SaaS) kind-of thing and seem to want to phase out one-time payments for lifetime personal and commercial use.
However, there is a wonderful free alternative for source code development of web pages and web applications – which of course you can learn how to create in many languages from W3Schools’s website. This software is known as Notepad++. It supports many source-code languages and wonderful syntax features for seemingly easier code writing. Simply web search “Notepad++“. There are install options, online help directly on their website, and the developer(s) are still at it after decades continuing it’s development, as well as of today remaining committed to providing this software free-to-use.
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Okay, so I discussed web hosting, the open-source web, and web development resources. All of this discussed, to me, are great starting points to delve deeper into perhaps your newest hobby, or career – making websites! And if you still need that first starting point, that spark to fire you up about website creation, it’s got to be W3Schools. That website is packed with web page and application creation knowledge.
That’s it for me this week. Take care out there and on the web!
— Dewy