apple Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Hi folks I am looking at building a website for our nursery and perhaps if that goes well will do the school one too. Is there anyone out there that has done this and if so have you any pointers? Apart from the obvious (internet security/photos of children etc) I was wondering if there are any particular servers/hosts that are best to use? At the moment the school website is run through ik. reciprico but it is quite difficult to work on if you are not used to it. I have already created our own web pages and really need to know about secure servers/hosts and what to look for? Are there any geeks out there who can advise in this mine field of ICT!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Hi, I am not a geek as such but I have learned how to do things like change name servers and A/MX records. I've created several websites (for my own day job and also for preschool). However, I would say that I have kept things very very simple and that if you want to get clever with it (i.e. if you are talking about things like encription, html, https) then you would need to call in an IT person. My domain names are bought from fasthosts.co.uk who seem very efficient. They will host your website for a fee but these days there is no need to pay for hosting unless you require something very technical or have very big files or complicated requirements. I set up the websites on Weebly, as do several others on here (I use the free version but there is a pay for version with more functionality). You can do things like Blogs and paypal on the free version, password protected pages are available on the pay for version. All that is then required is to change the A records at the domain registrar, that is much simpler than it sounds and Weebly will guide you through it. This then 'points' my weebly site at our fancy domain name and hey presto you have a site! I've also recently learned how to set up an email with our domain name and then point that to our real email. That was a bit of a steep learning curve but not all that tricky! I have not included any photos of children on our site because I don't like the idea of them being out there online for anyone to see/use. I always tick the 'not on the internet' box when my own children's school asks me about photo permissions. However, I do upload photos of the setting and of children's work. If the school you're talking about is a state one, the LEA would often have a specific website address for them to use (usually with sch.uk at the end like with your email) so you might want to check that first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apple Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 Thank you Suzie that is really helpful and will check out the weebly site. I spoke to someone at the LEA today and it looks like they can host ours so I shall have to investigate how to do that. Thanks once again for sharing your knowledge and experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Hi apple, no worries, Weebly will host for free, if you have an official LEA domain name (website address) you can the 'point' that at your weebly site. Someone (maybe you) would need to change the domain or dns records - all that means is adding a number in so it knows where to look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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