cantata wrote:
@ Frog - thank you, again! Gawd, my brain is addled and I haven't even started yet.
But what I'm thinking is that I'll register my domain name with freeparking (do I do thaty first?) then go with SZ, if novum and DG say okay. then I can plague you all with aquestions ad infinitum!
Froggles.... er.... could you give me a list of TOTALLY mega baby-steps as to what I do, when you get the chance? Bearing in mind that I didn't know what "cpanel" meant and have only just learned what hmtl stood for.
In pm or here - to suit yourself, when you get the chance - just in case anyone else wants to know about it.
Really, Many Thanks.
It's worth you owning the domain at the very least you can use the free popmail service provided with it for your personal email. If you have Cpanel you have more flexibility with your email service.
Personally I wouldn't spend money until you're ready to commit to something and before you do that you need something you're comfortable with using. I would take advantage of the Joomla trial which is the element that you would need to deal with most of the time and it's the part others see. If at the end of the trial you want to keep going and commit to Joomla then you can worry about hosting.
Hosting support would only really cover the system i.e that the hosting services are up and running it wouldn't cover third party scripts for example. Once joomla is installed and your emails are setup you don't need to do much in Cpanel very often unless you want or need to. The most common tasks in CP would be file management or check logs and email settings etc. Occasionally you may need to access phpmyadmin to sort out the database but with Joomla that is not required very often and for many users they don't use it after they setup the first database.
It's probably best to have a go with the trial system and not rush into anything, you can setup more than one site on the trial and there is sample data to help you get started. Once you have sussed things out a bit you can form a plan of action and setup shop to suit your needs. I can chip in if you have the trial running and it would probably be easier to discuss if you're asking questions with something to apply them to.
In the post a couple above this one there is a beginners guide which is worth reading through to get an idea of how the system works. If you use the joomla demo you can read the guide along side the demo. I'm not to sure where to start as far as baby steps go. The first thing you need to do is install Joomla and I would imagine that the demo walks you through that because it's geared toward new users. The process on the J demo site will be a little different to the approach required for a new system on your own hosting. I haven't used their demo service before but after taking a quick look there seems to be some step by step instructions. You need to sign up for the service and then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on launch new site.
The best thing to do is use there free subdomain option as opposed to the other two options. The system you need to install is Joomla 2.5 which is the current long term stable release. Once you get setup you can ask questions about things that you need help with. You could open a new thread on here in the tech sub forum for that purpose.
Another talented writer. We're crawling out from under those reams of paper and taking over the world, hahahahaha... Well, SZ anyway! When I know my a from my e, I'll be back to take up your very kind offer. thank you. ANY publicity is good 
(although freeparking is also telling me I have a free 4-page website up under their "Under Construction" notice *gulp* 
).
