Websites for Hackers

A talk I gave to a group of computer science students at Washington State University about putting together a personal website. It included live demonstrations of each of the major steps, concluding with a new live website.

Transcript

1. Websites for Hackers How websites work, and how to make them right now.
2. You’re hard to hire. Why does a programmer need a web presence?
3. It’s central to how we make multi-user applications these days. Why learn web?
4. Where do your visitors start? So, where should we start?
5. Get a domain. Step 1
6. Domains: What is? google.com 74.125.24.100 github.com 192.30.252.130 wsu.edu 134.121.137.7
7. Domains: How use? Authoritative DNS Server Web Server Address Record Delegating DNS Server
8. Domains: How choose? • Your name? • Your brand? • Something personal, fun (yet marketable)? • Memorable. • Easy to type. • Case-insensitive (treat as lower-case). • Don’t use hyphens.
9. Domains: Examples • http://ejohn.org/ • http://chriscoyier.net/ • http://www.hanselman.com/ • http://haacked.com/ • http://www.scottgu.com/ (blog: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/) • http://daverupert.com/ • http://addyosmani.com/blog/ • http://www.lukew.com/ • http://ethanmarcotte.com/ (blog: http://unstoppablerobotninja.com/) • http://www.paulirish.com/ • http://www.crockford.com/ • http://meyerweb.com/ • http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/
10. Domains: How get? Let’s go get one now!
11. Domains: Review 1. Choose a domain. 2. Buy the domain. 3. Give public contact information. 4. (Optional) Buy privacy. 5. Set up DNS.
12. Where do web servers come from? Now we need something to point that domain at.
13. Get hosting. Step 2
14. Hosting: What is? interblag Visitors Really just a web server!
15. There are options for every budget! But datacenters are expensive.
16. Hosting: Shared • Many customers on the same server. • Web panel interface. • FTP and SSH similar to regular Unix users. • Cheap! • Easy to install software. • Less control. • Lots of tenants competing for resources.
17. Hosting: VPS • Your own virtual machine. • Pretty much full control. • Standard SSH/RDP interface. ◦ Panels sometimes available. • More hands-on. • More expensive. • Still sharing resources with other tenants.
18. Hosting: Dedicated • Your own physical server. • HVAC, redundant power, security. • Guaranteed resources, no sharing. • It’s a computer. • Pretty expensive.
19. Hosting: How get? Let’s go get one now!
20. Hosting: Review • Decide what kind of hosting you need. • Shop around for a reputable vendor. • Buy some.
21. Get your content up there quickly, so you can get back to hacking. How can we put all that hosting to good use?
22. Get a CMS. Step 3
23. CMS: What is? • “Content Management System” • Authoring tools ◦ WYSIWYG editor ◦ Drafting • Templating • Theming • Users • Comments • Caching
24. CMS: How get? Let’s go install one now!
25. CMS: Review • Install the web application. • Create and connect the database. • Guided install under shared hosting. • A bit more complicated with a VPS or dedicated setup. • Install or create an awesome theme!
26. Get it out of your brain! Now we have a place for your content.
27. Make content. Step 4
28. Get back to hacking! And now you have a website.
29. So Many Choices! Domains ➔ Namecheap ➔ Hover ➔ Gandi ➔ Name.com ➔ GoDaddy ➔ Network Solutions ➔ Whoever is selling you hosting Hosting ➔ Bluehost ➔ HostGator ➔ DreamHost ➔ A Small Orange ➔ Rackspace ➔ WebFaction ➔ Linode ➔ DigitalOcean ➔ WiX ➔ Wordpress.com ➔ Squarespace ➔ Weebly ➔ Google Sites ➔ NearlyFreeSpeech ➔ Amazon S3 ➔ You ➔ Whoever is selling you domains CMS ➔ Wordpress ➔ Drupal ➔ Joomla ➔ Concrete5 ➔ ExpressionEngine ➔ Umbraco ➔ Orchard DNS ➔ Amazon Route 53 ➔ ZoneEdit ➔ Whoever is selling you domains
30. References • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dns • http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2628-how-to-hire-a-programmer-when-youre-not-a- programmer • http://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/the-perpetual-and-vexing-problem-of-hiring- programmers.html • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_web_hosting_service • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_server • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedicated_hosting_service • http://visual.ly/most-popular-content-management-systems-2013 • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_content_management_system • http://trends.builtwith.com/cms • http://trends.builtwith.com/hosting • http://trends.builtwith.com/ns • http://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/wix-vs-weebly-vs-squarespace-vs-jimdo/ • http://lifehacker.com/5911651/five-best-web-hosting-companies • http://lifehacker.com/5545568/five-best-personal-web-hosts • http://lifehacker.com/5943452/five-best-domain-name-registrars • http://theme.wordpress.com/ • http://xkcd.com/181/