This post covers the following topics:

1. How do I make a website
2. Why would I want to
3. What are the steps
4. More detailed info
5. Stuff we like

1. How do I make a website

These days, most of use content management systems (CMS) to make websites. Examples of these include WordPress and Grav. These keep files organize and make pages or posts to display content consistently. Pages are fixed information that does not change. Posts are categories of information that are updated with many small installments.

2. Why would I want to

To sell products or services. To share information. To improve your psychiatric health by "getting it out there." Hosting your website also means that the tech mommies can't cancel your content as easily.

3. What are the steps

1. Pick a name (mywackywebsite.com).
2. Register the name (that means rent it for a year).
3. Host the site.
4. Plan the site.
5. Build the site.

4. More detailed info

1. You register the site with a registrar.
2. You host the site with a host.
3. You plan the site with your mom or your friend—this includes making a sketch of the areas of the site that you want to create and add content to, or populate.
4. You build the site by following a tutorial. Part of that process is choosing a CMS. Stay tuned for CMS we like and why we like them.

5. Stuff we like:

Registrars and hosts we like:

1. Hostinger offers very cheap registration and hosting in the US and Europe. Customer service is good.
2. Bluehost offers cheap registration and hosting in the US. Customer support is good.
3. Njalla offers anonymous registration at reasonable prices and anonymous hosting at middle-high prices. Customer support is good.
4. Orangewebsite.com offers anonymous registration and anonymous hosting at reasonable prices. Customer support is excellent. It is also in Iceland, where privacy protection is high.

There are tonsa very cheap registrars and hosts but their customer support tends to be chicken butt, and if you don't know what you are doing, that can mean hours or days of struggling to do anything and freaking out when anything breaks—so no thanks. There are also more high-end hosts like dreamhost.com which are good, but their customer support is geared toward folks who really know what they are doing (i.e. professional developers) and so their help doesn't help if you don't already know a lot.

Keep in mind: Customer support will not tell you how to make a website. They will tell you how to do some things in their systems. Many of them have 1-click installers that allow you to install a CMS like WordPress or Grav automatically.

CMSes we like

WordPress? Not so much. Has endless expansion options and is fairly industry standard, but has gotten bloated, complex, slow, and expensive. Also the monetization options (ways to make money on your website by selling things) favor the tech mommies who can and will shut down your website store if they don't like what you post on social media. You do all this work, then it's gone. Not fun.

WordPress requires two servers, a webserver and a database server (provided by the same host). It is the database server that is SLOW. Other old-school CMSes work this way, cuz they haven't caught on that for small websites, databases are unnecessary.

Systems that use only one server are much, much faster. The rest of these options are called flat-file CMSes that use only one server.

Bludit. Simple, free, fast. If you are just starting out, you can make a website nearly as easily as sending an email. Really. It is that beginner friendly. The hosts mentioned above tend to have a CPANEL where tools are located and a SOFTACULOUS installer that installs free software. Bludit is in the free software list and sets up in seconds.

Grav. Similar to WordPress in functionality, but 100 times as fast. Far fewer plugins, but the key ones do exist. Requires some serious learning to use. Not kid friendly. You will hurt yourself trying to make simple changes. We have used Grav with the Gantry plugin which allows for very precise designs. It might be fine for just landing pages to sell stuff on, if you are cool with fairly corporate design and need some of the plugins that work like WordPress but are quick and cheaper. It too is in SOFTACULOUS.

Automad. Free. Beautiful. Fairly easy to operate. Allows you to make beautifully designed pages. Seems much better for an art site than a blog. Does have a learning curve. Very well made. Hope the dude who makes it stays alive. It is awesome. If we were real artists we'd be up in there for sure. Not in SOFTACULOUS. Must download it then upload it to your website using CPANEL site files tools.

Typemill. Free. Fairly easy to operate. Is set up to make blogging simple. Site design is less fixed then Bludit and more fixed than Automad. It too is in SOFTACULOUS.

**Datenstrom Yellow##. Free. Beautiful. Smart. Fast. Easy to use. That's what this site is made with. We love it. If this is your first time making a site, you might start with BludIt, but once you get the hang, Yellow is SOOOOO easy to use and make a lot of content with. We'll do a follow up post on it for sure.

Get websitin'!