n0mis
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Post by n0mis on Jul 28, 2022 12:20:53 GMT
I want to have a website with a domain name to showcase my portfolio, media related work I have created. I had a free WIX page I used back at university with all my work and had a look at the naff free url you get but you need a paid-for monthly type account to link to a domain, similar with Weebly. Can anyone advise on a nice easy site where I can create a WYSIWYG page, which I wouldn't have a monthly fee. Had a look around a Google themselves have one but seems very basic, others like SquareSpace have a free trial then a fee. What is the best process of then buying and linking it to a domain? So when I give someone johnsmith.co.uk it would transfer to the www.johnsmith.freewebsite.co.uk content. I see online people mention porkbun and namecheap and loads more for domain purchases but I have no idea on the best process etc. I would not need email with the domain to have email forwarding or anything, I'm fine with the Gmail address I have. Thanks |
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Post by snackplissken on Jul 28, 2022 12:36:51 GMT
GeoCities
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Post by dfunked on Jul 28, 2022 12:43:40 GMT
Namecheap work ok for me for the domain registration/DNS side of things. Cheap and cheerful. They should have dedicated settings for website redirects that'll still show your proper domain name IIRC, although probably neater to just fully redirect to the free provider if you don't mind people seeing that address.
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gamecat
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Alone Again with the Dawn Coming Up
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Post by gamecat on Jul 28, 2022 12:51:35 GMT
if you can install Wordpress, then there are load of free themes available
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n0mis
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Post by n0mis on Jul 28, 2022 12:54:37 GMT
Namecheap work ok for me for the domain registration/DNS side of things. Cheap and cheerful. They should have dedicated settings for website redirects that'll still show your proper domain name IIRC, although probably neater to just fully redirect to the free provider if you don't mind people seeing that address. Thanks for the response. So if I use Namecheap for example, they would just be for the domain name itself right? ie johnsmith.co.uk. They don't provide webspace as well for me to create the site I want to make? I would need to create it else where and then on the free site, add the Namecheap DNS settings for the redirect? If possible, prefer the viewer to always see the domain name in the browser whey they input it and view the content I have made on the free site or wherever I can make it. Hopefully this makes sense, sorry for the basic queries. Where would be best to create the website itself? Can I just create it using Googles sites, as it seems to do want I want, then purchase a domain from Namecheap and link it to it? |
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Post by dfunked on Jul 28, 2022 13:30:30 GMT
In fairness it sounds like just finding someone who does everything under one roof would be less faff (domain registrar and free site hosting), but no idea who's good for that unfortunately.
The issue you'd probably run into with using X for domain registration and DNS and Y for site hosting is that you won't be able to get HTTPS working without a dirty certificate error.
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Jul 28, 2022 13:41:44 GMT
Namecheap or Cloudflare for DNS servers and pages.github.com/Namecheap and Cloudflare can both redirect your domain apex (e.g. johnsmith.co.uk) to the github pages url so that your customer never sees the github url. Not all DNS services can redirect the domain apex, so for some you will have to make a www. subdomain, but I know that Namecheap and Cloudflare can do it because I've already done it with them.
To make the actual website, you could use getpublii.com/ it has a github pages integration. |
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Post by dfunked on Jul 28, 2022 13:56:04 GMT
Just having a look at infinityfree and that'll let you use a domain you've registered elsewhere. Just need to point nameservers on namecheap (or whatever) to infinityfree's ones.
Same kind of thing for GitHub mentioned above.
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n0mis
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Posts: 60
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Post by n0mis on Jul 28, 2022 14:30:51 GMT
Thanks for all the information and suggestions, looking at Google sites and it seems decent for what I need. After I checked this below help video, it seems to suggest that with Google sites, you can link / buy a domain and if you type in johnsmith.co.uk it will stay with that address and not show the unfriendly sites.google.com/view/johnsmith which it directs to. Is that right? |
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askew
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Post by askew on Jul 28, 2022 16:32:06 GMT
That would be my understanding.
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n0mis
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Post by n0mis on Jul 29, 2022 15:35:16 GMT
I decided to create my site on Google sites and I bought my domain via namecheap. Earlier I went through this process and it still states it can't be verified, when I do Step 4. It was about seven hours ago I did it. Not sure if I have done anything incorrect or not, copied the TXT record exactly and double checked it. Removed image  |
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Post by dfunked on Jul 29, 2022 15:44:58 GMT
Weird. Looks OK...
Could be worth checking if the records show up on a site like mxtoolbox, but 7 hours is definitely more than enough time.
I've got a test domain I can try it with in a bit.
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dogbot
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Post by dogbot on Jul 29, 2022 16:03:40 GMT
You could try without the @.
TXT records often work on bare domains.
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Jul 29, 2022 16:41:35 GMT
Which is the domainname you purchased? I can check with dig if your txt record shows up. If not, make sure you actually click "save all changes". If it then still doesn't work, you'll probably have to contact namecheap.
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n0mis
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Post by n0mis on Jul 29, 2022 17:20:54 GMT
Which is the domainname you purchased? I can check with dig if your txt record shows up. If not, make sure you actually click "save all changes". If it then still doesn't work, you'll probably have to contact namecheap. I've sent you a DM. |
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n0mis
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Post by n0mis on Jul 29, 2022 17:26:43 GMT
You could try without the @. TXT records often work on bare domains. Just tried and it would not allow that section to be blank, needed an input in the Host field. Thanks for the suggestion though  |
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Jul 29, 2022 17:40:25 GMT
The records look fine with dig, so not sure what's up.
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Post by dfunked on Jul 29, 2022 17:51:41 GMT
Seems to be failing to verify on mine too when explicitly following the instructions. Just tried changing the record on namecheap to www instead of @ for the lols and that seemed to do the trick.
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Jul 29, 2022 18:05:19 GMT
Yeah it seems if you're using www subdomain in google, it also wants the TXT entry for the www subdomain.
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dogbot
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Post by dogbot on Jul 29, 2022 18:05:50 GMT
Ah. Some host want you to verify both the domain itself and any A/CNAME records you might be using too. Kinda overkill. Glad you got it working. |
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n0mis
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Post by n0mis on Jul 30, 2022 9:47:32 GMT
Quick update, was able to resolve this. Double checked the settings on the Domain sites dashboard and adjusted the CNAME to an ALIAS record and it sorted the problem.
Thanks for the posts and guidance.
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Jul 30, 2022 11:52:57 GMT
So what is your current setup? An ALIAS for @ to your google sites url and a TXT entry for @ with your google verification code?
It is my understanding that you only have to use ALIAS if you want to redirect the domain apex, not for subdomains like www.
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n0mis
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Posts: 60
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Post by n0mis on Jul 30, 2022 12:20:21 GMT
So what is your current setup? An ALIAS for @ to your google sites url and a TXT entry for @ with your google verification code? It is my understanding that you only have to use ALIAS if you want to redirect the domain apex, not for subdomains like www. I only had the TXT Record, so I could verify the domain with Google sites. Now just have a ALIAS Record (www Host) for the ghs.googlehosted.com. and URL Redirect Record (@ Host) for the domain I have. Hopefully that is enough and will not encounter any issues going forward. |
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Jul 30, 2022 13:03:00 GMT
Well, I guess the important thing is that it works |
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