A few people I have talked to have assumed I know a lot about web development… the honest truth is I’m not bad… but I’m not all that great either… I just know more than the average guy about stuff that you can use that is easy.  This is info I would like to share with you all now to make sure you can design and build your own guild web page from pre-made parts that are highly customizable… think of it as getting the brownie mix at the grocery store… you can go 2 or 3 eggs… more or less oil… but it’s still semi-pre-made.

First things first… you need a domain name.

www.godaddy.com

register a domain name there it is like $9 a year… I think $40 for 2 if you want it private… but the main things are

1.) It’s cheap

2.) It’s not tied to a host… a host will screw with you at times and refuse to transfer your domain name in a timely manor this makes you renew for another year… next year they will repeat the process… having the name separate causes some minor hassle now… but saves a TREMENDOUS amount later… I have been burned TWICE… don’t fall into that trap.

Next you need a host…

www.hostgator.com
$6.95/mth will get you A LOT of space and bandwidth for a guild site... overkill IMHO but better to be over than under.  It’s hard to find anything cheaper that is reliable.

Now you need a couple web admin tools.

http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/ - Filezilla FTP Client- FREE
http://www.gimp.org/windows/ - GIMP  a freeware photoshop type program - FREE

Now you need to pick your website software…

www.simplemachines.org = SMF forums – FREE

Then
www.tinyportal.net = a news page mod with links etc that attaches into SMF – FREE
Or
www.joomla.org = a news page mod with links etc that can stand alone from SMF or can be combined. (I use this on vgbards as stand alone)

*** then if you want you can combine SMF and Joomla using :
*** http://www.joomlahacks.com/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,41/func,select/id,13/
*** But I recommend that for people with more experience… it’s not rough… but it’s not really for beginners either.

That’s the basics right there… the core of a very healthy site.

At that point you might want a few more features.
http://www.tufat.com/s_flash_chat_chatroom.htm = Flashchat just like this site $5 for the license.
http://coppermine-gallery.net/ - Coppermine Gallery (photos or screenshots) - FREE

At this point you have everything you need for like $9/year for the domain, $7/mth for the site, and $5 for the software… that’s CHEAP.