By jove! I finished my knitting pattern website and uploaded it. It only took me two days to remember how to create a website and code it with html, so why did I wait almost two years to do it?!! I created my first website in 1999 / 2000 – have not updated it or done any fancy stuff to it. My new site : www.2knitwits.com is dedicated to knitting patterns. The site is very simple, abit old fashioned. I felt great when I tested it but uploading it was another story! I think the reason I waited so long to create a website for the patterns was because I was scared of ftp’s!!
I did not have to download any ftp program or buy any softwares. My daughter and hubby got me onto UNIX command to do the ftp’s. I got the hang of it after a few tries. The only disadvantage is that you have to ftp each individual file. I also learned that UNIX did not like spaces in your file names but having kids who know what they are doing is wonderful because I got out of renaming every file by putting the files in between quotation marks. Whew! that saved me hours. Then once it was uploaded to a server, I discovered so many errors, even though, when I tested it on my computer the site looked great. I felt so helpless, what shall I do now? A phone call to my husband at his work calmed me down. He said to check each line item and match every word and things are case sensitive.
So I spent hours debugging but then when I checked my site on Explorer it was not displayed the way it should be even though it looked great on Mozilla Fox. Woe is me – more debugging – hours. I found that Mozilla fox is more lenient but with Explorer you need to be more detailed in your coding and brackets have to be closed etc. finally, when both browses gave me the results I wanted, I emailed the url link to my friends to test it out for me. They all said that they could see pictures, links worked, everything looked great. I felt that I have achieved something and it is an awesome feeling! It means my grey matter is still ticking even though I retired about 11 years ago!!!! Well, it helps having a husband who understands UNIX and wonderful kids who helped mom with bits and bobs.
I like creating my own website because I have control over where I want to put pages, what to display and I don’t have to pay someone each time I want to update or up load pictures. I used www.webmonkey.com to get started years ago and I still refer to it today. It is such an awesome site – check it out. I also have one book that I refer to alot, “Creative Html Design” by Lynda and William Weinmann.
So check out my website and there may be knitters amongst you.
