New tutorial on formatting with styles: http://www.alphaorganicmedia.com/tutorial/
DIY Website June 5, 2009
I have decided to build this tutorial for anyone who does not have the time or money to make a clean and presentable website. The method that I am about to teach is you cheap and efficient. You will not have to hire a web designer and I will be teaching you everything you need to know about back end web development in order to build your very own webpage. The method I will be teaching is through the WordPress software which is a great tool for managing a website in blog format with a variety different customizable themes.
Step 1: Get a Name and Host
Lets begin by getting you, your very own domain name and hosting server. My suggestion is to do both the domain name and hosting with the same company. I am currently using www.totalchoicehosting.com as they have been reliable and cheap and for the purpose of this tutorial we will be using their site map to navigate.
Note: The hosting is optional but is recommended if you plan on customizing your webpage. If you don’t want to you can skip this tutorial after step 2 and visit www.wordpress.com
On the total choice web page you will click services>domain
Here search if your domain name is available at the “Search for Domain” bar.
Once you have chosen a domain name you can choose your package price that suits your needs and budget by following their step by step guide.
Next you will need to host your website to attach your domain name too. Return to the hosting provider page and choose a hosting plan that is suitable to your needs. If you are unsure what some of the information that they are giving you is here is the basic selling point. If you plan on hosting a large page that you believe will have a lot of traffic you will need more space and bandwidth and therefore a higher package with a higher price. For today we will suggest that you are unsure of how much traffic you will receive at the beginning and your web page space usage is kept at a minimum. Follow the step by step process provided by the site to purchase your hosting service.
Note: In the future when visiting your webpage you receive an error message, it is most likely that there is too much traffic and you have ran out of bandwidth usage. It’s time for an upgrade.
After the purchase is made you will receive an e-mail with all the information you will need for the next step.
Step 2: Set Up Server and Domain
In your e-mail your e-mail from your hosting provider you will be given a username and password that is attached the server will you will host your website. It will look something like this http://almania.tchmachines.com/yourusername. You will log into your server will hopefully if you chose another hosting provider there is a Graphic User Interface (GUI) that is user friendly. CPanel is the GUI we will be using for this tutorial.
Once logged in look for a “Domains” section (or something similar) then section where you can “redirect”
In the redirect section you will be given the option to choose the domain name you just purchased and redirect it to your hosting server. In this case our hosting server is http://almania.tchmachines.com/yourusername. Save this change and return to the main menu.
Step 3: Install WordPress
Here is where it gets somewhat tricky so take your time in reading the next instructions.
Our approach to building your website will be to find an appropriate theme from the internet. No programing required! Before we go ahead on finding a theme however we need to set up WordPress on your new server.
Note: For the purpose of this tutorial we will be using a WordPress based website for its user friendly attributes.
Google search “Download WordPress” or try visiting http://wordpress.org/download/
Once downloaded take some time in reading their instructions on installation. It will require you to go to your File Manager from your server GUI which should look something like this.
Once in file manager choose the public directory for this is the directory that is accessible by visitors to your webpage and minimize this page for now.
Click http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress for instruction on installing wordpress on your server.
ATTN: The wordpress installation tutorial will provide instructions on working with your server and files to install files. Look for links that will direct you to more sub tutorials for SQL set up and PHP config.
Once this is complete you can return to the redirect page of you server GUI and change the redirect to http://almania.tchmachines.com/yourusername/wordpress where “wordpress” is the name of the folder where wordpress in now contained.
Step 4: Upload Theme and Log Into WordPress
Google search wordpress themes and find a suitable theme that you would like to use for your page, preferably one that will give you as many options as you need for your websites purpose (i.e. one with a banner)
Once the file has been downloaded return to file manager and upload the file to the wordpress>wp-content>themes folder. Right click the file after it is uploaded and extract it.
Next visit your http://almania.tchmachines.com/yourusername/wordpress and on the home page find the admin link and click it, this should take you to a login page. Your login would of been provided to you when installing wordpress. Most likely you have done this already.
You are now in the wordpress GUI where you will do all your website editing quickly and easily. Later take some time to learn all the tools available to you.
Click the Appearnce Tab>Themes. You should now see the newly uploaded theme as an option. Select it and choose apply.
Congrats! You now have your own webpage.
From here you still have a few more options.
Step 5 (optional): Advanced Customization
If you are unsatisfied with the available themes don’t get disappointed yet. You can still modify your themes.
Within the themes folders that you have downloaded there should be a “style” file. Make a copy of this file and open in with your favourite text editor.
In here you will see a page of code where you can modify colours, borders, and so on. You may need to know some programing knowledge at this point but don’t get discouraged yet. Changing colours and border lengths are easy.
To change colours hit ctrl+f to bring up a search window, type # and find next. You will be brought to a part of the page where # is located. Beside the # there will be a combination of letters and numbers. This combination is what defines the colour you see. Surrounding the colour should be some information on what the colour is for in the theme, if you are still not sure you can copy the colour code into Google or a program like Photoshop to view the colour and then you can choose a new colour code to replace it. I would recommend clicking the replace tab in the search window where you searched for # and typing in the new colour code and replace all of the old colour code. Repeat this process for all the colours you find.
You can do the same by searching for border then changing the border thickness by changing the px. number which defines the amount of pixels.
Experiment with all the different values you find to continue modifying your new theme until is is the way you like. To view the new theme keep uploading the new “style” file to where it is located on your server and changing the theme.
Here is a link to another similar tutorial: http://richardmuscat.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/using-wordpress-as-a-cms-step-by-step-tutorial/
Convert DVD to Any Video Format March 13, 2009
This tutorial has been created and is recommended for our clients who need their dvd’s converted to video format to be edited.
(to download word format right here“)
Convert DVD to Video Format:
HD Video (inc. AVCHD, MPEG-2 HD and WMV HD), TOD, MOD, M2TS, AVI (DivX, Xvid, etc.), MP4 (inc. Sony PSP and Apple iPod), WMV, 3GP, QuickTime (MOV, QT), SWF, DVD, VOB, VRO, MPEG-1, 2, 4, H.263, H.264, Real Video, DVR-MS, MKV, FLV
This tutorial will help you convert you DVD’s to a video format of your choice. By doing so you can upload any movie to your phone, mp3 player, and/or handheld gaming device.
There are two software application you will need to help you do the conversions.
Step 1: Download the applications you will need.
First you will need “DVD Decrypter”. Open your browser and search for “DVD Decrypter” in Google.
Click the first link that appears in your search..
Next click the download “setupDVDDecrypter” link to download the application. (note that this application is free for all users)
Second you will need a program called AVS Converter. This is free to download but there is a fee to use the software without having the AVS logo watermarked on your video. We would not recommend finding a version of this software from a p2p site where friends of the general public have offered to share with you their versions of the software.
To download “AVS Converter” search “AVS Converter” in your google search bar and click the first link.
Once you have entered the site click “download” and save the application to your hard drive.
Now that you have download the software it is time to install.
Step 2: Install the Applications
Now it is time to locate the applications you have just downloaded and to install. You may choose to skip this step if you are comfortable enough to install the sofware on your own.
First let us install DVD Encrypter. Once loacted double click the file named “dc_setup”
Some of you may be prompted a security warning.
Just ignore this and click Run.
From here follow the on screen instructions bu clicking next, I Agree, choosing the installation location, until you see the “Finish screen which should look something like this. Do not launch the program yet.
Now locate the Avs Installer which should be called “AVSVideoConverter”
Once again, similar to the first installation, follow the on screen instructions until you reach the finish screen which should look something like this. Do not launch the progam yet.
Now that we have the software installed it is time to convert a video.
Step 3: Convert DVD to Video
First openn up DVD Encrypter sofware you just installed by going to Start>All Programs>DVD Decrypter>DVD Decrypter
Once open insert a DVD into your DVD ROM and select the same DVD ROM as your source in the DVD Decrypter software. Next select the destination where you would like to save the converted DVD video.
Now the only thing to do is click the decrypt icon (hard drive) and go grab a glass of milk and watch a movie. This will take approximately the same amount of time as the length of the DVD you are decrypting.
Note: The DVD Decrypter will only decrypt the DVD to a VOB format. If you want to watch the DVD in this format I would recommend downloading VLC player. Click here for tutorial on installing VLC player.
Step 4: Convert to proper video format of your need (optional)
In this step we will be converting your new .VOB DVD video file to a different format to suit your needs.
First open up AVS Converter by going to your Start>Programs>AVS4YOU>Video>Avs Video Converter
Once open select the video format you which to convert to from the top menu bar. Then browse for the file you which to convert by clicking the browse button beside the input box. Below select the output folder and file name.
The profile button will show a drop down menu of all the conversion qualities you will need depending on the purpose the video will be used for. For the most part if you are converting for your ipod it will say ipod beside the profile conversion type.
For those users converting for Adobe Premiere, the best type I found was MOV type file with the Quick Time DVD quality profile selected as seen below
If you feel you have any suggestions or questions please feel free to post a comment below.
-Alpha Organic
