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A Web site is a very low cost way of providing information about your group to the World at large and acting as a notice board for members. Access can be obtained (usually for free) in public libraries if members don't have the necessary technology at home.
There are 3 things that you need to establish a Web Site:
Sufficient space on a Web Serve
Most Internet Service Providers allocate space on the server for their customers to establish web sites but the majority of users do not take advantage of this. The allocation to a single individual is often quite generous (orange provides 150mb of free space) and is more than enough to set up a simple site for a group.
Alternatively there are some hosting companies that provide free space. Bravehost provides 50 mb of space but you have to accept some advertising. An alternative is FreeVirtualServers that offer 100mb of webspace subject to you providing a link on your website back to them.
One disadvantage of this route is that your group will end up with a somewhat strange internet address such as "http://mygroup.myisp.com/individualname/HumGroupHome.html" or "http://yourgroup.bravehost.com".
If your groups would like to have its own distinctive Web address such as www.humgroups.org.uk then you will need to pay for a registration. If you are prepared to have an advert on all your web pages this won't cost more than a few pounds, however as with most things in life you get what you pay for. You might like to check out the availability and costs of registration with the following :
A means of creating a Web page
The easiest way of creating a web page (for beginners) is probably simply to type it into your word processor and save as an ".html" file type rather than ".doc". Most modern word processors provide this option today and provide an Internet Tool bar to allow you to insert links together with the necessary instructions in the help file.
A particularly good site for coaching in HTML and building web sites should you wish to move on from just publishing a simple page is HTMLisEasy.com. You might also find an editor that assists with HTML useful and there are two very good free ones, Kompozer that you can download from www.kompozer.net and 1st Page 2000 from Evrsoft.Loading the Web page(s) to the Server
For this you need a file transfer programme. Kompozer has this built in and if you use Firefox as your browser (highly recommended) your can use Fireftp. If you are using a slow connection and these files are too big for you to download, please contact John Catt and he will try and send you the files on CD.
Summary
There is no magic involved in producing a web site. A Basic page is very easy to produce and even without links it can be the equivalent of a poster on the Web. Make sure you register the site with the BHA so that they can add it to your group details and the "search engines" will pick this up in due course and you should find that anyone typing in your locality and humanism will find the site featuring in the results.
If you need any additional help, then Sue Lord who is WebMaster of www.secularsites.freeuk.com has offered to provide assistance and even build sites (provided time allows).
Building a site can be quite a challenge and also provide considerable satisfaction when you can see the finished result. Enjoy yourselves.