Home on the Web
Written: Dec 19 '00 (Updated Dec 19 '00)
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Pros: Free, Options of HTML Editors, Commercial Sites Permitted, Password Protection Option
Cons: Resource Utilization of Site Builder
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| bobstein's Full Review: Homestead.com |
As a member of the Greater Orlando Chapter of American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants (AALNC) I took on the challenge of getting our Chapter on the web. Without any webmaster experience, I decided to start with a template style web site available for free on another site. While I cannot complain about the web presence that the other site provided, I was frustrated by the limitations of their fill-in-the-blank template system. My frustration took me on a search for a new web home that allowed more freedom and yet remained free. My searching ended when I found homestead.com.
Homestead.com provides free web sites and allows you the freedom to choose pages created from their template style "Site Builder" or import existing html pages. They even allow you to mix and match between the two making the site an appropriate fit for those with no html code writing experience up to advanced users.
The Homestead "Site Builder" is their own editing tool which can be used on or off line. The only drawback to having a Homestead.com web site that I have experienced is the amount of resources the "Site Builder" uses. Even with a fast RAM heavy PC the "Site Builder" will noticeably slow down your processing.
Since the web site is free to use, Homestead.com is sponsored by advertisers and partnerships with other (usually free) web services. They have incorporated a number of gadgets (they call them "elements") of things you can add to your pages created with their "Site Builder".
One of the challenges of having a web site for an organization is in deciding how much information to put on your web site. Not enough info, and no one bothers to visit. Too much info and no one bothers to join your organization since everything is free online. One of the features available on Homestead.com that I especially like is the ability to password protect a page, set of pages, or an entire web site. This effectively eliminates the worry about site content. All information can go online, but features that are considered a benefit of membership are password protected to maintain and enhance the value of membership.
Each web site (you can have as many different sites as you wish) is allocated 16 MB of disk space. That is more than enough space for even the most graphics laden web sites. Not to go off on a tangent here, but I also noted that it is twice to four times more space than is allowed by most other free sites.
Assistance is offered in building and promoting your web site. Links are provided to all major search engines and directories for site submission. There is also a section that walks you through setting up a commercial web site to sell your products online.
I have been so pleased with Homestead.com overall that I and am in the process of relocating my own commercial site to them. I highly recommend Homestead.com!
Robert W. Stein, III, RN, MSHA, CHE
bobstein@legalnurseconsultingservices.com
http://legalnurseconsultingservices.com
Recommended:
Yes
Hosted on Secure Server: No
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Epinions.com ID:
bobstein
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Member: Robert Stein
Location: St. Cloud, Florida
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 10 members
About Me:
Bob is president of LeNurse, Inc. located in Saint Cloud, Florida
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