Casually considering own website?

[muchluv]

It's summer, and as a student, I have a lot of time off and I am casually considering making my own website as a summer project as I have learnt how to use Photoshop and dreamweaver together before.

I wonder if anyone can give me any tips? I'm mostly worried about things I could get in trouble with - legal stuff, also website protection?

[vCLaW]

What will the website be about?

I don't know what sort of legal stuff you are worried about? Unless you are nicking pictures or some other sort of copyright infringement, so best to avoid doing that sort of thing. Or if the website is libellous somehow...
I'm also not sure what you mean by website protection?

Also, depending on what sort of website you are making, you could consider using a Content Management System (CMS). It would make it easier to create / maintain pages etc, instead of just using Dreamweaver.
eg Wordpress is very easy to install, and can be customised so it doesn't just look like a blog. Or Drupal or Joomla are other popular CMS, possibly more powerful but more complicated to set up.

[Rochellita]

I'd recommend Wordpress, Joomla is really complex and I wouldn't go near it for a small personal website.

[israel]

What about blogger ?

[penguin]

I wonder if anyone can give me any tips?

You should think little about what website is about and what content there will be. Remember to update the site, regular updates keeps the content fresh.

I'm mostly worried about things I could get in trouble with - legal stuff, also website protection?

Legal stuff you should not worry if you just produce all the content by yourself and only link to content on other websites.

Website protection? you mean security? If you use some content management system (CMS) remember to do all the security updates! wordpress is quite easy to use, and to update. Also remember to take regular backups in case something goes wrong, at least before doing updates to the CMS.

You can also use some web services which do all the hosting for you, if you do not have any special features you need. For example wordpress.com or blogger.com

[barnz2k]

I love wordpress, and if you host it yourself you get complete control and access to literally thousands of themes. So you can start with one you like and modify it be your unique taste..