website question

[Constabulary]

I´m not a website pro (really not) and don`t know how the back end looks like but are sure you sure your domain is linked to the correct folder where the website is stored? Hope you know what I mean? Maybe you have to change some folder permissions on this certain folder or a certain folder one level up. But don´t ask me for details I only recall I once had a similar problem with a forum I once ran.

 

[mikesc]

You don't have to delete your name from Godaddy..

Godaddy is not your host..they are your registrar.
neocities is ( or would be if it worked ) your host<= they are where the problem is.

You can keep the domain registered at Godaddy and either host with them ( a small site hosting deal with them used to cost only around $3.00 per month, with cpanel ) what you won't get for that price with them is a free SSL cert ( and GD don't offer the "letsencrypt" free SSL cert ) But, unless you wanted to run your own shopping cart? You wouldn't need SSL ( which is what gives you the "s" part of https )..you could sell via paypal buttons or similar on your site, the site can be hosted anywhere.

What you do need is not to be futtzing around with A records and so on, you need a hoster who tells you the nameservers to use and then when the request arrives to their name servers they sort it out and send it to the webspace that you have..

And preferably a hoster who uses cpanel because you'll find it much easier to use it than any of the other ways to administer a website...and whose support is phone based.

It isn't a problem of folder permissions.

It appears to be a problem with the back end of neocities..I'm not surprised that they haven't got back to you.

[One thing that I don't understand though..why are your links that you have posted here to your domain name all with the https and the www part in them ?]

When you buy a domain name ..you actually buy the base name.
I'll show you a simplified version of how it works.
(I'll use example.com because there are agreements in place that it can never be used , so it won't link anywhere and it will be easier to see how domain names work and how domain space is structured.I'll keep Godaddy.com as the example of a registrar, and use a fictitious company "somehoster.com" as the hosting company )

You go to Godaddy and you buy "example.com"

That is your domain name..not www.example.com..

People could reach your domain if you then host it anywhere just by typing in example.com

They don't need to type in any www or http , or https..if they just typed in example.com into their browser address bar, the browser would ask the DNS system where is example.com, and..if a nameserver is set up for it, the DNS system replies "it is over here / there" and the browsers request is forwarded to the space at somehoster.com where example.com is hosted.

[Btw..because "somehoster.com" is a real hoster ( unlike neocities ) you, and your visitors will never see their address in the address bar when you connect to your site..so no example.somehoster.com

The www part , or, public_html, as you'll see it written if you use FTP to connect to your site
is actually a folder at example.com. www and public_html are just two names for the same folder.

You can choose ( when you build your website à whether to have your pages and any associated files ) to have the part of your site that people see , in the www folder, or in the example folder ( this is called the "site root" ) ..most people choose to put their public facing files ( including their pages ) in the www folder.

( I actually always put mine in the site root on my domains, because , amongst other things, it is easier to tell people the site name as example.com, than it is to say www.example.com..Do you say facebook or do you say www.facebook.com ? )

So..you've bought example.com at GD..when you buy it they have it set to be using their own name servers ( they want to sell you hosting , so that is convenient, or they want to put ads on it if you are not using it) now you need somewhere to host it.

If you host with them then everything is already set up for it to work..you upload your files to the webspace ( it will usually default to the www or public_html folder ) your files are in place, GD know that you are using the domain name on their hosting, and the site works.

If you want to host with someone else.
You rent hosting space with someone else, the someone else tells you the nameservers ( they'll usually tell you two ) to use to input at your registrar -( in this case GD )..you upload your files to the webspace at somehoster.com ( again the upload will usually default to the www or public_html folder ) and then you go to GD, you click on "domain manager", you click on the "domain name", you click on "manage nameservers", you choose "use custom nameservers", you see two input fields, you put one ( and only one nameserver ( exactly as they. somehoster.com gave it to you ) into the one field, then you go to the field below it and put in the other nameserver ( again exactly as they.somehoster.com gave it to you ) you don't add http or https or anything else ..you choose "save"..and you give it an hour or so..

Then you open up your browser, and you type into the address bar..the name of your domain
example.com you don't put http or https..just example.com
you hit enter..

If you site opens up fine, look at the address bar..
if it says
example.com
then your site is in the "domain root"
if it says www.example.com
then your site is in the www or the public_html folder..

Sometimes what might happen is that you'll put your files into the www or public_html folder and when you type in example.com the server may not be set up to "redirect" the browser request to that folder..
This will mean that if you put in example.com..you'll get nothing
But if you put in www.example.com.. your site will work

If that happens, ask your hoster to redirect ( that "redirect" is the term ) example.com requests to www.example.com
( you can do it yourself in various ways, but if I begin explaining how, you'll be way out of your depth, and your eyes would glaze over )


ps..Wherever you host..don't host on windows..it will make your life way more complicated than it needs to be.

Edited November 4, 2017 by mikesc

[Billsotx]

Thanks Mike, you break this down where it makes a lot more sense. I had used cpanel before and I was trying to avoid it. It was always a guess as to what I was doing. I'll look into it again. I took one more shot at neocities as your explanation made that A-record neocities thing on their little panel more clear to me. It's done for the last time, I'll let it sit for a few days and look into cpanel.

I appreciate you spending some much time helping me out. 

[mikesc]

If there is anything that you are not sure about on cpanel ( you want to do something but don't know how to , or where you should click ) ..or you are wondering " what happens if I click this". Ask in here :) ..

There are others here who have been doing this IT "thing" for a long time too..Some like wiz for example run website building ( and maybe hosting ? ) as a business..Like with the leatherwork, some here do it as a hobby, for some of us it is our business, or as in my case it is one of my businesses.

I don't build websites or write scripts or programs etc for anyone else now ( except very occasionally for friends in exchange for things like firewood and wood for sculpture ), nor do I sell hosting now ( I did for a while, but , it needs someone watching over it 24/7/365..and IMO doesn't pay well enough, nor is it interesting ) , I ( as mentioned above ), did, and do "consult" around IT sometimes..When I was hosting it was to help out friends who need hosting but had no idea how to do any of this..I like cpanel hosting because it is simple ( although cpanel writes some kludgy automated scripts to htaccess and such ) to explain , and it has ( at the layer above it ) WHM, which means that as a hoster you don't have to deal with two different kinds of "logic patterns" ..What the hoster sees is laid out almost the same as what the site owner sees.In my experience ( and that of almost all hosters ) it is the simplest and most efficient "point and click" site admin / control interface to offer to a user..and when you are a hoster it has built in auto billing etc , which makes managing the money easier.

If you are developing your site yourself ( rather than using a website builder of some sort, or having someone build your site for you ) then I'd recommend installing a free( as in beer ) Bitnami "wamp" , "lamp" or "mamp" server "stack" on your home computer..you can get them in a windows version, a linux version, a mac version etc..you won't get cpanel , but what you will get is a server on your own computer where you can build and test your pages and your website before you upload it to your hoster, It will match 99% of the apache servers that hosters offer. Same structure, database sytem etc..

Bitnami stuff is one click install..just make a note in a little book of any passwords etc that you create during installation.

They also make "one click installers" of ready made website shops such as prestashop..so you can build your shop "offline" and then upload it to wherever you are hosted.

A lot of hosters who offer cpanel have included within it the one click installers for shops such as prestashop.
It will install a shop that will work "out of the box" on desktops, tablets and smart phones, and allow very easy configuring, personalisation and updating of what you sell.

The documentation of the bitnami system and of prestashop is very comprehensive and clear.

Bitnami have other "modules" such as wordpress installers, drupal, magento etc..wordpress looks easy, and is a security nightmare, drupal is not much better, and magento is overkill for 99.9% of all webshops.

For most website owners, "flat files" ( pages written in html ) and with their accompanying images , css, some javascript and some php ( maybe ) is all that you need..unless you want it to work as a shop..in which case..I'd again recommend prestashop..it is free , it is reasonably secure ( nothing is 100% secure ), the documentation is good, it has a huge community that is very helpfull, it is easily customisable, and it is easy to understand for a non programmer.