Easiest way to create a free webpage (or three)

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I couldn't spot a better one.

I have a seven year old son, who wants to have some form of internet 'site'. The kind of things he'll want to do are to put up a few pictures and have some space to ramble on about his favourite stuff.

I am very non-technical, so it has to be very easy to set up.
It also has to be completely free, ie no special software required, or payments for hosting.
Ideally it will have no advertising, or at least very discreet, and definitely no pop-ups, or anything 'questionable', including gambling.
(plus it would also have to be 'view only' for other people, ie. no ability for people to send messages to my son, or in any way interact with him online)

I would be very grateful for any advice re: solutions to this.
I have tried to ignore it and hope it goes away, but he won't let it drop!

Thanks.

 

Would something like "Myspace" be an option?
Not sure what their policy on advertising is with regards to gambling but it doesn't seem to have any "adult" type advertising. Myspace is completely free and there are options in the privacy settings to prevent people from contacting him, etc. Great for photos, blogging and the like?
Just a suggestion!!!

 

Thanks for the suggestion!
I haven't looked at Myspace.
I have just a little experience with Facebook, which worries me regarding the contact angle (after all, it IS a networking site!), and the format is too restrictive.
My son envisages that his 'site' could operate a little bit like the sites he visits, eg, there would be a home page, which could link to sub-pages, about Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Club Penguin or whatever.

 

Myspace is less restrictive than Facebook, you can choose your own layout and background, you can add blogs and other pages to it and upload pictures into albums. It is also free, you can also remove the "email user" function so that no one can send him any messages - which would be ideal.
You can also do this on FaceBook but as you mentioned this has no facility to customise a page. With Myspace you can actually get a custom url which is a bit better than Facebook!

 

Thanks again, I'll have a look.

 

First, I suggest inquiring from your ISP about free space for a personal website. Some ISPs offer this and you may not know about it unless search their website or ask their support people.

Another option is Yahoo's GeoCities Free. Your son could create web pages here. The home page address would be something like http://www.geocities.com/mysite/index.html. I think would be a good choice for your son.

Now, he you were going to register a domain name so that your had his very own domain, such as www.mysite.com, you would have to pay a fee for domain name registration (I recommend www.godaddy.com for this), but you could still get free web hosting at http://www.110mb.com/

 

im with plodr on this, myspace is not for kids...i would suggest that you start your own site, and let your son help create it, but make sure it's yours first....even kid sites that require parents permission, are not guaranteed to be kid only...

 

Check out this site. East & quick. Fairly fast loading. http://www.own-free-website.com/. I say no to Myspace And he would have to lie about his age. No one under 13 I believe. Or a popular one is http://pbwiki.com/personal.wiki Hope this helps

 

I agree with the above about MySpace - it's a dangerous place. I have had first hand experience with my daughter, and some nasty denizens of that place.

No matter where you choose, the best protection is education. Make sure he understands that there ARE bad people out there, and that they WILL be looking for personal information, so that they can find you/him. Paranoia? - yeah, a little bit. But better safe, and paranoid, than ignorant, and in danger. My son has a website on my friend's server. He started when he was 8 years old. We have several rules.

1. No personally identifiable information, beyond his first name. (no phone, address, b-day, last name, etc.) Not even city or state.
2. No email or other contact with strangers. (Our family is stretched across the midwest, so we use email to share photos, and current events.)
3. If he has any questions, concerns, or fears, come talk to me, immediately.

The internet is a wonderful, and dangerous place. Like a walk in the jungle, it can be filled with wonder and amazement, or lions and tigers. Still, it only takes some education to help your son navigate, safely. Treat the education process in much the same way that they teach the DARE program in schools, and he should be fine.

Good luck!

 

Thanks very much to all, especially regarding safety issues.

Meadowmuffin: have started a site on own-free-website. Seems to be just the sort of thing I was after :clap

 

Spent a couple of hours on it today, looks quite respectable, and he's delighted.

For the time being, I'm asking him for his ideas of what he wants and putting it in the site, so he can't post independently.

Thanks again.

 

plodr, when I received email notification of your last post, it contained a link to the clapping hands. I clicked on the link and was taken to http://file.walagata.com/w/perk/clap.gif. To my surprise, browser is showing an animated favicon.

I've never seen that before and I think it's very cool. I know how to created a still favicon but not an amimated one. I have to ask, how did you do it? And, what directory did you upload it to to make it appear at http://file.walagata.com/w/perk/clap.gif?