Two Questions

[Amethyst Star]

1. I'm hoping to set up a website where people can see more information and updates related to my upcoming trip. Is there a good free host where I could build it? It doesn't have to be super-spectacular, just reliable. 2. I'm also hoping to compile a group of e-mail contacts. I have a document in Microsoft Excel with the names and e-mail addresses, but is there an easy way to make a group without putting in each contact one at a time? Thanks for your help!

[Merlock]

Well, I imagine with the latest craze in blogging, perhaps the best "web site" for such a purpose would indeed be a blog. I'm not experienced in the matter but apparently you can set one up for free here. And as for an e-mail contact group, there are a number of places you can set it up, like Yahoo! Groups and MSN Groups, which allow you to organise a group to exchange e-mails and such but, in essence, perhaps it would be best to just send out e-mails to all those addresses and inform them of a new blog? That way they can visit it and leave comments instead of going to a separate group page to interact (unless the site and the group are for two different purposes).

[ninja9578]

freewebs.com seems top be the standard for free web hosting. It's reliable, just not all that fast.

[Man of Steel]

I can second FreeWebs, it's what I use for my stories.

[Adam]

Yep Merlock is right, you would more than likely want to set up a blog - its the new craze, okay well not new but everyne is doing it and it is an easy way for your friends to keep up to date with your trip etc... As for the email addresses (and I might be guessing here) could you not export as a txt file and import into outlook or something like that?

[pj]

blogspot.com seems to be a popular spot for blogging. I'd offer to set you up something, but the spammers have pretty well killed my interest in trying to run blogs on my servers. The two that I was hosting were taken down after the new year after a long battle.

[Barns]

If you have Windows Vista then it has its own Blogging program tie-ins

[Ynot]

If you have Windows Vista Thou shalt not blaspheme in the house of the Tech Be gone foul demon

[ninja9578]

If you have Windows Vista then it has its own Blogging program tie-ins Going along with Ynot: if you have Vista I wouldn't recommend using Freewebs. I would recommend throwing the computer really hard against the wall.