I received a lot of great feedback after I redesigned the site. I’ve also had questions about what it takes to set up a site like this one. Here is a description of what I use as well as alternatives you might consider.

First, you need to consider how comfortable you are working with a web server (i.e., basic FTP, application installation, and permissions), how much money you want to spend, and the quality of media you want to include on your site.

• You’ll probably want to register a domain name (your site address); this costs $8-10/year but is sometimes free with a paid web hosting package.
• If you’re interested in providing visitors with free print-quality photos or high-quality video, you’ll want your own web hosting service. I’ve been using AN Hosting (a subsidiary of MidPhase) – their prices are awesome and the customer service is the best I’ve ever experienced. I pay about $90/year for 200GB of space, unlimited MySQL databases, and lots of other features.
• Host or no, I prefer WordPress for blogging. This is what you use to write entries and pages. It’s free, easy to set up, easy to use, and is (with a host) very extensible with plugins and widgets. Blogger also offers free blog accounts.
• For photos, I’ve found Gallery is the best open source (free) photo gallery software. Without a host, you could open a free Flickr or PhotoBucket account to share your photos. Both allow you to restrict who views your albums and embed photos within blog posts, but images aren’t high enough resolution for quality prints.
• I upload the videos then embed them within blog posts. Without a host, you could use YouTube to launch lower-quality videos and embed them in your posts.

So there you go. Free or for a moderate cost, you can start sharing news, ideas, links, photos, and videos with the world.

Bottom Line: start simply. Open free WordPress and Flickr accounts. Upload a couple photos, then write a few posts about what is happening in your world. Then, if you want to do more, look into the other options I listed above. Most of all, have fun!!