al's needed web site

[Al Rabe]

Al Rabe could use some help to create a free web site to make available his Al's Models 4 DVD to any and all interested modelers.

 

After a couple of years of selling DVDs, about 6 months ago I decided to make the entire 187,000 word 1600 color photos free to anyone making a single click on a this post on Stuka Stunt forum.

 

The one click post is still available here on Stunthangar

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkHUtj971Jgk_k-N5vVQX_as0dcVexiz4

 

This ready access to the entire DVD contents is available here and now, but I had hoped for even greater distribution of the contents to any modelers, wherever their modeling interest.  There is more than 100,000 words on building and painting balsa models which can be applied to most any type of models.  I just wanted to say that the information is there and cost nothing.  Why not take a look?

 

What now?  I was glad to get the word out to more than a thousand control line stunt flyers but it lacked the general impact hoped for. Whenever my DVD was opened, readers were also exposed to YouTube which offered thousands of free video clips which competed with my DVD.  This diminished my goal of helping anyone interested reading about model airplanes in general or finding useful techniques and technology which can be applied to models in general.

 

 The one click post above works only on the Stunt hangar thread.  My site would open only as a specific site on the web using my web site by name.

 

I would like to have a web site which opened only to a title based on my name and DVD.  I would add nothing to the Al's Model 4 DVD and contribute nothing more.  The DVD video would stand alone without the possibility of communication or comment.  I wouldn't consider any modification to the name of my site which included any possibility of reaching other sites.

 

For now, I need help.  What would my site cost? Is there any way to avoid costs of site construction or maintenance? Finally, is it possible that this is just an ego trip or does the value of the DVD justify the effort to obtain and use a specific site?

 

Al Rabe

l

[Tom Vieira]

maybe give Windy a call?  he has his website address redirected to his youtube channel...

[dave siegler]

Al,

I take care of our clubs web site, and would be glad to volunteer my time to set up and admin a site for you. 

We use a free web service and only pay for the domain name and domain hosting fees.  We do not have a lot of storage and have been able to make the standard templates work for us.

it can be very simple and low cost (or no cost) if you wants lots of custom programming data bases and other stuff, it will be more and I cant help out. 

see

http://www.circlemasters.com/

send me a private message. 

[dave siegler]

here is a start about 15 minutes of work

http://www.circlemasters.com/al-rabe.html

[944_Jim]

Mr. Rabe,
I hope this story helps you decide how to move forward.


Several years ago I was faced with a not-so-similar story. I caught wind of a volume of work by a man named Len Renkenberger. One of the articles in his tome dealt with a problem I was having with my Triumph TR6.

I contacted Mr. Renkenberger about buying a copy of the manuals, but he said he was completely out. He used to sell them at Triumph gatherings for the price of printing. This volume if work was created in an ancient Apple desktop publishing suite. He no longer had the original files, having lost them to a printer that went out of business.

However, he had HIS one remaining copy, but said it would be too aggravating to copy and email just the sections I wanted. So he offered to snail mail the volumes to me so I could glean what I wanted. All I had to do was promise to return the work. Well, of course I took him up on his offer. I scanned the whole thing into a PDF and mailed the copy back along with the PDFs burned to a CD.

Towards the end of the transaction, I broached the possibility of having the work "published" on the internet. Mr. Len was excited by the idea, but didn't know how to begin.

Two gentlemen were asked and volunteered to host the work on their websites:
http://74tr6.com/6-tech.htm

And see the middle of the main page here:
http://tr6.danielsonfamily.org which links internally to here:
http://tr6.danielsonfamily.org/6-tech-Manuals.htm

Mr.. Renkenberger was tickled pink to see his work world-widely available. Bob Danielson and Paul Rego used to report their downloads stats to Mr. Renkenberger. The manuals were quite popular for several years after. Sadly, Mr. Renkenberger passed...as we all will. But while he was alive, he was glad to see the work live on!

Mr. Rabe, if you choose to go this route, I doubt your work will die. While it may not generate advertising revenues, it would be available for as long as people chose to share it for you. You could tell any web-hosters that the work is copyrighted for use in it's entirety, and to be published only in a manner that provides you with authorship/ownership...however you feel comfortable.

[Al Rabe]

First, I appreciate the replies from Jim and Dave Siegler.  I also heard from Walter Umland with lots of advice and offers to help like hosting my DVD.  I can't say how much I appreciate their offers to help.

Slowly, as I gather information, I'm beginning to see some of the steps and cost of trying to put my DVD on the web.  It looks like the first step will be to purchase a domain name and put together a trial URL which seems to be mostly the web identifier something like www.AlsModels4.com.  Domain names appear to be relatively cheap.

The larger problem will be hosting.  Walter defines hosting as parking space and will determine how much space would be needed.  He even offered to help with the hosting. by putting it on his web site.  Walter also pointed out that the size, number  and presentation of hosting would determine the cost.  It seems the cost would be largely determined by the transfer rate which would determine how many viewers could access the material at once.

It seems that my DVD has a size of about 650 mb which might be a problem if we tried to make the whole thing covered by a single post which was my original plan.  I had help from a local computer guy who actually did the presentation of Al's Models on YouTube. Greg would be able to easily do my web site but is no longer available. Greg presented it in a number of parts.  The final web configuration is 3 books and 5  five minute videos.  I think Greg did me a great service in breaking up DVD content into more manageable parts.  Nobody is going to read a five  hundred  page book including 500 photos at a sitting.   It should help to make transfer rate and size more manageable but would consist of Greg's three chapters and the five videos instead of just the one complete DVD.

I'm sure that I am far from understanding the size and cost of the putting my DVD onto the web, but, perhaps with help ii might be possible, I had hoped for a web site just like the post on Sparky's Stunthanger but more widely available and without YouTube content.  Stunthangar seems to handle the size of the complete DVD in a web format without size problems.   I probably need to talk to Sparky.

Al

[dave siegler]

Al,

I think you should let someone like youtube host your video data  more than a playlist, set up a channel. 

The web site would organize the video stream

and get a free or inexpensive web provider to host the rest.

my club is committed to having a good web footprint, and if you want we can help you out.

Again, what I did was 15 minutes work using existing web templates and no outlay of cost. 

Clearly I can make a template for you and host in on your own domain. 

Let me know if I can help. 

[Al Rabe]

Little by little, I'm finding out more about obtaining a web site.

First of all, what would I want my web site to look like?  Try this, lets skip Stunthangar and go directly to youtube@alrabedisk4.  This calls up my DVD exactly as it appears in Stunthangar without posting on the Stunthangar forum.  What you would see is exactly what I'd like my web site to look like EXCEPT NO YOUtUBE VIDEOS! My site would have something like an "AlRabedisk4" domain name and exactly the same content  as my DVDs and Stunthangar posts.

It sounds simple enough.  It would be the same free content as YouTube or Stunthangar currently have with no changes.  I'm told to require domain privacy to prevent any outside changes, requests, comments, questions or any other communication.  I would simply pay the bill and post my web site mostly by renting advertising space which would allow immediate download of the DVD content.

It sounds easy enough but it looks like I'm going to have to visit professionals who create and sell websites and hosting. I would think that the appearance of my web site could almost be taken for granted.  I wouldn't want to change what is already there.

Al