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Ask HN: I want my pupils (~12yo) to create their own website. Suggestions?

Former back-end Web developer here.

Since last September I am a full-time maths teacher in France, with ~100 pupils (11-13 yo).

I told them one day that I had done webdev before, and since then several kids asked me for some advice to create their own website.

Of course I encouraged them, since I thought it would be great for them to share content outside of the GAFA bubble, and own their medium. However I never created a full course.

But now that the whole country is under lockdown, I have some time to properly help them. I'd love to see them create their own website from scratch: no WordPress, no Wix, just <div>s and <span>s and a few CSS rules...

I don't really know what to choose though. I want to:

- (ideally) have the same provider for domain names and hosting,

- get the kids to update their website themselves (otherwise I'll be flooded with requests every hour :) ), and

- be able to manage a lot of domain names for cheap (except the registration itself).

I will probably have 10-20 kids interested.

Do you have any suggestions for domain registrar, hoster, and an easy way to upload their work? (git, FTP...)

Thanks!

( 7 comments | 3 points | on HN )
Re:Ask HN: I want my pupils (~12yo) to create their own webs... by elamje on Sunday May 03, 2020 @09:59AM (#23059027)
Easy. https://repl.it was made for exactly your purpose, and even allows multiplayer editing like a google sheet.

It’s free, it’s hosted for free, and you don’t even need a domain, unless you are unhappy with the random generated one you get on the site:)

Re:Ask HN: I want my pupils (~12yo) to create their own webs... by fdeage on Sunday May 03, 2020 @11:13AM (#23059450)
Thank you! I had heard of it but never really checked... You're right, it's gonna be very useful until they want their own domain name :)
Re:Ask HN: I want my pupils (~12yo) to create their own webs... by elamje on Sunday May 03, 2020 @03:57PM (#23061410)
Btw you can do custom domains easily! You just have to buy the domain through some other company like namecheap or google domains
Re:Ask HN: I want my pupils (~12yo) to create their own webs... by detaro on Sunday May 03, 2020 @10:02AM (#23059045)
It might be worth talking to the folks at https://reclaimhosting.com/ or https://neocities.org/ (they might do a package deal for a bunch of student sites if the free thing with a subdomain isn't enough. But as much as I always advocate for having your own domain, for young students getting started a subdomain is probably fine)
Re:Ask HN: I want my pupils (~12yo) to create their own webs... by fdeage on Sunday May 03, 2020 @11:15AM (#23059463)
You're right, very interesting :) thanks!
Re:Ask HN: I want my pupils (~12yo) to create their own webs... by ISNIT on Sunday May 03, 2020 @10:09AM (#23059078)
They could make JoeDocs sites (joedocs.com) and have them either publicly editable or only viewable. They feel like GoogleDocs to edit, but have video chat, public visibility, custom domain names, etc.

Disclaimer, I am on the founding team of JoeDocs.

Re:Ask HN: I want my pupils (~12yo) to create their own webs... by fdeage on Sunday May 03, 2020 @11:16AM (#23059472)
Thank you for the reference. However I want them to learn bare HTML/CSS first, does joedocs allow to create a website from scratch?