Speed as a Feature
"Speed is the most important feature. If your application is slow, people won’t use it. I see this more with mainstream users than I do with power users. I think that power users sometimes have a bit of sympathetic eye to the challenges of building really fast web apps, and maybe they’re willing to live with it, but when I look at my wife and kids, they’re my mainstream view of the world. If something is slow, they’re just gone."
-Fred Wilson
10 Golden Principles of Successful Web Apps
Static HTML
Pros
- Free to Extremely Cheap
- Fastest
- Most Stable
- Easiest to Export
Cons
- Must be comfortable editing HTML
- Updating a large site by hand gets complicated
- Templating System?
Great Options
- Download a Starter Set
- Hosting
- Amazon S3 - Postpaid
- Nearly Free Speech - Prepaid
Blog
Blogs are a little different. When does a blog make sense?
Pros
- Ready for writers and frequent updates
- Readers can subscribe to updates
- Monetize relatively easily
- Easy to export
Cons
- Updates take moxie
- Popular un-monetized blogs can get expensive
Microblogging
New services like Tumblr get your stuff online quickly without as much friction as traditional blogging platforms. The downside is being more tied to their service.
Options
- Wordpress.com (not org)
- Blogger
Premium: Squarespace
Pros
- Fast and Dynamic
- Reliable and Easy to Use
- Use your own CSS
- Professional Support
- Fixed Pricing
Cons
Domains
Arguably, the most important decision you will make will be your domain name. A great domain will be short, memorable, and clever. It took me a few hours to come up with wiswanson.com Take your time and pick a good one.
Where to buy?
Some services like Nearly Free Speech, Blogger, and Wordpress allow you to buy your domain right through them. If your service supports this, this would be the easiest route.
If your service doesn't support this or you want to do more advanced customization, you will have to buy your domain through a traditional registrar. Chris Shiflett has some great suggestions.
Further Reading
For more on Blogging, Tim Bray wrote a fantastic post. For more on Speed as a Feature, Stoyan Stefanov wrote a great little online book on "The business, psychology and technology of high-performance web apps".
Further Study
Future study should include CSS typography, microformats, CSS 3, viewports, mobile first, media queries, dynamically hosted sites, and advanced markup.