Hey Raymond - that's a huge question, and I believe there's many threads on here about it already so perhaps have a search and you will find more than I am able to post here.
However, there are loads of things to consider and as you rightly point out, the first of these is that you need to determine if the domain name you wish to use is actually available, and then of course, obtain it. You should also then consider and determine the quality of the site you require i.e. professional web design company or not.
Furthermore - with
galleries, there are in essence two main types; (1) managed hosted services and (2) self installed applications.
Have a look at
Zenfolio, or
Smugmug for example - both of which provide excellent
managed services for you. They allow you to create categories and groups, upload your images to their servers, password protect specified areas, you choose from a number of eyecatching predetermined designs, themes and layouts, and you pay an annual fee to them dependent on how many features you require. Usually there's two or perhaps three levels of service and features. I have a zenfolio account set up for my gallery -
www.reflectingMe.com - though I haven't decided if this is finally the gallery I will stick with. I am also trying out SumgMug - which does look to be rather good, but a lot more expensive. Both however, provide similar services for around $40 per annum.
Alternatively, take a look at
Coppermine, 4Images, Gallery2 or
Photopost - all of which are stand alone gallery applications and require installing on your own web space, and then setting up and configuring as you require - though this is not usually as difficult as it may seem. You do need to set up a web hosting account to be able to run these applications. The first three I mentioned are actually Open Source Applications i.e. free, and Photopost is a professional gallery script costing (
I think) about $130.
There's also the option you have mentioned - which is to code a www site yourself. If you have the skill and experience, and the tools - then go for it...!!! Stay away from MS FrontPage though - not the best wysiwyg web design app out there.:nono:
Now - I am not sure if I am allowed to do this, but in my business as a self employed Project Management Consultant, I regularly run online webinars covering a range of different topics, and I am about to run one re "
Starting on the web - Get Your Own WWW Site up and running", where usually around 14 people attend a 2-3 hour online session, conferenced in thus where you can all speak with one another, and you can all see my computer screen as I run through each of the steps of this process. From starting with a blank canvas, through obtaining a domain name, through setting up a web hosting account, right up to ending up with a pleasing looking site. If you are interested in attending one of these sessions, please feel free to contact me for availability, pricing and the date of the next session.
Hopefully this has provided some information, and enough for you to move to the next step, whatever that might be.
Good luck.