Long time lurker, first post.
I have the mission of setting up a simple web site, initially consisting of a few pages of information for customers, and a way to get in touch with the new company if the client is interested in our services. Eventually I wish to add programmed functionality, but I want to work in stages as I develop my skills. The only "complication" of the initial site is that is must be both PC and mobile device friendly for browsing.
My plan is to follow the steps in the Ars Tecnica series on setting up a secure Ubuntu server running on a local virtual machine. I then plan to use the structure and tools provided at HTML5 Boilerplate to set up my basic pages, and modify the server configs as needed.
I have a 6MB upload (50MB download) fiber optic connection, so in principle, with low traffic and little functionality, running my own server instead of hosting it elsewhere seems doable, especially since the Ars series shows how to harden the server a bit against attacks.
I have a background in PICK OS mini-computer programming from back in the 80's (whoa!), but haven't programmed since. I think what I am wishing to accomplish shouldn't be too hard for me to learn. Once really into it, my guess is that I would prefer Python scripting over javascript, but that decision comes later.
My question to you is this: are you aware of any guidelines or alternate sources than those cited above I should check out, or am I on a decent track? For now, the mission is just to get this "flat" html site up and running with as little unnecessary hassle as possible.
Thanks in advance for any sage advice you might be able to provide.