Creating a Website

ID: Others - 7
Date Added: 2006-01-28
Category: Others
Difficulty: Difficult
Author: Rei

Getting Started

You see a lot of people create websites, and you think it's easy huh? So you want to do the same, the problem is, you don't know a thing about webpages, or even HTML. Before you start, read this guide, I hope I can stress how hard it is to create a website. It isn't matters of days before you see your website done, may be weeks or even months.

What you will Need

Here is a list of what you WILL need. Keep in mind these are quite substantial, not an option.

A decent host
Yes, you will definitely need one, but because you're just starting, we'll use a free one. I would recommend Freewebs, Geocities , and Bravenet. They might not be the best, sometimes there are ads all over the place. Your host should provide the following:
- A decent space
  Depending on what kind of sites you're going to be creating, spaces might vary, but consider hosts that provide 20-50MB of space, that's quite a lot for a beginner.
- Decent bandwidth
  Bandwidth is basically how much your page uses up in a day. You want your host to provide somewhere between 150MB-UNLIMITED bandwidth.
- FTP or PHP access
  They're not really mandatory, but having access to them is a relief.
Image editting program
Trust me this isn't an option, you WILL need it. I would recommend PSP7 or PS7, they might be quite expensive, but it's worthwhile.
The time
This is getting personal I know, but you WILL need time to sit on the computer and work on your website. It doesn't take hours, it will take days, weeks, or even months, depending how often you work.
The dedication
If you're just going to create a website because your friend has one, then don't. You should be dedicated to your site, work on it, improve it. Always thrive to win awards, SOTM, etc.
Support
This is a personal one again, but you wil need it, I often think of quitting while working on my site, you know. Having a family member, friends to tell you how eager they are to see your site motivates webdesigners.
Experience
Maybe this isn't as important as the others, but having a little bit of experience in webdesigning is a really handy tool. Learn a little bit of HTML/CSS before you start.

Ready?!

Have got all those things ready? Then let's start working on your site! First you need to sign-up for a host. Freewebs, Geocities , and Bravenet sends you confirmation email right away so you can also start right away. These sites have pagebuilders, but you can also use your own stuff, instead of their pagebuilders, so if you're a beginner, don't be afraid to use pagebuilders! You're just learning, good sites don't magically appear in one night =P

Keep yourself Organized!

One main thing I've learned through the ordeal of creating a website is keeping it organized. You don't want to have thousands of pages on one folder, so create more. If you have a graphics site like mine with various sections, create one for each, also create one for your layout images. Keep in mind that you shouldn't have too many folders within a folder it will make the URL super long, and you don't want that =]

Main Page

Now you can create your main page, your main page should be have a welcoming message, or something about the layout that your visitors might not know. How you created it, why you chose to create it, etc. You can also put updates on your first page. Make sure you update often! At least twice a week, this will make sure that your visitors know that you're not dead. Who wants to visit a dead webdesigner's site? o.0

Create pages

Create pages for YOU, VISITORS, and THE SITE. Visitors always want to know why you created your site, who you are, etc. Guests would always love to find things to entertain them, so make sure there are stuff on your site to entertain your visitors. Lastly, but not least create a page for your site. People always wants to know how you created your site, how you started, what go you into webdesigning, and maybe some of the layouts they missed!

DO

Keep your content organized
Have quality OVER quantity
Have a visible layout
Have layout that works in both most popular browsers IE, and Mozilla
Have layout that can be viewed in more than one screen resolutions
Let your visitors interact
Have a page for YOURSELF
Have a page for your VISITORS
Have a page for your SITE
Be kind to your visitors
Watch your language
Update often
Have fun!

DON'T

Have blinding colours
Have all your pages on one page
Swear too much, or should I say not at all
Have magenta, over cyan
Force your visitors to sign guestbook and come back to your site
TyP3 lyk3 d1s, it takes too long to read, if you don't know how to type properly, then may be you shouldn't create a website
Copy other people's layout/content
Direct-link

Extras

Here are some suggestions of what too add to your site.

Interaction games
Guestbooks
Tagboard
Vote For Me
Contact me forms
Things your visitors can join

Lastly...

Lastly I just want to say HAVE FUN working on yur website, don't make it as homework, be happy working on your website :)

« back · clear ¦ reload · forward »

Site

Designs

Media