Conceptualize, Build and Publish a Web site - What's required to
get started
All of us knowingly or unknowingly, use a standard decision
making process in our day-to-day lives. The very first step of
this process is to decide whether TO DO or NOT TO DO. If the
choice is TO DO, we think of the various ways and means of
attaining our objective/s, compare their pros & cons and take a
final stand.
This aim of this write up is to make you aware of the resources
that are needed to achieve your TO DO objective. The TO DO
objective is to conceptualize, build and publish your web site.
The first step is to decide what you want from your web site. Do
you want a site that your near and dear ones can visit from time
to time (I assume you are far away from them.) or do you want a
site that sells a product, service, brand or image? Whatever the
purpose of your web site, the absolute essentials to have a site
up and running are as below: -
The 5 Essentials: Spare Time - You must have lot of spare time
at your disposal. So if you are a house maker whose kids have
grown up, a worker who has just been shown the pink slip or
college student on vacation then time shouldn't be a problem for
you. Those hard pressed for time can contract the web page
design work to a professional web master or use a Site Creation
tool.
HTML Knowledge - HTML is NOT a programming language. Its basics
can be mastered within a month and the learning curve is not too
steep. The fact that anyone can learn HTML and create Web pages
is the reason why the Internet is so popular and has such varied
content. Learn the HTML tags and how to use them. Skip complex
topics like frames, style sheets, CGI, JavaScript. Buy a good
book on HTML. It will teach HTML and also give links to various
online HTML resource sites.
HTML Page & Site Creation Tools - The main reason for using
these tools is to speed up the process of page / site creation.
However, most of the tools do not produce correct HTML and
editing by hand is necessary. Your HTML book will provide
reviews of these tools and links to their web sites. If you know
HTML and plan to have 5-6 web pages in your site, a rudimentary
editor like Netscape Composer will also suffice. For managing a
site with huge number of pages you will need to use a Site
Creation Tool.
Make provisions for a fast Internet connection and a room where
you can work without distractions.
Find an ISP (Internet Service Provider) or IPP (Internet
Presence Provider) i.e. a web hosting company, to host your web
site. Crystallize a Concept: With the 5 main things taken care
of, you should be ready for Conceptualization. Some of you will
already have a concept or idea for your site, but take a moment
and download AffMasters.pdf course from
http://aff-masters.sitesell.com/ (copy & paste the link in you
browser and hit enter). The AffMasters.pdf is free to download.
Please read page 35 " Day 2 - Brainstorm Your Site Concept ". I
am sure that you will appreciate the authors’ approach and find
the most suitable concept for your site. This course also gives
a few pointers about things to avoid in a web site. Make notes
and use them as you build your site.
Build your Site: Once you have arrived at a concept, use your
HTML Knowledge, HTML Page Creation Tools and ready-made
Templates to build the web pages. Edit the HTML to make the
visual just right. Load the pages with content. Keep in mind
that Content is King. Keep the page design simple yet elegant.
You should Value Content over flashiness. Don't use too much
graphics, if you do the page will take time to load. Impatient
surfers might close their browses and move on.
Publish your Site: To enable surfers to view your web site, you
must publish your pages to a server that is connected to the
Internet i.e. a web server. When you publish a page to a web
server, you upload that page on to the web server. You can
upload the pages on the server of an ISP (Internet Service
Provider) or on the server of an IPP (Internet Presence
Provider) i.e. a web hosting company. Usually it is better to
use an IPP because –
An IPP offers more web space (20 MB free) than an ISP (5 MB).
IPPs usually allow CGI on their servers.
To upload web pages to an ISP server a FTP (File Transfer
Protocol) client is required. Some IPPs (e.g. NetFirms) also
require FTP client to upload files to their servers. However
there are IPPs (e.g. FreeServers) that allow you to upload your
files directly to their servers without FTP. You should prefer
the IPPs that do not require an FTP client because it is much
convenient and quicker to upload your files using a Site Manager
provided by the hosting company.
CREDIT:
Webmaster, http://NewsForUse.FreeHosting.net/
To read CONTENT that you will VALUE visit the News For Use site.
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