... Build and Publish a Web site - What's required to get started All of us ... or ... use a standard decision making process in our ... lives. The very first step of
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:
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http://NewsForUse.FreeHosting.net/
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