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Tips and advice on making your own site
I threatened to do it, and now I (elvira) am doing it! Nestled in the bowels of a fan site for the BBC miniseries North & South is a rambling page about setting up your own web site. Go figure!
It's too daunting to try to give you all the pieces of information you need in order to get started, but at the very least I'm going to try to provide a few tips and valuable links.
Some tips and truths about making your own web site:
- It doesn't have to cost you very much. It can even be free. Don't invest in anything expensive right away. Wait until you know more about the whole process before making any big investments.
- You can learn how to do it—you don't have to rely on expensive software or fancy online web builders (though sometimes those can be fun). Don't be afraid!
- Content is king! It is preferable to have a simple, unsophisticated site with lots of valuable content, than a fancy site with boring or sparse content.
- Always make a web site about something that you love, or feel passionately about. The content will write itself. Your enthusiasm will make the site worth visiting, even if the site design is simple or "newbie."
Getting started:
Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) will often give you a little bit of web space. Use it to learn how to upload files, make simple HTML pages, and just goof around. Don't take yourself too seriously—just have fun!
Some good resources for learning how to make web pages:
- HTML Goodies: A good place to get started. HTML is the code used to make web pages. Don't be afraid of it—if you do a little bit of coding on message boards (like making words bolded or italic), then you already have your foot in the door. HTML is very much like message board coding in many respects.
- HTML Guide: Another newbie-friendly guide to learning the code used to make web pages.
- Webmaster tips: If you are new to web authoring, then some of the advice on this page might seem a little over your head (and a lot of it is perhaps more than a little picky). But, for the most part, it's pure gold. (Hint: All the answers in this "quiz" should be yes.) Bookmark this page and refer to it as you start making your own pages. There are some "rules" there that many of us webmasters routinely break, but that doesn't mean that they aren't still good rules!
Get a book: Online resources can be great, but nothing can beat a good book on the topic at hand. I made my first web page thanks to a beginner's web authoring book, and so recommend the same for everyone else.
- Build Your Own Web Site by David Karlins (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk) The reviews for this book are so glowing—surely it will not disappoint!
- HTML Goodies by Joe Burns (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk) Yes, this is the same guy who wrote the HTMLGoodies.com site. I really love his book, and have it by my computer desk.
Software: When you are just getting started, I'll repeat: DO NOT invest in any expensive software. Get by with free HTML editors or the freeware Nvu. As you learn more, you will be able to make a more educated decision about what software is best for you.
Some of the main contenders in the software department are: Dreamweaver (my favorite), Microsoft FrontPage (soon to be replaced by another Microsoft web design application), and Adobe GoLive. GoLive is too unstable to seriously considered, and while I am optimistic that the new Microsoft web authoring application will be good, we just don't know enough about it yet. Dreamweaver is generally considered the "industry standard" (the same way that Adobe Photoshop is for graphics), and has a great deal of support in the way of books, tutorials, and extra goodies.
Buying your domain name:
If you want to take the plunge and buy a domain name (yoursite.com), doing so is very inexpensive these days. I highly recommend the registrar GoDaddy.com. Even if you are not located in the USA, you can still use GoDaddy's services to register (for instance) your .co.uk domain name. A high percentage of professional webmasters trust GoDaddy. DO NOT, however, use GoDaddy's web hosting. Go somewhere else for that. Another good domain registrar is eNom.
A registrar is a service where you reserve your domain name—it is separate from a web host. Sometimes a registrar will also offer a web hosting service, but as a general rule it's better to go with a separate web host.
It is NOT recommended to allow your web host register your domain name for you. Most of the time nothing dire will happen, but there have been cases where a hosting company went belly-up, and would not give their customers the necessary log-in information needed to manage their domain name accounts. Without this information, the domain owner had no ability to change settings on the domain, to renew it, or to switch to a different host.
Web hosting:
It appears that in the UK, hosting is often far more expensive than in the USA. Since many US companies will take international orders, it very well might be a good idea to consider a US host. Unless you are planning on setting up a business site or one with sophisticated features, you will probably not require phone tech support. Any good web host will resolve any problems or answer any questions you may have in a timely manner via email. If you are planning on setting up a simple site (such as this one), there's no reason why you can't be happy with a North American web host. And the prices cannot be beat!
Some hosts I have used and highly recommend are: Dathorn.com, HostGator.com, Site5.com, eMaxHosting.com. These are all Linux-based hosts, which are generally cheaper. They all offer goodies like FrontPage extensions, PHP scripting, painless installation of blogs and message boards, easy hotlink protection, and excellent web stats. Windows-based hosts are only needed if your site uses scripting languages such as ColdFusion or ASP.NET. If you don't know what either of these things do, you don't need a Windows web host. (In addition, it is much more difficult to get hotlink protection on a Windows host.)
Concluding thoughts:
It cannot be repeated enough—don't be timid or hesitant to get started! Your first web design efforts don't have to be impressive or fancy. You will continue to learn and develop skills as you go along. For many of us, it is an ongoing process of learning and exploring, and is a great adventure!
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