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Web design made easy.
If
you want to make a business website and don’t know how, this lesson will
show you the easiest way to create a small business website. It’s quite
simple really. Web design is not a hard job. It’s more time consuming than
anything. It takes a long time to learn the ends and outs of the trade.
However, if you just want a small business site without all the
complications, just use the following information to get you started.
You need a host. A host is a company that has massive computer that store
your website information. This computer is called a server. The server
provides your information to the internet by allowing access to your site
to users. There are several thousand companies that have these servers but
I would recommend either Godaddy.com or Crystaltech.com. These two
companies have good reputations and have good customer services with cheap
rates. Generally you will pay a small fee each month for your web site
space. Consider it like a parking space for your information.
Now, you need a small bit of software to make the site. There are many
different programs that you can buy but my favorite is Microsoft
FrontPage. It is very easy to use and configure. I would recommend this
software for a new designer as well as seasoned designers. 2000 and 2003
do have some issues with CSS files, but other than that, it is very good
software. I use 2000 and 2003 both. Each has its advantages.
In
order to use FrontPage, you will need to purchase a windows hosting plan
with FrontPage Server Extensions. Just look on each plan and find the one
with these extensions. Godaddy and Crystaltech have them available. You
can also order the domain name at the same time as the hosting plan. They
both take care of the legwork for you.
Now that you have the windows plan, you need to connect your FrontPage to
it. It’s easy really. All you have to do is open FrontPage; go to file –
Open Web. It may say open site. Select that option and type in the full
URL of the domain that you ordered, I.E.
http://www.vinegrovewebdesign.com. You will then be prompted for a
username and password. Use the information provided by the host. That’s
it. You’re in to your website and everything you do here, from this point,
is live.
You will need to start a basic page. There are several pages that you can
use as a home page. Some of the names are:
Index.html
Default.html
These two are considered the home page. You can use either one, it doesn’t
matter. I use index. To make a new page, go to file – new. From the menu
on the right you can select just a plain page or a pre-built FrontPage
template. If you select a template, FrontPage will create all the pages
for you and all you have to do is open each one and edit the information.
When you save the files, they are automatically uploaded to the host and
become live on your site. You can then go browse the internet, find you
site, and see the changes that you made. Its really easy. I start with 5
basic pages. Home, about us, contact us, faq’s, and services. You can add
as many as you want and link them all together. The next lesson is going
to be on a structure of a website.
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