Building Your Own Website

Part I


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Robin Nobles

Robin Nobles

Robin writes newspaper columns that offer tours of the Internet. Her newspaper columns are published in several newspapers and magazines across the South. She also teaches online courses in search engine marketing strategies at the Academy of Web Specialists.

She has co-written the books "Maximize Web Site Traffic, Build Web Site Traffic Fast and Free by Optimizing Search Engine Placement" and "Web Site Analysis and Reporting".

She can be reached at [email protected] or through her website: Robin's Nest for Writers - http://www.robinsnest.com/

Robin Nobles has written 2 articles for WebKnowHow.

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A special thanks goes to Ray Humphreys for suggesting this article. Thanks Ray! In order to do the topic justice, this article will be in two parts, concluding next week.

You've been on the Internet for a while now, and you've visited hundreds of websites--everyone else's websites. It's time to build your own. But how? At best, it seems like a daunting task. The reality, however, is that once you get the hang of it, it's great fun!

The first thing you need to do is visit a lot of sites. See how everyone else does it. I don't mean *copy* what they're doing, but analyze several sites and see what works. What annoys you at those sites? What do you like? Make notes!

Plot out your site on paper. Think carefully about what you want on each page and how the site will branch off from there. Make sure that everything on your site can be accessed within three mouse clicks from the main page.

You need a good HTML editor. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the programming language of the World Wide Web, and a good editor will convert regular word processing documents to HTML code. Word 97, a popular word processing program, will also convert a document to HTML. Word has an easy-to-use HTML editor with many templates, graphics, and more. I highly recommend learning HTML with a simple editor. Once you get the hang of it, you can always use a more advanced program.

Stroud's Consummate Internet Apps List offers several shareware HTML editors that you can download and try to see if you like them. One nice thing about Stroud's, other than its reliability, is that it reviews all of the programs and lists their features. Stroud's rates Hot Dog Pro as one of the best, if not the best, HTML editor on the market.
http://cws.internet.com/

The best way to learn HTML is to just do it, and that what HTML Testbed offers. You'll see the "source code" for an HTML page, and you can type in whatever you choose, click on "Show Me," and it will appear in an HTML browser, just like it would appear on the Web. This is an excellent playground for new HTML learners, and I highly recommend you spend some time there.
http://www.ash.udel.edu/ash/tutor/html/testbed.html

The Web Developer's Virtual Library offers almost anything you would need to build your own website. Click on HTML for introductions to HTML and web design. The site features graphics, CGI scripts, information on animation, software, and more.

Another excellent site for helping you learn how to set up a website is A Guide to Creating a Successful Web Site.
http://www.hooked.net

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