There are various website solutions which
make your life so much easier, and very
little html knowledge is required, if any
at all!
Therefore with the right resources, you
can create a website without much hassle.
Let us look at 3 different options
available.
1. WYSIWYG and Templates
WYSIWYG is an acronym for "what you see is
what you get" and applies to "point and
click" web editors that allow the
user to design web pages visually on
screen. If you are familiar with Microsoft
Word the concept is very similar to this.
If you want text in bold you would click
the bold tab and that is what would appear
on your template.
,
you will not need to touch any HTML code.
Here are some recommended tools and
template resources to get you started on
the right foot immediately, I personally
use Template Monster:
Template Monster
www.xsitepro.com
www.hypertemplates.com
www.microsoft.com/frontpage
www.1site.info
With the WYSIWYG and template
solution, you can create a website far
easier and quicker
than if you
tried to learn html yourself and create a
site, to design the template alone would
take you hours.
Each of the templates that you purchase
can be adapted to suit your requirements,
although if you plan on making any changes
make sure that you do not use the original
files, copy them first into a different
folder, then if you make any mistakes you
still have the original files to work
from.
You may want to add hyperlinks to other
sites or create new pages by keeping one
of the pages as a master page and then
creating your new page, remembering to
save it with a different name to the
original.
If you are adding new pages to these
templates then this is when you will start
to need to know some basic html, eg how to
link pages together with hyperlinks, how
to add the page details to your navigation
bar, etc.
How Do I Get Started Using Html
You already have everything you need to
create a website as all computers will
come with some of the basic tools
necessary to create a site. Firstly you
will need a text editor to write
your HTML files. (You can use CSS files
but this is not covered here)
If you have a PC and use Windows, you
can use Notepad, which is
the most basic text editor on your
computer. If you have a Mac with OS X, you
can use TextEdit.
On a PC,
open Start > Programs >
Accessories > NotePad
On a Mac,
open Finder > Applications >
TextEdit
You will need an internet browser,
which you already have installed on your
computer (as you are reading this page
online). There are many browsers
which you can use and it is a good idea to
have the main browsers installed onto your
computer so that you can check how your
site looks on other browsers. Your
site may look fine on say Internet
Explorer, but if you look at it in say
Firefox the page may be too large to see
in the window or certain graphics/images
may not be visible.
Common programs that you may have are
things like Microsoft FrontPage, FrontPage
Express or Microsoft Word. These editors
are
WYSIWYG editors, i.e. you are
watching your page as you design it
When I create my website in windows I
use the frontpage software which is
already installed on my computer, some
people do not like using this editor
but I find it easy to use and I can see on
screen before I upload it to my webspace
whether it looks ok or not.
When I'm using Windows, I use these
programs:
-
Frontpage : this is a very good HTML
editor for the PC.
HomeSite
is another good editor and you
can get a 30 day trial version to see if
you like it.
-
PaintShop Pro: a really excellent
image editor. You get Animation
Shop, to make GIF animations and it is
free, shareware software.
-
Winzip: once your site is
built, you need to transfer your files
from your computer to your webspace on
the internet. Winzip comes with a
30day free trial, alternatively there
are many other free software packages
like FileZilla which do the same
job.
-
Nvu:
when working on a new layout, I will
sometimes use a WYSIWYG editor like Nvu
to make quick mock-ups of the design
before hand-coding the finished work.
It’s a free program.
There's lots of great open source
software for the Mac. With a look around
the net and downloading evaluation
software, you can easily build up a
collection of great authoring software,
mostly for free. One good site for
evaluating all kinds of software is
www.downloads.com.
2.
Outsource Your Website Design
You can hire a web designer to design your
website for you. You can undertake a
search for web-designers on the web,
however it is highly recommended to look
out for past customer reviews, if at all
possible contact any featured sites and
ask how they found the service during and
after the project was completed. It
is important to see what service they
received after the project as some
companies may not give you any aftersales
support, believe me when starting
out with your website you certainly need
support.
Blogs
Blogs are a fantastic FREE and effective
solution to have a website of your own,
whilst there are limitations to blogs they
can be set up in less then 5 mins. The
popular ones are
http://www.blogger.com
http://www.wordpress.com
Blogs also have the advantage of being
indexed faster by the search engines then
a normal website, which can take weeks or
months to be indexed and found by the
search engines. The blog is like the
WYSWIG Because they're point and click,
they're very effective for the HTML
newbie.
