How to Made a Website

If you want a website, you will need to register a domain name for the website and you will need to develop the content of the website. You can do this yourself, although we suggest that you hire a reasonably priced professional to do this, as the quality will almost certainly be better and the cost (at around 100 euros for a simple site) is not much compared to the amount of your time that you would have to spend on learning how to do it and actually doing it.

That being said, we recognize that a number of people would prefer to design their own website. For example, people creating hobby or family websites. rather than business websites, may not wish to spend any hard cash on them. Also, some people prefer to develop their own website out of intellectual challenge, curiosity, or a desire for deeper understanding. For these people, we provide the following remarks.

Website Design

Websites are written in a computer language known as HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language). There are a number of books which can teach you HTML (do a query on HTML in Amazon and pick up one of the introductory manuals such as "HTML 4 Dummies" or "HTML: A Beginner's Guide"). Alternatively, if you do an Amazon search on 'website' you will see a number of books on creating a website using HTML. If you are quite technical you should be able to work through the book and create a basic one-page website over a weekend; if your are semi-technical it could take several weekends.

An easier approach is to use an application such as MicroSoft FrontPage. This software package allows you to describe what you want the website to contain, and it will generate the HTML code for you. Professionals often scorn FrontPage on the basis that the code is not as efficient or as precise as writing direct in HTML; while this is true, it has to be offset against the fact that FrontPage is easier to learn and generating a website in FrontPage is perhaps 5 times faster than writing in HTML. An alternative to FrontPage is DreamWeaver, which is somewhat more complex but is more powerful. Most serious designers prefer DreamWeaver to FrontPage, although beginners will find it more complex. Alternatively, one can use MicroSoft Expression, which is a web design tool that is replacing FrontPage. It is somewhat more complex to use than FrontPage, but enforces the latest generation of coding practices (such as CSS).

A number of companies have carried this approach to website design even further by creating a number of standard templates where you just drop in the photos and text that you would like to appear. Although you have relatively little control over the website design, they are the ultimate in simplicity and require very little technical skill. Increasingly, companies providing server space will also provide free of charge one of these applications. If you want to quickly get a hobby site up and running, they are worth considering. However, the standard template and other restrictions make them a doubtful choice for business websites. In particular, SEO on websites created in this way is difficult.

Website Implementation

To implement your website, we suggest this as the easiest approach:

• Domain Name. You will need to find a suitable and available domain name. For guidance on this, click on domain. 

• Server Space. There are a large number of companies providing server server space. For a list, do a Google search on 'website hosting'. We suggest you choose one in the same country as yourself, which provides free telephone support. Once you have picked one, fill out there on-line form to arrange your server space. Your server company will also register your domain for you and configure the DNS servers at the same time.

• Website. If you write your website in HTML or use a tool such as FrontPage, then you will normally design your website on your personal computer. When your are finished the first draft, you login to your server space account and upload the website. After this, to see your live website, simply type your domain name into your internet browser, the same as you would do for any other site. Alternatively, if you choose to use one of the website design tools provided by your server space company (correctly known as your 'hosting' company), you can design your website in real time right on the server.