How can I build my own site?
All you need to build your own website is a computer, an internet connection and a little knowledge of HTML - the language that websites are made with.
Building a website can be a very simple task, but it can also become overly complicated if you don't plan each stage of the building process.
There is no point having a state-of-the-art website designed if you haven't got any web space to host it in, so you need to make sure you have all the right elements in place at the beginning.
Getting started
Before you start building your site, you have to make sure you've got the right equipment and information to get it up and running. Here is a quick check list of things you need to build your website.
- A computer.
- A modem
- Internet access via an ISP
- A domain name (optional)
- Web space
- Web authoring or HTML editing software
- FTP software
- Some good ideas
- Plenty of time!
- Some good advice
You've already come to the right place for good advice, but don't panic if the other nine key web-building ingredients seem strange to you, the info you need is coming up.
The hardware and software
The only equipment you will need to build your own website is a computer (either a PC or Apple Macintosh) and a modem.
The modem provides you with internet access to view, publish and publicise your website. The computer helps you build, store and back-up your site.
If you're reading this article then you'll already have access to the internet via an ISP such as AOL, Demon, Freeserve or beeb.net.
You might want to check if your ISP has provided you with a free domain name and some web space because you might want to use them later on.
Have a look at your ISP's website to find out what they offer with your account.
In addition, you will need some web authoring software, which allows you to build and edit the files that will make up your website.
You will also need some FTP software which securely transfers the files that make up your site from your computer to the web host's server where other people can visit it.
Register your site
Every website has an address, or domain name, which you type into your web browser such as www.bbc.co.uk/webwise or news.bbc.co.uk.
Often when you subscribe to your ISP, they will supply you with your own domain name and a certain amount of space on their server to build your site.
This is generally for free, however, your domain name will probably be something like http://www.isp.co.uk/yourname/ - which isn't terribly catchy.
If you'd prefer your own choice of domain name, you'll need to go to one of the domain registration companies.
Network Solutions used to have a monopoly on selling domain names ending in .com but now there are thousands of companies selling them.
That's good for prices but can make it a bit difficult to choose the one you want as there are so many companies offering different services.
Some offer the names with free web hosting and other services while some offer them alone. You'll find a lot of them listed at dmoz.com.
Go to nominet.org.uk for a list of all the companies that sell domain names that end in .co.uk.
There is often a minimal charge for buying the domain name, but once you own it, you own the URL and every single e-mail address ending in that domain name.
Hosting your site
A web host is a company that provides a computer, or server, at a remote location, with permanent access to the internet.
This server stores your website pages (and other peoples') so they can be viewed by everyone via the world wide web.
Your ISP will often provide some free web hosting space for you to store your website on their server, but you might also want to consider purchasing your own web space from a specialist hosting company.
Although the web space from your ISP is free, your website might be tied to the ISP's domain name, and you might not get the same added features you would get with a specialist hosting company.
However, when building your first website, most ISPs will provide you with adequate web hosting facilities, such as visitor statistics, so you can save yourself the extra cost until your site develops into something bigger.
To see reviews of companies offering web hosting services have a look at the performance charts at the back of many internet magazines.
Building your site
Most websites are built using HTML, hypertext text markup language to you and me, which is a special code that formats and creates the pages so you can see them via your browser.
In fact all you need to write HTML is a simple program like Microsoft's Notepad.
Notepad's fine if you are willing to learn HTML but if you aren't you can easily get some clever software to help you do it.
WYSIWYG html editors require very little knowledge of HTML and are relatively easy to pick up. If you know how to use a word processor you'll find them pretty familiar.
FrontPage, Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive are three of the better known WYSIWYG editors.
They let you build a web page, by dragging and dropping text boxes, images and tables into a blank Word-style page, whilst behind the scenes it is creating all the HTML code for you.
For first-time web editors, the WYSIWYG editing method is great because you don't have to worry about complex code, and the software guides you through each step of the way, from background colour, text size and inserting a picture to even publishing your finished pages.
Have look at DMOZ's list of WYSIWYG editors.
Editing extra
Even if you choose to start with a WYSIWYG editor, you might want to get hold of a basic teach-yourself HTML book, and find out a little bit about the language you're working with. You might find it's not all that scary!
Programs like FrontPage offer different wizards to take you through each step of inserting images, text and tables, but you can learn the simple HTML tags and codes to do it yourself.
That will allow you to tweak the code if you aren't happy with the results from your WYSIWYG editor.
FTP!
Once you're happy it all works - it's time to publish it to the internet!
To transfer all the files that make up your website to your web space you'll need to get some FTP software. There are lots of free and shareware versions at CNET.
Alternatively, editors like FrontPage often have a special web publishing wizard, which takes you through all the basic stages without the need for added software.
The FTP process simply takes your website files and moves them to your web space, so when someone next types in your domain name into their web browser, they'll be able to see your site.
Each time you change a file or page on your site, upload the new page via FTP so that the change appears on the site.
Spreading the word
If no one knows about your site, then no one will come and visit it, but you can do lots to make sure everyone out there knows exactly where you are.
Search engines are the best way to find out what you want on the web, so you want to try and get your site to appear within their listings.
Search engines work in two ways: one sort lists websites in directory format, like the Yellow Pages. The most famous of these is Yahoo!
The other form of search engine, like Google and BBCi Search, trawls through every website on the internet, checking for key words in the text and links from other websites to check which ones are most popular.
Visit the different search engines and directories and look for their submission sections where you can submit the details of your site to be listed.
Once your site is up and running, you might want to contact other relevant websites and see if they will link to you. Offer a link to them in return and often people will agree.
You could also sign up to newsgroups and other sites where people gather and post information about new sites.
Design tips
Once you get started building your site, you'll probably be tempted to try out all kinds of design tricks that you've learnt, but like most things in life - the simple ideas are the best.
Keep your design simple and basic. Too many colours and fonts will look cluttered and messy, and may put people off visiting again.
The best websites only use one or two colours for their fonts and backgrounds, and they avoid large blocks of scary-looking text.
Also, bear in mind the time the web page takes to load. Images that are too large or heavy will take ages to appear in a browser, and users won't stick around.
Use small images and short paragraphs to make your web pages appear quickly.