Make A Website
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Examples of Well Designed Sites
About This Page
This web page was made to answer one little question that deserves a big answer, “How do you create a website?”. The idea for this page came to me when answering questions on Yahoo Answers. Multiple times a day people would ask how to create a website on Yahoo Answers and would receive an answer that would not fully answer their question. Since Yahoo Answers limits the amount of links you can include in your answer, I created this page full of links to help me answer “How do you create a website?”.
I wanted to put as much information on this page that I could to answer the question fully and completely. Therefor, I continue to add to this web page every time I think of something I left out or when I find new information. The information on this page and this whole site is my opinion unless labeled otherwise. If I have not included a link or have made an error on this page or just want to leave me comment you can e-mail me at Admin@WickedRant.com.
How to Create a Webpage
To make a webpage you need to know at least XHTML and CSS. W3schools is a great site that can teach you many different web programming languages. A good place to start to get the basics is W3schools’ Web Building Primer.
Programming Software
I love Notepad++. Notepad++ is a free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. It includes syntax highlighting, syntax folding, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), auto-completion, multi-document (tabs), macro recording, and plenty of plug-ins. But the best part of Notepad++ is that it is FREE!
Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition (Windows). Microsoft has made “Express” versions of Visual Studio products, available for users that don’t want to buy the full-fledged Visual Studio suite. The free Express edition is just as robust as Visual Studio when it comes to working with XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and it’s FREE!
Dreamweaver CS4 is what the pros use being an industry-leading tool. It’s a great time saver and loaded with features. Some of the features are code hinting, comprehensive CSS support, integrated coding, advanced JavaScript functionality and AJAX, live view, manages related files, a good supportive community, and more. I could go on about the features. The only downfall to Dreamweaver is it’s $399 price tag but if you are going to be doing a lot of web programming it is very worth it.
Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition
More free editors at Here
Find the web design software that’s right for you by taking a Web Design Software Questionnaire.
List of CSS Tools
CSS coding can get confusing at times. Sometimes you have a great idea in your head and just don’t know how to program it. Well the good people at SmashingMagazine.com have helped us out by giving us links to great CSS tools. These tools include font style wizards, form builders, layout creators, navigation designers, optimizers, pop ups, tabs, graphs, image maps, preloaders, and much more.
My personal CSS Template style.css.
Hosts
This is a list of hosts that have at least 99% uptime:
Linux Hosts
HostMonster -Space: Unlimited, Traffic: Unlimited, Price: $4.95, Free Domain Forever, Host Unlimited Domains
JustHost -Space: Unlimited, Traffic: Unlimited, Price: $3.95, Free Domain Forever, Host Unlimited Domains
BlueHost -Space: Unlimited, Traffic: Unlimited, Price: $3.95, Free Domain Forever, Host Unlimited Domains
Host Gator -Space: Unlimited, Traffic: Unlimited, Price: $4.95, Free Domain Forever, Host Unlimited Domains
Go Dadddy -Space: Unlimited, Traffic: Unlimited, Price: $12.74, Free Domain Name, Host Unlimited Domains, Free SSL Certificate
Windows Hosts
EasyCGI -Space: 350GB, Traffic: 3,500 GB, Price: $7.96, Host Unlimited Domains
Web Hosting IX -Space: Unlimited, Traffic: Unlimited, Price: $7.95, 3 Free Domain Forever, Host Unlimited Domains
Go Dadddy -Space: Unlimited, Traffic: Unlimited, Price: $14.99, Free Domain Name, Host Unlimited Domains, Free SSL Certificate
Free Hosts
If you can squeeze the money out for a paid host like the ones listed above I recommend it. But if your looking for free hosting be prepared for limited disk space, limited bandwidth, and ads. Here is a list of some of the free host out there.
hostse -Space: 1000MB, Traffic: Unlimited
Bravenet -Space: 50MB, Traffic: 1.5GB, Host Unlimited Domains
Twilight-Media -Space: 200MB, Traffic: 5000MB
Doteasy -Space: 100MB, Traffic: 1GB
mysite -Space: 50MB, Traffic: 1GB
moonFRUIT -Space: 20MB, Traffic: 1GB
isoworld.net -Space: 250MB
50Webs.com -Space: 60MB, Traffic: Unlimited, Host Unlimited Domains
AwardSpace -Space: 200MB, Traffic: 5GB
1Accesshost -Space: 100MB
x10hosting -Space: 2.5GB, Traffic: 45GB
000webhost.com -Space: 1500MB, Traffic: 100GB
tripod -Space: 20MB, Traffic: 1GB
Webstarts -Space: 10MB, Traffic: 5GB
Angelfire -Space: 20MB
Freehostia -Space:250MB, Traffic: 6MB
webs -Details: Unknown
weebly -Details: Unknown
Wetpaint -Details: Unknown
Google Sites -Details: Unknown
FTP Software
FileZilla is the FREE FTP solution. Both a client and a server are available. FileZilla is open source software distributed free of charge under the terms of the GNU General Public License. It supports FTP, SFTP, and FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS). The client is available under many platforms, binaries for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X are provided.
Graphics and Image Software
Face it you need images on your web page. So which graphics tool do you use? Gimp? Photoshop? Illustrator? Fireworks? Paint.net? Artweaver? Which one do I use? Well, it’s a toolbox, you need the right tool for the job. But if you’re not willing to spend the cash on Photoshop and Illustrator then Gimp and Paint.net are good replacements.
Online Image Editors
Want to edit images without downloading or installing software? Try these online image editors.
Flash Software
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional software is the industry-leading authoring environment for creating engaging interactive experiences. Deliver to audiences across platforms and devices.
Blog Software
So you got a host and you want to start a Web Log or better known as a Blog. I personally use Wordpress. There is an abundance of themes and Plug-ins for it. I personally haven’t tried B2Evolution or TextPattern. Check your host to see which one works best on their server. Some host offer a cPanel that makes installs so simple you don’t even realize it set up a database for you.
Blog Host Platform
So you don’t want to put money down for a host but still want a Blog? The following sites will be happy to help you.
Micro-blogs
Forum Software
Both phpBB and bbPress are very good Forum scripts. phpBB is the most widely used opensource bulletin board system. And bbPress is forum software from the creators of WordPress. Some host offer a cPanel that makes installs very simple.
Favicon information
Notice that small image by your address bar on your browser? That’s a Favicon. Favicon is short for favorites icon. It is a 16×16 pixel square icon associated with a particular website. Browsers that provide favicon support typically display a page’s favicon in the browser’s Address bar and next to the page’s name in a list of bookmarks. Browsers that support a tabbed document interface typically show a page’s favicon next to the page’s title. For more information click the link below.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Everyone wants to be number one on Google. But how do you get there? Google tells you how in the link below.
Search Engines that will accept your URL
Google: http://www.google.com/addurl.html
Yahoo: http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
AllTheWeb: http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php
Dmoz: http://www.dmoz.org/help/submit.html
Bing: http://www.bing.com/docs/submit.aspx
Cuil: http://www.cuil.com/info/contact_us/feedback/?to=crawl%20me
Having valid code will also increase your chances of being #1 on search engines. See my Validation Of Your Code section for more information.
Fonts
Now you can’t really do much with Fonts and a webpage since you can’t control which fonts are on a user’s computer. I use fonts in images to make buttons, logos, and much more. So it helps to have a large collection of fonts.
Examples of Well Designed Sites
Need inspiration? Don’t know what the current trends in design are? The links below have many links to sites that are very well designed.
Validation of Your Code
Clean code is good code. It just works better.
Advertising
Want to make money? Want to show the world your site exists? Then you need to advertise.
Collecting Payments
Advertising is not the only way to make money. You can sell merchandise or collect donations. Best way to do this is Paypal
Web Browsers
Want to know how will your visitors see your site? Then you need their browser. Opening your site in different browsers will show how you site will look in each one. Here is a list of the most popular web browsers.
Firefox Add-ons
If you are like me then you love Firefox. Firefox has tons of useful add-ons that make life a little easier. Here are some of my favorites for web development.
You can find more add-ons at here.
Special Entities
Using HTML entities, especially in URLs, can cause not only validation problems but also usability problems. How do you fix this? Escape HTML entities with their appropriate entity value.
Copyrights
Best way to copyright your site and information on your website is to use a Creative Commons License.
Color Scheme
Color Scheme of your website plays a big factor in how much your visitors like your site. Rule of thumb dark background, light foreground or light background, dark foreground. Now what colors go with each other? Well here is a list of sites with color scheme generators to help you out.
Good luck with your website!
