STEP 7 Create Web Site
To create an easy internet web site, and following the previous steps, you should now have worked out your web site’s purpose, your theme and niche, who your target visitors are and their needs, the number of pages and their names, the site structure, its general appearance, the features of each web page, and gathered your content and images.
Everything can be adjusted as you go along, of course. New ideas may need to be incorporated, and changes to your original plan. In fact, a web site is never finished, however, a basic design is necessary to publish your site and changes can always be made later. Read more on Web Site Maintenance.
More information to create a web page can be found at Web Site Design, Structure, Appearance, Content and Bad Design Elements.
Basic Requirements
You will need to have a computer, with access to the internet, plus at least basic computer skills, like typing, and know how to cut and paste, click and drag, download programs, Save As, and delete.
Step 1 Web Page Builder
Select your web builder or software. See Web Page Builders for more information.
As each program is different, we cannot give precise instructions here. Follow the Getting Started or Basics section in the Help Tutorials.
Step 2 Set Page Width
If a page is too wide, users of 14” monitors will need to scroll across to see all of the page. If it is too narrow, there will be a lot of empty space on the screen next to the page for users of 17” or 19” monitors. A common compromise is to set 800 pixels as the width, and ensure your most important information is contained within 600 pixels.
Step 3 Create the Layout of Your Web Page
Insert your banner or logo, columns, navigation bar, information sections, forms, etc. Do this for one page first. A basic page can be duplicated for others, although you may prefer the home page to be different.
Uniformity in a website means keeping to the same layout throughout the site. Visitors can recognize your site, and understand instantly where the different elements are. If you are adding Google AdSense to your site, be aware of the rules governing its use. Ads can only be placed on information pages, not link pages or action pages (as the result of a successful form submission, for example). Your pages may then need 2 different layouts, one for those pages with Google ads, and one without. Keep the colours and appearance of your features and elements the same otherwise.
As different browsers display sites differently, it is a good idea to insert all elements inside tables, and set them to percentage size instead of pixels. Tables also help with alignment of objects.
Step 4 Add Colour
Your web builder should provide the 216 safe web colours, to ensure the colours you use are always displayed the same as you intended.
Add colour to the background, text, headings and shaded areas.
Step 5 Add Other Web Pages
Create new blank pages, then duplicate or cut and paste your layout so far into them. Give your pages a title, which will then become its URL.
For example, this page is called Create Website and its URL is www.how-to-build-web-sites.com/create_website.html. Note there are no spaces in a URL. If your page title has a space between words, substitute an underscore for the space.
Ensure your pages are easily navigable. Use text links, and the navigation bar.
Read more about Structure and Page Length
Step 6 Add Content
It is generally better to type text directly into the page, rather than cut and paste from a document, as there will be fewer problems. Read more about Content and Web Tools for Content
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Step 7 Add Images
Insert images and graphics if desired. Read more about Images. Insert alt text on all images. This is text that will display if the image cannot be seen, and will also display when an image is hovered over with a mouse.
Step 8 Add Other Features
Add any other features you desire, such as forms, media, a search box etc.
See Web Tools for these.
Step 9 Insert Hyperlinks
Insert links behind text and pictures. These can be internal, pointing to somewhere else on your site, or external, to another web site. Their purpose usually is to provide extra information, within a context.
Step 10 Align Elements
Align the different objects on your page with each other. They do not have to be symmetrical, however, they do need to be pleasing to the eye. Visitors can be put off if there are jarring elements.
Step 11 Read and Re-read Your Text.
Go through once to remove all redundant text, then again to proofread. Check and correct spelling. See SpellCheck in Web Tools.
Step 12 Upload and Publish Your Website to Your Host/Server
Upload your site to your web page hosting service. This is done via FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Most servers provide an FTP service, and will give you the file paths and destination folders to upload to, when you sign up with them.
Check in your browser to ensure your site is now accessible on the web. You may need to refresh (Control Refresh works best) your page. If it isn’t, don’t panic. See Web Site Maintenance for guidance.
Step 13 Check and Test
Check that all internal links are working, by hovering over them with your mouse. The URL will display on the screen. Check that all external links are working by clicking on them. Or use a Link Checker.
Test your forms, any other feature you have added.
Different browsers display web sites differently. So while your site may look fantastic on one, it may not look the way you intended in a different one. While Internet Explorer is still the most popular browser, Mozilla’s Firefox now claims 10% share of all internet users. It is worthwhile therefore, to ensure your site displays the way you want it to in Firefox.. It can be downloaded for free at Mozilla
Browser Testing Compatibility checks your web design on any browser on any operating system. Free trial.
Step 14 Adjust Your Site
Every adjustment to your site in your web builder will need to be republished to be seen by users.. You can select a single page, or the entire site.
Congratulations! You’ve now created a web site.
Now it’s time to let the world know about it.
Step 6 Web Tools < Go To > Images > Step 8 Web Site Marketing
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