The Web made easy
Getting a website onto the Internet may seem a daunting task to many people. The thing to bear in mind is that every webmaster (website designer) was once in that exact same position and all it takes is the learning of new skills. The most important thing to remember is: don't pay for your research! There's a ton of free information on the Internet, this free web tutorial included, and as you'll soon discover, there's simply no need to pay for web design. In fact, why not get someone else to pay you to design their websites some day? This idea may sound a long way off but this is how many website designers started out. Setting up a website is not difficult, but if you still wish to pay for professional web design then that's absolutely fine, although it is still a good idea to know a bit about what you're paying for. It could safeguard you from being blinded by science and paying too much.
Missed the Internet boat?
Although it touches most people's lives in some way, the Internet has only been around for a short time (since the early nineties really). In addition, it was only the introduction of broadband a few years ago that made the Internet available in its present high-speed and image rich form. Prior to this revolution, "surfing the Net" could be a slow and joyless experience. In reality, the Internet is still in its infancy and will be around for a long time to come, with people learning web design and becoming designers all the time. Don't make the mistake of thinking it's too late to get started because it really isn't.
There are 4 basic steps involved in getting a website onto the Internet:
Steps 2, 3 and 4 are the easiest by far, while step 1 is certainly the one that will require the most time and attention. Again, this may seem daunting but there are 2 basic options here. You can:
Option 5 can often be expensive, especially if you wish to continually update and improve your website, while option 6 may seem like black magic to those who've never dabbled in web design before. But yet again, more options are available for this. You can:
Again, this last option may seem incredibly daunting at first and will take time to master but should, if you stick at it, pay the biggest rewards. I'll say it again: web pages can be built for FREE and everything required to do this is probably already sitting on your computer (Windows or Mac):
- A browser, the program this website is being viewed with, such as: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera, Netscape Navigator (no longer supported).
- A free text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad shown below, found in the start menu (All programs>Accessories) if using Windows (if not using Windows other editors are available, such as Pico for Linux or Simple Text for Mac).
There's no need to buy any software at this stage and don't be tempted by hosting packages that offer free web design software. Both of these options produce awkward, bulky code that won't help visitors find your website on the vast and ever growing Internet, and they will also limit how your website is presented. They may offer the quickest route onto the Net initially, but after that don't expect much in the way of visitor traffic or being able to customise your site. In addition, nothing beats the satisfaction of knowing you can create your own websites for free and to your own exact specifications (this entire website was built freely using simple notepad and nothing more).
HTML & CSS
Web pages are written using a code or programming language called HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). In fact you can view the code for most websites by simply right-clicking on them and then choosing "View Source" from the menu that appears (see example below right).
HTML is a relatively easy language to learn, and if you're new to it, now is a good time to begin. HTML is continuously being improved but the biggest shake up has already happened. This was the introduction of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Put simply, CSS is how HTML is styled. Instead of styling each HTML web page individually, as was once the norm (colours, backgrounds, text fonts, page layout etc...), a seperate file can be used and linked to the web pages, saving a lot of time and effort and resulting in lighter pages that load quicker and are easier to maintain or even redesign. This created headaches for a lot of experienced web designers initially because they were also forced to move away from using tables to control page layout in favour of the more versatile CSS, and for similar reasons, but more on that later. Suffice to say, you have missed that headache.
So in reality there's never been a better time to start learning how to build web pages and web sites than today. And there is no other medium like the Internet that allows you to learn for free and with the potential of reaching millions with your work. Go for it!
This condensed tutorial gives all the basic building blocks required in order to get started. Please feel free to copy and paste any of the code snippets and to use the free web templates. Why not work through it and start building your own projects? Who knows where it may lead you.
