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*Intro2Bilingual.com |
*Intro2ESL.com |
*In
the Works |
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What's Happening
at RCAguilar.com !!! |
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May,
2006 |
I have come across many
individuals requesting information on "How to Create
a Website." |
The information on this
page by no means defines all of the steps involved in creating
web pages or a website. They do however provide sufficient
information to put you well on your way to understanding the
steps involved. |
It's
up to you - as an individual with your own sense of creativity
- to do what you will with this information, and to create
a site that meets your own standards! |
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There
are many web browsers that you can use to cruise the Internet.
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Use
the button at the right to grab FireFox!
----> |
The
internet is a wonderful place to get information about anything!
If your computer came with Internet Explorer as the default
web browser, try to install a different program, too, in order
to see the variety of sites in a multitude of variations. |
Get
Netscape at: http://www.netscape.com.
|
Get
Opera at: http://www.opera.com.
|
Get
Wikipedia
free Encyclopedia browser. |
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I. |
Design
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Put your design on paper first. Make an
outline draft (rough draft). Shape the spaces you want to
put images into. Shape where you want to place the text. Use
sketching and free-hand placement. Rough hand-drawings are
fine. Then use a program like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro
to design your color-scheme(s). |
II. |
HTML
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All information on a web page reflects
information as dictated in <tags>. If you want to see
this page in its coded form, right click on the screen and
then right click "view source" on the menu that
pops up. This will bring up a "code" view of this
page. You can view the source of almost any website using
this technique.
You will need a program to build your site
with, or you need to know enough HTML to do it on Notepad
or Write (any text editor). Decide how you want your text
to look – choose fonts, font sizes, colors, bold face,
italics, etc. MS Word can save documents as web pages, but
inserts overwhelmingly excessive tags.
For a great overview of HTML see: http://www.w3schools.com.
This free site provides lessons in HTML –
as well as many other types of web design tactics. They provide
a complete listing of current tags, current web production
tips and issues, and a considerable learning experience through
example.
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III. |
CSS
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Can get training in this to design pages,
and make changes to all at once. The use of CSS cuts down
on the size of your pages, and covers the whole “styling”
of your webpage design. It is used to designate fonts, font
sizes, font colors, alignment, different partition styles
– practically any design element for ALL pages in your
site in one document.
A CSS website http://www.csszengarden.com/
shows you what your CSS file can do for a single text file.
An off-shoot of this site that offers variations for the same
text file is at: http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/alldesigns/bydate/.
Keep in mind that all of the pages represent
the exact same text file. |
IV.
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Text
Files, Sound Files, Images, Power Point, Flash, etc. |
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In creating your website, it is important
that you maintain your data in a logical set of folders and
objects. If you will use sound files or graphic images, you
should position these in separate folders from your text files.
This obviously depends on the size of website you are producing.
Your root file is always known as “index.html.”
This is the document that any server will present when your
web address is present in the address bar. All other pages
can be named whatever you wish, but have the extension “.htm”
after each title. |
V. |
Host
/ IP / Domain Name |
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Decide where your website will be housed.
Your website has to be available on the internet through a
server, which will serve the pages once your “site name”
is entered into the address bar.
If you purchase a web hosting package, you
will receive an IP address (or DNS), which is the numerical
address associated with your site’s name. A Domain name
can be purchased through Register.com, Network Solutions,
or many other sites offering this service. Once you have purchased
a Domain Name, it will be up to you to “point”
the name to your DNS – where your site is hosted.
Many online/internet services offer a one-page
or 2 Meg website with their service, and provide you a “/~name/index.html”
indexing location. This can work fine for a website –
but is very limited in how and whether it will be found for
viewing by a great audience. |
VI. |
FTP
for transfer of files and maintenance |
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Once you feel that your site is publishable,
you will need an FTP program (file transfer protocol) to transfer
your files to the server. Once again, if you purchase a hosting
package, the host frequently provides this service through
its site maintenance pages. It is still recommended that you
use a separate FTP program, in order to maintain more control
and a better overview of the pages in your site.
For a free FTP program that is reliable,
http://www.internet-soft.com/
has FTP Commander. Versions change frequently, and updates
are constantly available. |
VII. |
Contact
Page vs. Email Address on site |
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One area to be wary of is the use of your email address
on your webpage. If you have a generic email address through
hotmail or Netscape, it is less drastic to make this address
available to the public. A preferred method of contact is
the Contact Page, which requires technical know-how. The
reason for avoiding using a personal email address is because
there are many spammers who pick up your email address,
and start sending you anything and everything that you don’t
want to get!
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VIII. |
Metatags,
Search Engines, and Site Submission |
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When you are developing your pages, take
special care to insert valid and proper meta-tags. Many of
these tags provide background information for your website,
including the author’s name, date of production, revisions,
keywords, a description, etc. These tags are used by search
engines to locate term-related data from computers world-wide.
Many search engines also provide a “Site
Submission” section in their web pages, so that you
can submit your site for spidering and inclusion in search
results for anyone seeking information of the type you are
providing. |
IX. |
Link
Validation |
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If you are providing links in your site to information
from the internet, be sure to check frequently that the
links are still valid. One of the most irritating points
of the internet is the loss of link validity. Sites change,
are dropped, become stale, or simply cease to exist.
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X. |
Affiliate
Programs |
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You can also make money on your website,
by joining affiliate programs. You need to be business-oriented
if your site is “sales.” A very good program to
join at this time is the Google Adsense program. Don’t
expect to generate a lot of revenue from your website, but
getting anything back out of it is worth the effort! |
XI. |
More
Resource Sites for Further Information: |
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http://www.netstrider.com |
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