Web Stuff
I have been playing around with building basic HTML web sites since the start of 2006. I have always been interested but thought it was too hard to do. The truth is that it is not hard at all if you know how to go about it. This page details all the information you need to set up your own website.
Write Your Web Code
I assume that if you have got to this point, you will be well aware that you will need to write some code to build your website. It is not really hard to write HTML, and it is easier if you use a tool to help you navigate through all the tags etc. I did a quick search on the web and found this product NoteTab Light. I liked it because 1) it is free and 2) it doesn't take over the entire process of writing HTML - it just helps you through the process. One of the things I wanted to do was learn to code in HTML, so using something like MS Word to write the code for me was not going to work. One thing I didn't like about this product was it doesn't have any support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). When you learn to write HTML, you really should also learn about CSS tool.
I then migrated to a tool called TopStyle Pro. There is a free trial period and it is much more powerful in the area of CSS. This is a great tool however I think the cost is a bit much given that there are other free tools around.
I ended up settling for 2 tools that are both free and very usesful. The first is HTML Kit. This tool is good because it has everything that NotTab Light has, it is more modern, and it integrates a lot of other open source tools and plug ins to make your HTML code easier to write. If you use this tool, make sure you take a look at the HTML Tidy plug in. This tool will check your code, and tell you what needs to be changed to conform to HTML coding standards.
The second tool I settled on was NVU. This tool takes a different approach, and allows you to write your HTML in more of a WYSIWYG approach. It stll allows you to edit the HTML code directly at the source just like HTML Kit. I have found that using both of these tools serves me best. I tend to set up new pages with HTML Kit, but if I just want to add/edit a page, I use NVU. Anyway, they are both good tools, so try them both and use what works best for you.
The next thing I suggest you do is go and visit www.w3schools.com. This is one of the best learning resources on any topic I have ever found on the internet. Go to the site and work you way through the HTML tutorials. Once you have got the hand of HTML, you should spend some time learning about CSS. CSS is much newer than HTML and works as one with HTML. It gives you lots more capability to control the look and feel of your websites, and also allows you to rapidly change the look with a minimum of effort. CSS also gives you much better control over the way your web page is laid out - CSS is a must if you want to make a site look professional. Once again, it is not hard but you will need to learn.
Find a Place to Host your Website
There are an almost unlimited number of places you can host your website. Depending on your ISP, you may have free webspace with them (as I do with Optusnet). You can get free webspace at Geocities, although I have never tried this myself. You could also abandon HTML all together and use on of the many wikis such as wikispaces.com (my favourite) or something like myspace.com. The reason I have opted for my own HTML site is that I wanted to own the URL and also wanted to try to earn some revenue from the site. Now realistically I am not going to give up my day job, but it is a bit of fun to do it anyway.
After a lot of mucking around, I finally came across a free hosting site called www.freehostia.com. It was a bit daunting to set up, however it was worth it in the long run. I have provided step by step details on how to set up your own site at www.freehostia.com below.
FTP Your Code to the Server
At some point in time, you are going to have to send the web pages you have created to the webserver. The easiest way to do this is with FTP. You can get FTP software, but Windows Explorer works fine. Just open a new copy of Windows Explorer, and type in the FTP address for your site (this information should be available from your hosting service.
Register a URL (optional)
One of my objectives was to get my own URL. In Australia, you need to have an ABN in order to register a URL. Recently (2006 I think) they relaxed the rules - previously you had to have a company name registered too, and your website URL had to closely reflect the name of your company. This is now not the case, and anyone with an ABN can register any available URL.
I found 2 useful sites for registering a URL - Jumba and Freehostia. I registed my URL at Jumba, but then later moved the management to Freehostia so they could host the site for me. If I were to do it all again, I would just register my URL at Freehostia.
Get Indexed by Google
Yes, there are lots of search engines out there, but if you get indexed by Google, then you are well on your way. I had lots of problems getting indexed initially. In fact I still haven't been indexed as at end Jan '07, however I think I have now solved the problems.- Go to the webmaster tools site at Google and have a good read.
- My indexing problem was the Google was looking for a file called robots.txt at my site and couldn't find it. It is easy to create one, so you may want to do this up front.
- Create a sitemap.xml file and load that on your server. It helps Google index your site. I used a free service at www.freesitemapgenerator.com but there are many other ways to do it.
- Lodge your site to be indexed. Google says this is not essential, but you may as well do it anyway. Go to www.google.com/addurl to submit your site details (after you have done the items listed above of course).
Setup Some Analytics to Track Visitors
There are a few ways you can