Do-It-Yourself Website Design
| Category: Home Based Business - Marketing | Date: 2003-06-24 |
Website designing can be easy (even fun), if you have the determination and patience to learn.
Have no fear, website designing can be easy if you have the determination and patience to learn. Be forewarned, though, it is not just a matter of clicking the mouse. You must have that competitive spirit and drive to fulfill something that others have already done. That’s the only thing you need confidence in your capability. If they were able to do it, so can you.
The first step is to take advantage of available resources within your reach! Your county library has bookshelves of books about web designing that you can peruse. Browse and select the ones that you can easily understand. Here is a list of some books that we found helpful:
1. Create FrontPage2000 Web Pages in a Weekend, by Lisa Wagner
2. Create FrontPage2000 Web Pages In a Weekend, by David Karlins
3. Build a Web Site the Lazy Way, by Kathryn Toyer
4. Complete Idiot’s Guide to FrontPage 2000, by Elizabeth Parker
5. Cliffnotes Creating Your First Web Page, by Alan Simpson
6. Building Better Web Pages, by Rebecca Rohan
7. Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating Web Pages, 4th edition, by Paul McFedries
8. Web Design in a Nutshell: A Desktop Reference, by Jennifer Niederst, Richard Koman
9. Web Style Guide-Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, by Patrick J. Lunch, Sarah Horton
10. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity, by Jakob Nielsen
Use these books as your guide, while you practice making your websites through the age-old process of trial and error. After a few days and nights, you will be on your way to completing your very own website. (You will not even believe that you made it!).
Learning the process and actually doing the website to your satisfaction may several days, even weeks. Don’t believe anyone who tells you that you can do learn everything in one weekend, unless of course you are a graphic artist, a computer expert, or a genius. Like everything, learning takes time. You may not be happy with the first result, but do not be disheartened. Keep on revising, experimenting and tinkering with all the buttons until you are fully satisfied. Believe me, website creation is a never-ending process even when you have already gone live. You will need to make changes to it as your pages increase, as you add new features, or as a response to suggestions and criticisms made by your visitors.
Remember: being satisfied yourself does not necessarily mean that other people are as impressed with it as you are! I remember the first website I created. I was so proud of it; but looking back at it now makes me cringe with embarrassment (no wonder I never sold anything with that website). It was horrible! Make it a point to show your finished website to your relatives and friends and ask for their honest opinion. Their early feedback could help you make the necessary changes, before you announce it to the whole world.
If you are yet unsure of the effectiveness of the website design that you created, yet you want to see it go live, we recommend that you use one of those free web hosting services. Don’t worry about having a very long and sometimes annoying URL address; this is just to test your site anyway. And the reason for this is that we want to stretch the dollars left in your start-up fund box.
There are several dot.coms that offer free web hosting, such as Tripod, BeSeen, Yahoo Geocities, Bizland.com, among others. Tripod provides one of the shortest URL address and has eliminated the annoying pop-up window that opens everytime you open a page. Tripod also allows you to manage your own website and make as many changes as you want anytime. Except for the URL address that comes with a tripod.com, you now have a real website to view.
The goal of beta-testing your site before announcing it to the whole world is to check whether your site, as presently crafted, can help you attain your objectives. It is basically like having a dry run of the actual operation, without the costs of the monthly web hosting fees. You can also check whether your hyperlinks are working, analyze the image that you are presenting through the use of your colors, backgrounds and fonts. Moreover, with this trial site, getting your friends to visit the site, make comments and suggestions will be much easier. In addition, this process will make you proficient in uploading your program and being your own Webmaster when the time comes.
With your live website, spend time analyzing it. See it from a strangers’ point-of-view. Is this a site that you would want to spend a lot of time in and bookmark? Or is this a site that I will never ever come back again? Make your own objective comments and critique the site yourself. Then make changes again and again the lay-out, the colors, the font, the copy. You can also join discussion forums and post announcements about your new site and invite others to visit and comment on your site. Learn to filter through the diplomatic pat-in-the-back comments given. Work on the criticisms.
DON’T attempt to promote your site as yet as it can jeopardize your operations (and possibly your reputation) when you establish your real website. Always remember that this is a trial site and most of the activities you will perform here are supposed to be your actual hands-on training to become a real Webmaster.
You might be tempted to forget your plan to have a web hosting company and may want to stay FREE. Fine! You will have drawbacks though. The main concern will be your credibility. With a URL address like http://www.yourname/linemainstream/ID1234567?/index.htm the immediate perception is that you cannot afford to pay a web hosting company or someone who is not really serious about the Internet business. People are skeptical to do business with long and cumbersome-looking URL addresses, which looks unreliable at first glance. Maybe they will click at your site but do not expect them to open their wallets for you. Who would remember an address like that in the first place?
Invite your friends, ask them to bombard you with criticisms and suggestions. Those comments will be your guide to the design and content of your final website.
About the author:
Cpoyright 2000 PowerHomeBiz.com, LLC, Power HomeBiz Guides. for more articles , visit Power HomeBizGuides at powerhomebiz.com an online magazine designed to stimulate your entrepreneurial mind. We make small business do BIG business. To subscribe to the bi=weekly newsletter , send an e-mail to newsletter@powerhomebiz.com
:To contact see details below.
nachm@powerhomebiz.com
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/
Have no fear, website designing can be easy if you have the determination and patience to learn. Be forewarned, though, it is not just a matter of clicking the mouse. You must have that competitive spirit and drive to fulfill something that others have already done. That’s the only thing you need confidence in your capability. If they were able to do it, so can you.
The first step is to take advantage of available resources within your reach! Your county library has bookshelves of books about web designing that you can peruse. Browse and select the ones that you can easily understand. Here is a list of some books that we found helpful:
1. Create FrontPage2000 Web Pages in a Weekend, by Lisa Wagner
2. Create FrontPage2000 Web Pages In a Weekend, by David Karlins
3. Build a Web Site the Lazy Way, by Kathryn Toyer
4. Complete Idiot’s Guide to FrontPage 2000, by Elizabeth Parker
5. Cliffnotes Creating Your First Web Page, by Alan Simpson
6. Building Better Web Pages, by Rebecca Rohan
7. Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating Web Pages, 4th edition, by Paul McFedries
8. Web Design in a Nutshell: A Desktop Reference, by Jennifer Niederst, Richard Koman
9. Web Style Guide-Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, by Patrick J. Lunch, Sarah Horton
10. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity, by Jakob Nielsen
Use these books as your guide, while you practice making your websites through the age-old process of trial and error. After a few days and nights, you will be on your way to completing your very own website. (You will not even believe that you made it!).
Learning the process and actually doing the website to your satisfaction may several days, even weeks. Don’t believe anyone who tells you that you can do learn everything in one weekend, unless of course you are a graphic artist, a computer expert, or a genius. Like everything, learning takes time. You may not be happy with the first result, but do not be disheartened. Keep on revising, experimenting and tinkering with all the buttons until you are fully satisfied. Believe me, website creation is a never-ending process even when you have already gone live. You will need to make changes to it as your pages increase, as you add new features, or as a response to suggestions and criticisms made by your visitors.
Remember: being satisfied yourself does not necessarily mean that other people are as impressed with it as you are! I remember the first website I created. I was so proud of it; but looking back at it now makes me cringe with embarrassment (no wonder I never sold anything with that website). It was horrible! Make it a point to show your finished website to your relatives and friends and ask for their honest opinion. Their early feedback could help you make the necessary changes, before you announce it to the whole world.
If you are yet unsure of the effectiveness of the website design that you created, yet you want to see it go live, we recommend that you use one of those free web hosting services. Don’t worry about having a very long and sometimes annoying URL address; this is just to test your site anyway. And the reason for this is that we want to stretch the dollars left in your start-up fund box.
There are several dot.coms that offer free web hosting, such as Tripod, BeSeen, Yahoo Geocities, Bizland.com, among others. Tripod provides one of the shortest URL address and has eliminated the annoying pop-up window that opens everytime you open a page. Tripod also allows you to manage your own website and make as many changes as you want anytime. Except for the URL address that comes with a tripod.com, you now have a real website to view.
The goal of beta-testing your site before announcing it to the whole world is to check whether your site, as presently crafted, can help you attain your objectives. It is basically like having a dry run of the actual operation, without the costs of the monthly web hosting fees. You can also check whether your hyperlinks are working, analyze the image that you are presenting through the use of your colors, backgrounds and fonts. Moreover, with this trial site, getting your friends to visit the site, make comments and suggestions will be much easier. In addition, this process will make you proficient in uploading your program and being your own Webmaster when the time comes.
With your live website, spend time analyzing it. See it from a strangers’ point-of-view. Is this a site that you would want to spend a lot of time in and bookmark? Or is this a site that I will never ever come back again? Make your own objective comments and critique the site yourself. Then make changes again and again the lay-out, the colors, the font, the copy. You can also join discussion forums and post announcements about your new site and invite others to visit and comment on your site. Learn to filter through the diplomatic pat-in-the-back comments given. Work on the criticisms.
DON’T attempt to promote your site as yet as it can jeopardize your operations (and possibly your reputation) when you establish your real website. Always remember that this is a trial site and most of the activities you will perform here are supposed to be your actual hands-on training to become a real Webmaster.
You might be tempted to forget your plan to have a web hosting company and may want to stay FREE. Fine! You will have drawbacks though. The main concern will be your credibility. With a URL address like http://www.yourname/linemainstream/ID1234567?/index.htm the immediate perception is that you cannot afford to pay a web hosting company or someone who is not really serious about the Internet business. People are skeptical to do business with long and cumbersome-looking URL addresses, which looks unreliable at first glance. Maybe they will click at your site but do not expect them to open their wallets for you. Who would remember an address like that in the first place?
Invite your friends, ask them to bombard you with criticisms and suggestions. Those comments will be your guide to the design and content of your final website.
About the author:
Cpoyright 2000 PowerHomeBiz.com, LLC, Power HomeBiz Guides. for more articles , visit Power HomeBizGuides at powerhomebiz.com an online magazine designed to stimulate your entrepreneurial mind. We make small business do BIG business. To subscribe to the bi=weekly newsletter , send an e-mail to newsletter@powerhomebiz.com
:To contact see details below.
nachm@powerhomebiz.com
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/
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