Creating a website has never been easier
with the introduction of programs specifically designed to build webpages for you. Such
programs like Microsoft™ FrontPage Express may already be on your PC if your running
Internet Explorer 4.0 upwards. If you don't have FrontPage Express, there are many
other programs available on the Internet that you can download as Shareware.
Shareware programs offer you to use the program, free of charge for a certain amount of
time before you are asked to purchase the program.
Some useful things to note when designing
your website.
- The very first page you want to have come up
when a vistor visits your site should be called index.html
- All the files that you upload to your
homepage should go in to the public_html directory.
- Our webserver is a case sensitive operating
system, so remember that if you have a link to a picture on your page called Image.htm,
the picture must also be called Image.htm and not image.htm.
- Try to find a happy medium between nice
looking graphics and download speed. Try to find a picture format that works best with
your site. JPEG images offer the best picture quality, but are normally huge in
comparrison to GIF images unless compressed. Try converting the picture to use only
32 or 64 colours. JPEG images can be compressed during saving to a smaller size,
although remember that the more compression you use, the blockier the picture will look.
- Compatability between Internet Browsers and
browser versiopns can become a problem also. Your page may look fine through
Internet Explorer, but may be all over the place with Netscape, and visa versa. It
pays to check your page through different browsers and browser versions to see if they
both look the same. In some cases, this is near impossible.
- Use some sort of filing structure within
your homepage directory. For instance, make an images directory to store all your
pictures, rather than have them mixed in with the html files.
- Try to use the same style throughout your
website.
- It's good practice to use the three click
rule. You should be able to get to any page on your website within three clicks of
the mouse.
Hope you have fun.
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