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For many of you out there, this month's column is going to be old hat. You've been on the web for years, and had more iterations of your web page than you can remember anymore. You find getting on the web easier than getting into the bathroom (particularly if you have a lot of family members in the home and only one or two bathrooms), and you're wondering why the heck anyone would have any trouble at all creating and posting a web page.
Remember that some of us graduated High School before there was an internet, and had to grow up without computers all over the house. Dagnabbit, we learned to type on old manual typewriters in ten foot deep snow and we were mighty glad to have them. Ever typed ASDFJKL; over and over, uphill, against the wind, both ways, all day long? We did, and we had to use REAL pressure to type them letters, because we weren't using no sissy electronic keyboards, nosirree. Yep, old time "word processing" weren't for the faint of heart or the weak of wrist, I tell you. Now, get off my virtual lawn.
Whoops, sorry; cyber-geezer moment there. Where were we?
Right; creating a web page. For those of us who didn't start out surfing the web before we were even out of diapers ("Pampers"®, not "Depends"®, you young smart-aleck), putting together and uploading a web page can seem a bit daunting at first. Just getting through all the jargon can set the head to spinning; SQL, FTP, HTML, Java, DNS, RSS, PHP, Flash, Cache, Trash, M*A*S*H. Before we've figured out what it all means, we're already wishing for that old 1905 Underwood again.
As the subtitle above alludes, though, the biggest hurdle to creating a web page is just getting off the duff (or at the very least, getting on your duff in front of the computer) and getting started. I've only been talking about creating a web page since around April, 2005. Well, at the very least, that's when I first registered the domain name I wanted and started thinking about a web page. If you're going to create your own web page (as opposed to having someone else create it for you), there are basically two ways to get started.
The first is to either pick up a printed copy of an HTML coding book, or look up HTML coding online, and learn how to write your own HTML code. You can use most word processor programs to type in your coding, and by using the "View" > "Source" functions from your menu bar in your browser, you can see how other web pages accomplished different effects and adapt them. The advantage of coding in HTML is that it doesn't require any additional software purchases, and you learn what codes accomplish what effects. The disadvantage, of course, is that if you want to create a web page soon, it's a steep learning curve to figure out all the coding to do everything you might want on your page.
The second option is to use a web builder software package. For the beginner (such as myself), a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get type interface can work well. Rather than being concerned by codes, WYSIWYG interfaces allow the user to basically drag and drop what they want into a preview window, and the software generates the code automatically. A well-written web builder program will be fairly intuitive, nicely documented, and easy to use. Many come with built in tutorials that show you how to create different aspects of the page (without calling you a bubble-headed old fart with no business on the web in the first place), allowing you to come up with a functional, reasonable looking webpage in under an hour.
Before selecting a web builder program, go online and read reviews of the different ones. While they may all sound very similar from their descriptions, user reviews will quickly reveal which ones are better than others. You can spend as much or as little as you wish, and when I was looking I found web builders everywhere from free shareware programs, to licensed commercial programs costing hundreds of dollars. Be advised that a high price doesn't always mean a better program, and a little research can save you loads of headaches later.
Once you've created your web page, you need a place to put it. If your page is small and you don't expect a lot of traffic to it, you can probably get away with the free hosting included in the typical ISP package. On the other hand, if you anticipate having more graphics and a decent amount of visitors to your site, you're going to need to pay for a better hosting package with more storage and - more importantly - ample bandwidth.
No, bandwidth is not how fat the musicians are, though that would be an amusing name for a chubby rock group. Bandwidth is how much information transfer allotment your hosting package allows.
You see, posting your web page isn't like tacking a piece of paper on a bulletin board for all to see. When someone visits a web page, the stored information on the page is transferred to their computer across the internet. In essence, it's more like if everyone who looked at a bulletin board did so by making a photocopy of each posting on that board and taking it with them. If your web page is 10Mb of information stored on the host, and 10 people visit it and look at all of it, then your host is going to see 100Mb of bandwidth used. Free or very cheap hosting packages often have very limited bandwidth, and once you've reached that amount per month, every subsequent visitor until your quota is reset will get an error trying to view your page.
If your web page is nothing but amusing pictures of your cat for friends to laugh at, that might not seem too bad. If, on the other hand, your page is for a business venture of some sort and you can potentially lose business because visitors can't see your page, then you're looking at lost sales. Be sure to estimate your bandwidth needs carefully. If you buy too little, visitors may not be able to see your page. If you buy way too much, you're throwing money away. When looking at hosting packages, look also at the ability to change or upgrade the package as needed. A great rate is nice, but if it locks you in to a package with what will soon be insufficient bandwidth, you could again lose potential business because customers can't see your website. You also want a host with a good record of reliability and customer service, so don't be afraid to again look for customer reviews on unbiased sites.
Now that you've done all that and have your web page online with a reputable host offering sufficient bandwidth, you can sit back, relax, and just watch that money come rolling in.
Yep. Should start any moment now . . .
Didn't I tell you to get off my lawn?
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