If your goal is to build a website, you more than likely have a good reason. You could be planning to create a site for your business, your family, or perhaps you are simply experimenting with the concept of website creation. We have all been there, and when you are preparing to build a website, there are a few basic things you will need:
- Creation Method — If you are planning to build a very basic website you can simply build it on your local machine, but in most cases you will want the webpage to go live. If that is the case with you, then it would be a good idea to look into the free webpage creation tools and hosting services.
- Knowledge — You need to have a basic idea of what you want to do when it comes to the creation of a webpage. While there may be some template suggestions, only you know exactly what you want your page to look like. In addition to that, knowing some basic HTML wouldn’t hurt either.
- Computer — In order to create a webpage you will need to have a device capable of accessing the internet and dealing with the advanced technologies available today. Though an advanced user might get by with less, you really do not want to start your web design adventure on an iPod touch.
These are three things that you will need if you really wish to start building your own websites, but the question you might have at this point would be just how you go about building a website. The following is a small explanation of HTML tags and a sample page for you to try out.
<html> — The First tag on any basic HTML webpage. HTML is an acronym standing for Hypertext Markup Languages.
<body> — This tag denotes the body of the page and below this line you can include text, formatting, and links.
<p> — New paragraph.
<i> — Indicates italic text.
<b> — Indicates bolded text.
<H1> — Indicates H1 text
<a href> — Tag indicating a hyperlink.
These are a few of the most basic tags, and it should be noted that every tag must be closed. In other words you should end a <body> tag with a </body> tag. The following is an actual webpage example. Note that you can copy and paste this code into a notepad file, saving it as: webpage.htm or webpage.html. In the event you cannot see file extensions, use the following procedure to make them visible under your user accout under Windows 7 and Vista:
1. Open the start menu
2. Type: Folder Options
3. Click on the corresponding program (Folder Options)
4. Click the ‘view tab’
5. Uncheck: Hide extensions for known file types
6. Click OK
Once this is done you should be able to see file extensions, and you will be able to set your own. Yes, you will need to change webpage.txt to webpage.html.
Example Page:
<html>
<body>
<p>This is an example webpage</p>
<b>This text is in Bold</b>
<i>This text is Italic!</i>
<a href=”http://www.yahoo.com”>Link to Yahoo.com</a>
</body>
</html>
Alternative but more Confusing Method:
<html><body><p>This is an example webpage</p><b>This text is in Bold</b><i>This text is Italic!</i><a href=”http://www.yahoo.com”>Link to Yahoo.com</a></body></html>
Keep in mind that the first method is best. The second will work, but it will be considerably harder to go back and make changes.
Webpage Templates
If you do not want to go the HTML route, then you are free to simply use a webpage design template. These are often provided by companies that allow free or paid webpages. It is not entirely necessary to learn HTML in it’s entirety unless you plan to become a programmer. There are so many options today, and virtually anyone can create a website with very little effort. Keep looking, and soon enough you will be able to create an excellent website whether you use HTML or a high end template.
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