Can you Create Your Own Website?
In the words of President Obama, YES YOU CAN.
Even if you are not a professional web designer, you can create a website, given the right resource and knowledge base.
Ten years ago, when I first developed an interest in web design and I told a good friend that I was learning how to do this, her response was "My son learned how to do that. He took a class at camp." Her son was all of 12 years old.
I soon learned that everyone thought web design was no big deal because every other teenager had some level of skill to do this.
Over time I learned that the skill level was tool and template driven but beyond clicking through a template and dragging and dropping, the web design skill ends there.
I learned web design through reverse engineering, followed by formal study of HTML tags, seasoned with courses at New Horizons. And because I am by nature a business consultant, I look at the business purpose of a website and ask how the website can meet the goals of a company or individual.
I recently read an ad on Craigslist where someone wanted training in Dreamweaver CS3 in exchange for training or design in Photoshop CS3. I think this was posted by the same person who initially was willing to pay for the service. The original posting was Teach me How to Create a Website.
I called the person and was told that he wanted to learn in a day. I said that this was not really possible, because there is more to the process than you think.
My approach is not just - let me show you how Dreamweaver works and once you know that, you're set. You can learn Dreamweaver with a good video tutorial. But to learn web design, you need to understand the process.
Below is the outline I would have presented, had the person kept his appointment. Note that part 1 addresses the basic request (teach me how to create a website). Implied in this process is a one page website. A multiple page website should probably use cascading style sheets (CSS), which is different than HTML but goes hand-in-hand with it. Also note that parts 2 and 3 breath life to the website and part 4 sustains it.
Part #1: Creation
Part #2: Posting
Part #3: Marketing
Part #4: Maintenance
Even if you are not a professional web designer, you can create a website, given the right resource and knowledge base.
Ten years ago, when I first developed an interest in web design and I told a good friend that I was learning how to do this, her response was "My son learned how to do that. He took a class at camp." Her son was all of 12 years old.
I soon learned that everyone thought web design was no big deal because every other teenager had some level of skill to do this.
Over time I learned that the skill level was tool and template driven but beyond clicking through a template and dragging and dropping, the web design skill ends there.
I learned web design through reverse engineering, followed by formal study of HTML tags, seasoned with courses at New Horizons. And because I am by nature a business consultant, I look at the business purpose of a website and ask how the website can meet the goals of a company or individual.
I recently read an ad on Craigslist where someone wanted training in Dreamweaver CS3 in exchange for training or design in Photoshop CS3. I think this was posted by the same person who initially was willing to pay for the service. The original posting was Teach me How to Create a Website.
I called the person and was told that he wanted to learn in a day. I said that this was not really possible, because there is more to the process than you think.
My approach is not just - let me show you how Dreamweaver works and once you know that, you're set. You can learn Dreamweaver with a good video tutorial. But to learn web design, you need to understand the process.
Below is the outline I would have presented, had the person kept his appointment. Note that part 1 addresses the basic request (teach me how to create a website). Implied in this process is a one page website. A multiple page website should probably use cascading style sheets (CSS), which is different than HTML but goes hand-in-hand with it. Also note that parts 2 and 3 breath life to the website and part 4 sustains it.
Part #1: Creation
- Find a simple to intermediate site (no Flash, minimum Javascript, php, ASP)
- Look at the physical layout and graphics and explain how they were done
- Look at the word placement
- Look at the features included and explain how they were done
- Look at the source code
- Explain the HTML code and provide references
- Find a Dreamweaver template that resembles step #2
- Find existing graphics (Photoshop is a whole another lesson)
- Modify the HTML code
Part #2: Posting
- Buy a domain name
- Buy web hosting space
- Upload the files to the web server
- View the website in different browsers
- Internet Explorer
- Firefox
- Opera
- Safari
- Modify the code if it doesn't display in these browsers
- Run an HTML/CSS validator
Part #3: Marketing
- Devise a plan to get web traffic
- Blogging
- Affiliates
- Social Networking
- Google Adwords
- Directories (paid)
- Link exchange
Part #4: Maintenance
- Learn CSS
- Learn PhotoShop
- Learn PHP and ASP
- Learn Flash and ActionScript
- Keep current
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