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Setting up your own website – part 1 Websites serve various purposes such as providing information, selling products, or entertaining us. Now, you’ve decided you’d like to have your own little place in cyberspace. What is involved in setting up a website? The first decision you need to make is what you’d like your website to be about. Do you want a place to show off your newest litter of Siamese kittens? Maybe a place your model airplane collector club can post pictures and swap tips. You could even sell Aunt Thelma’s crafts or antique glassware. Next, find a place to build your new cyberhome. Your internet service provider (ISP) usually provides space at no charge. Check on their homepage for information on where it can be found. The usual format is www.yourisp.com/~yourusername. A big benefit of using your ISP’s site is that they will not place advertising on your pages. If you want more traffic, you might choose to join an online website community. Read the member agreement before you decide where to pitch your tent. Some sites will reserve the right to feature your material in their advertising without contacting or compensating you. Many also place advertising on your pages to help offset the cost of running the site. If you’re trying to sell books and an Amazon.com ad shows up on your page, you may decide this type of site is not right for you. Most communities offer online page builder software that will allow novices to have their pages up and running without having to learn HTML. You can also expect to find affiliate and merchant programs which let you make money with your website. Geocities has been around for quite a while and is now a part of Yahoo. They offer 15 megs of space and graphics you can use to get started. You can join their banner exchange to draw more people to your site. The advertising is in the form of a small pop-up window that is added to your page. If you are already a member of Yahoo, just go to www.geocities.com. You’ll find they have a page already reserved for you! Xoom (a part of Snap) offers free unlimited web space. Included in the deal is free email, chat rooms, counters, and graphic animations for your use. Xoom has nice utilities available for download to help you with your site like free video and image tools. They make it easy to set up your own online store if you like. Instead of pop-up ads, Xoom adds a small command bar to the top of your page, which is actually not bothersome at all. Tripod offers 50 megs of space and native language support for over 25 countries worldwide! A unique feature is their new ShowMotion presentation software which makes it easy to add streaming video to your website. The location of your site is simple to find, membername.tripod.com. You will also find email, voicemail, and software downloads. Angelfire is now a sister site to Tripod where you have 30 megs to work with. The ads are in the form of a pop-up window which can be annoying but can be closed so as not to interfere with your content. Their gifworks online gif editing tool helps you create terrific graphics for your site. HTML gear and comet cursors are unique features at Angelfire. Choose a site that you feel will work best for you and sign up. Write down the address of your new cyberhome, you will need it to tell your friends where to find you. Once you’ve decided where to create your page, you will need to gather content. Pictures taken from your digital camera or scanner can be placed in a directory for uploading later. You can also find some nice graphics at clipart.com and screamdesign.com. In part 2 you will learn what to do with all this information, so have it ready! |
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