The Newbies Guide To Web Design
Here's the ultimate newbie "crash course" helping you to understand the principles, technology and technical terms needed to start building your own websites.
Dear Friend,
Jumping blindly onto the World Wide Web, trying to create your first website by trial, error and pure dumb luck, was a necessity - even a badge of honor - through the 1990s. But, to paraphrase a popular teen icon of the era, "That is so 20th Century."
Creating a website today is something anyone can do, even if you've never even used a computer - much less the Internet. And "The Newbies' Guide to Website Design" is a major reason why.
Packed with tons of valuable information, this guide will take you from absolute beginner to a full understanding of the principles, technology and technical terms, ready to start creating your own websites.
Here's a summary of everything you will learn in this information-packed resource...
From the basics:
Why you really do need a website...
Make money online
Post your online resume, easily updated, easily available, with interactive links to really show what you've done in past jobs or education
Keep up with friends and family - announce a new engagement, wedding, baby, achievement, job, move
Simplifying the jargon - then using it
Know your COM, BIZ, NET, ORG, INFO, WS, etc.
Know what you don't need to know about HTML, JAVA, PHP, ASP, etc. - and what you do
How do they do that? And should you?
Spinning, bouncing, fading pop-ups
Animated GIFs
Streaming audio/video
The myth of the all-knowing programmer or site designer
Most use the same tools available to you
A lot of those tools are free
Many are no more difficult to use than clicking a mouse button
Advertise your current brick-and-mortar (offline) business
Provide a map to your store or office
Offer "specials" you can change daily without spending a dime
Showcase your service or product
Start a new business online
Or expand the one you have to as large a customer base as you desire
A website can focus tightly on a single city, even a neighborhood
Or it can bring in new customers from all over the planet
Learn the history of the Net, how it came to be, where it's at, where it's going
Not knowing this is like voting with no knowledge of democracy or the candidates and issues
Your choice: Teach your children - or hope they will teach you
To the detailed:
How to get your own domain name
There are a lot more choices than dot-com
Choose carefully - as you would name a new baby
One name, multiple domains?
Now, where do you hang your new name?
All web hosts are not created equal, from costs to services to support
What to look for beyond the monthly or annual fee
When - and how - to cut and run if your host doesn't measure up
What software and equipment you need - and what you don't
Pre-written scripts, many free, are fairly easy to install and can work miracles
Depending on need and application, add audio and video to a website with equipment you already have - or go pro
Dreamweaver, FrontPage, MS Word - for starters
WYSIWYG - Myth or merely fantasy?
How to set up your first site in 5 minutes flat
Using your host's online site creation system - with pros and cons
Using prebuilt templates - thousands available free - to give even your first effort a high-class, professional look
How to FTP
How to create a more complex website in a few hours or days
Move from free templates to paying a few dollars for a package or a few hundred dollars for a complete prebuilt site
Where to find - and how to use - templates, scripts, advanced creation software and other tools
When, where and what to look for if you need professional help
Price does not always mirror quality
Neither does experience - ask for multiple site examples and get feedback from previous customers
Where to "shop" your request - and have dozens bidding to do your project
How to put it all together with the least amount of blood, sweat and tears
There are at least a dozen widely used browsers other than Internet Explorer - and no two will display your site exactly the same way
Multiply that several times over to accommodate different monitors with different screen sizes and settings (resolution, color, contrast, etc.)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Contrary to popular belief, "search engines" do NOT actually search the Internet
If you build it, they will NOT come - unless you tell them you exist and where to find you
And why
How to avoid innocent mistakes that could get you banned from the search engines, your Web host - even the Internet itself
Content is King
How to fill those empty spaces
How to do that with something people actually want to see
How to keep it fresh - people and search engines both hate sites that are never updated
Troubleshooting
The pros and cons of Flash, Java, tables, frames, PDFs, site navigation, site search and more
Validate your design
Keep your links alive
Monitor your traffic
A picture paints a thousand words
Choosing and using the best graphics programs
Paint Shop Pro
Photoshop
Free alternatives
To the newest innovations - and what's coming next:
BLOG
The weblog has become this century's version of the "cheap" printing presses that allowed anyone to start a newspaper in the Old West
Part diary, part rant, part creative expression, part controversial commentary, part anything you want it to be - including private (only those you want to read it can)
RSS - Really Simple Syndication on a two-way street
You can send your content to others (without the problems of e-mail)
You can pull RSS content from anywhere on the Web to your site, automatically
Forums
Easy to create
Easy to maintain
Extremely popular
Games, Surveys, Freebies and other ways to attract traffic and keep them coming back
No programming skills needed - get everything you need free or at very low cost
The Web offers more things to give away than you could ever possibly give away
Multimedia
Audio means music and much more
Video isn't just for exhibitionists - so why let them make all the money?
What software and hardware combinations are available - free, cheap or otherwise - to make your site stand out from the crowd
Money: Making it, not spending it
eCommerce is not just for Microsoft or Sears
Taking the fear out of online credit card purchases - including your fear as a merchant
Exchanging your product for their money - quickly, easily and securely
Creating logos, ads, headlines, sales copy - all things marketing, from a web design point of view
Affiliate programs
Starting your own
Making money as someone else's affiliate
Advertising: The Good, the Bad & the Very Ugly
What works, what doesn't
Ads on your site
Ads about your site
Be not a spammer
Promoting your site
How this differs from advertising
When and where to link - more importantly, when and where not to link
Taking your show on the road
The Money is in the List
How to create a mailing list
How to use a mailing list
How not to make a complete hash of both