Website Building

Without solid foundations, weeks, or months of work building a website can be wasted. As website building has grown in popularity, a wide array of "easy to use" tools have appeared. They range from suggesting you can create a website in five minutes, to website builders offered by web hosts and more sophisticated tools, often designed for blog posting, or to aid content management. The latter group in particular are useful but not always for a business website, they can have design limitations and cause real problems with search engine indexing. In a few cases, you can work round these, although learning to do so and getting to grips with the software itself is little easier than building a website from scratch. If your time is restricted, a website designer could be used for essential design and layout. Either way, being involved with and gaining an understanding of how your website is built can be rewarding and enjoyable, all the more so when the website proves to be a business asset.

The web's first language, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) has been around for nearly thirty years, although improved versions have regularly appeared. The latest is XHTML, essentially, HTML reconfigured to XML syntax. There are other languages in common use, although we will look no further into a subject that can make website building appear more complex than is really the case. For most needs, the best approach is to learn XHTML, along with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) an adaptable yet straightforward way to control website design. Mastering every aspect of XHTML and CSS would take some time but this is not essential to build, or understand and update one particular website. You can concentrate on all that is needed to achieve your objective, then develop further skills over time. Take a minute to read through a few suggestions in the side column, which include useful points of reference.

The basis of good design is structure, for websites, this revolves around navigation, page layout and visual impact. Opinions on visual needs will always be divided, although regardless of individual appeal, visitors still judge whether a website looks professional and trustworthy. This tends to happen quickly, as does a decision on whether the website holds useful content. Website pages need to give a clear understanding of content, layout will vary from a sales site to an information site but the principle remains, few successful websites are built with dark backgrounds, long, unbroken pages, or distracting features. One feature a website builder hopes will be used is the navigation, by visitors and search engines. You may wish to guide visitors along a particular path, to help your purpose and their needs but the aim is still for clarity. The essence of design, clear function in appealing simplicity.

We hope this page has helped you consider building a website, the steps involved are not too difficult. Mastering these, at least to suit your needs can be enjoyable and leave you in control of an important asset, instead of having to pay others. You will find more detail on website building in essential website code and a guide to SEO. If we can be of any help, please feel free to contact us at any time.

Abundant information on building websites can be found online, although buying a decent book is helpful, as a relaxed way to learn and to use as a reference manual. Many books are available, out of which you might consider HTML XHTML & CSS by Elizabeth Castro.

If you prefer learning on a PC, take a look at:

• A Guide To HTML
• Learning CSS
• HTML Structure

All three are from the W3C, although a web search will show many alternatives.

To create website code, you will need an HTML editor. There is little wrong with Notepad, with a simple, clutter free interface. If you prefer the type of editor that helps more with code layout, try out the many useful and free download options, from safe sites.

We wouldn't particularly recommend one over another, although if you are stuck, search for Crimson Editor, or TS Web Editor. Whichever you choose, enjoy your website building.