Make a Website

Learn the basics to getting your own website online.

Step 1 What You Will Need

Notepad++
A powerful yet lightweight notepad application.

Firefox
This is the browser for web designers.

Photoshop
While you don't need to get CS4, this is definitely the best software for the job. Other software just
doesn't cut it, and are generally much less functional. If you're starting off, I'd suggest Photoshop Album, which has all of the most commonly used tools at only a fraction of the price

DreamWeaver
Professional grade web design software. It's a bit expensive, and there are other free
alternatives].
If you're a student, you can get Microsoft Expression Studio, Microsoft's multimedia software bundle, for free through DreamSpark! Awesome, I know! That's basically Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Illustrator all for free.

FileZilla
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) application for uploading files to the server.

Computer
(Preferably an HP TouchSmart)

Lots of drinks (Coca-Cola?

Music

Awesome ergo keyboard and optical mouse

You can either learn the code online or simply purchase some books. Books are a bit handier since it's much easier to look things up, but all the information is available online at W3Schools.com.

I first learned HTML with the help of Elizabeth Castro's fantastic HTML for the World Wide Web 4th edition. The latest edition now includes XHTML and CSS, and I highly recommend it.

Comments

[dsman195276]

cool, but i have one question, how much does a website cost to set up?

[Ranie-K]

Could be free unless you need your own domain. There's several free webhosts -like http://byethost.com/

[M4industries]

anywhere from free to $900 per month. Free sites suck. $900 sites are for those who own their own servers and do their own thing. The ISP (comcast, cox, etc.) charges for a connection called a T1 line. But I pay $26 per month and my site is pretty cool. Its your choice.

[Lance Mt.]

 webs.com
Very good. It allows you to do anything a paid domain can, as long as you keep the 'yourdomain.webs.com' addition. I rate it very high as im a keep barstool

[jellyome]

So you have created an awesome website that you want to get up and on the Internet? How? Firstly this is not a post on how to create a website. I am not going to go to in depth about this, if you need any help don’t hesitate to contact me. Buy a Domain Name A domain name is basically your home/address on the Internet. This is the key to looking professional to have a domain such as yourname.com, instead of yourname.someone.com as this can easily link to someone else’s site, which will detract traffic from your site and help either your competitors or domain name provider. I am not going to go into detail about choosing a good domain (that will be covered in another blog post). A good domain provider will be reasonable (no more than $15 USD a year) and provide a great service. I use SmokyHosts which is a great site for all my needs, they provide Domain name forwarding (forward your website to another), URL Masking (make your visitors think they are still on your original site) and of course Domain name servers (the link with your domain and hosting.) If you buy your domain and hosting from the same company you shouldn’t have to worry about this. There are also other popular Domain registrars/hosting sites such as GoDaddy, BlueHost and Homestead Buy Website Hosting Website hosting is the place on the Internet where your website is stored for everyone else to view it. Here are 5 important points to choosing a great webhost. 1. Don’t be cheap – This never works. Before I found SmokyHosts I had been through around seven different webhosts that seemed great but had false promises and never suited my needs. Such as too little space, wrong programming languages, banned file types etc. This brings me into my next point. 2. Assess your needs first – Think of what you will need for your website and go with that. If you need any special programming languages such as java or Perl make sure your webhost offers it. If you think that you need 150mb of space, go with 250mb as your website can rapidly grow and you don’t want to be left with no more space. As mentioned earlier be sure that your website doesn’t ban selected file types such as .zip, .doc, .pdf or .exe. As you may need those file types and will have to resort to hosting them on an external website. 3. Don’t pick a site that sounds too good to be true – Because it probably is. Website hosting sites that offer unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth often are dodgy. They are either are too expensive, can steal your credit card details or have another catch. Stick with what you need not what you want. 4. Thoroughly read through the Terms of Conditions/Service – This is where most Web hosts sites catch you out. You are probably paying for something you don’t want. Such as if you wanted to create a proxy server or a secret forum, web hosts often don’t allow that and will cut your website with no refund. Stay safe and read through the Terms of Conditions to know exactly what you are signing up for. 5. Read many reviews on your potential web hosting sites – This will help you greatly as most users have experienced the advantages/disadvantages that you will experience. It is also great for others opinions on what you are going to put your hard earned money into. Again I use SmokyHosts for my web hosting as well. The other sites mentioned above also provide great website hosting services. Download an FTP Client and Upload Your Website To transfer your website to your webhost you must use a FTP client, (FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol) this is your door towards uploading and updating your website. There are many great FTP clients out there, (they should all be free) my favourites are FIleZilla (made by the people who make the popular browser Mozilla Firefox) and SmartFTP. These are both free and very easy to use. Once you have downloaded just enter your FTP details that you should have received in an email when you signed up for a webhost, enter those into your FTP client and add your sites files to the relevant directory. For updating your website you can change/add/replace different web files and reload them. You’re Done! It may take 24-78 hours for your website to become live (depending on your hosting company) then your website should show up at your chosen domain name. Just sit back and watch traffic increase. You may want to add your website to Google

[DrWeird117]

Holy hell.

[jellyome]

Thanks it something which comes to me really easy. I don't know why people say making a website is hard. Maybe I should set up my own Instructable

[DrWeird117]

It's really not, but...typing all you did was.

[crestind]

Hosting is per month, and then domains are paid per year. I suggest grabbing hosting at hostgator using the "wordpress" coupon code to get the first month free.

[jellyome]

You can get hosting for free within a certain size. some hosting sites now do it per year

[hguvg]

 also use "houston" for first month free

[shoyru_master_11]

please answer the following question:
http://www.instructables.com/answers/Is-there-any-HTML-30-software-editors-that-work-c/

[drmjj55]

apprevolution.webs.com

[jediking100]

hey i am a noob at this so please come to my site and leave some feed back on how to make it better

http://redzone-master.blogspot.com/

[plane phanatic]

What are some free alternatives to Dreamweaver? (And any ideas on how to promote the site?)

[crestind]

I use Notepad++. Depends on the type of website.

[sh2902]

add how to actually make the site

[sh2902]

man you know your tech talk. So do i. I know all the codes u mentioned in step 2

[i can go supersonic]

dude I made a cool website. can you sign up for it? the site is http://amikolaj17.webs.com. if you sign up it is a drawing website. here is what you do: first type in the website. then go to members and press sign up. then do what it tells you. now you are signed up, you can post drawings for people. to do that you draw something, take a picture of it, upload it on your computer, put it on a file, then when you want to post a drawing, go to my website and go to your page and click edit and click blog and click post new entry. now click browse, open your file with pictures, find the drawing, click on it and press open, then type in the pictures name, then press post, then make the instructions on how to draw the drawing. oh, and nothing violent or inappropriate because my teacher wants to show my principal my website because she thinks it is cool. if you would like to sign up for it please tell me if you do or don't and if you want tell your friends.

[rjrollins]

What? I am not understanding anything

[spock155]

Regular text^supersuper-super^{back to super}back to regular
Regular text^{super_super-subback to super}back to regular
Regular text^{super italic strike super} back to regular

[spock155]

:O Coool instructable

[DJ Radio]

cool instructable, but i was wondering if you could find a free host for your website, I dont want to have to pay for one

[DJ Radio]

oh, i just saw your comment, but have you found any reliable free hosts that dont shut down?

[crestind]

(removed by author or community request)

[fredandjoe213]

You can use http://www.freewebs.com and than use http://www.dot.tk

[btop]

Freehostia seems very reliable.

[DJ Radio]

ok, i guess i can afford 2.20 per month, not to mention that penny......

[fwjs28]

i heard of a new kind of HTML that is like 3html or something that makes 3D web pages...pretty cool....

[knexfan9182]

how would I be able to set up my own server so I don't have to pay money to a host.

[crestind]

Most ISPs will not let you run your own server, so then you'd end up paying more for that. It's easier to pay for a host, unless you know what you are doing setting up your own servers.

[knexfan9182]

knowing comcast I can't

[knexfan9182]

?

[xACIDITYx]

Nice Instructable! Just one question though; How can I get DreamSpark? If I try to do anything, I need to verify... with a college.

[xACIDITYx]

Whoops, nevermind, apparently I have to be a student. Either way, Awesome!

[PetervG]

How did you make that first image?

[ac1D]

vista or photoshop or both?

[crestind]

Photoshop. Screenshotted the images, duplicated layer, flip vertical, applied layer mask vertical, transform vertical skew. :P Not Flip 3D, but kinda like it.

[crestind]

I could make an Instructable about it.

[PetervG]

That would be splendid!