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Build a Website for Free
Build yourself a state-of-the-art website.It’s incredibly easy... and it won’t cost you a dime! You need a website. But you don’t need the hassles that usually go with building one, or the expense of hiring someone else to do it. Here’s your solution: Build a Website for Free! You’ll learn how you can use new Web 2.0 technologies to create a site that’s impressive and effective. And here’s the best part: You’ll do it all with software and tools that won’t cost you a dime!
• Plan, organize, and design a site that really works, using tools you can find for free
• Discover the simple secrets of writing pages people want to read
• Use video on your site—and get someone else to pay for hosting it
• Add an easy-to-update blog and start building your own web community
• Quickly and easily handle “nuts and bolts” tasks, from getting your site name to uploading your
content
• Get your site picked up by Google, Yahoo!, and other search engines
• Adapt your site for easy viewing on cell phones
Mark Bell is a Ph.D. student in the Indiana University Telecommunications department. He studies virtual worlds and mediated trust with the Synthetic Worlds Initiative and has spent 15 years in the computer industry. Mark created his first website in 1992, ran a web design company in the ‘90s, and consults on several academic web projects.
CATEGORY: Internet/Web
Introduction
Part I: The Basics
Chapter 1 The Order of Things
The Website Creation Process
1. Planning
2. Design
3. Building
4. Testing
5. Promotion and Maintenance
Chapter 2 Choosing a Location for Your Site
Web Hosting
What Is a Web Server?
Determining Your Web Hosting Needs
Cost
Technical Knowledge Required
Maintenance Needs
Storage Space
Accessibility
Bandwidth Needs
Domain Name Service
Hosting Options
Home Hosting
Free Online Hosting
Online Hosting Service
Professional Hosting
Commercial Hosting
So What Works Best for You?
Working with Different Types of Hosting Services
Free Services
Low-Cost Commercial Sites
Other Resources
Part II: Plan and Prep
Chapter 3Planning Your Site
What Type of Site Do You Want to Build?
Types of Sites
Learning From Sites You Go To
Website Goals
Organizing Websites
Organizing the Site
Organizing the Pages
Best Practices of Website Organization
Keep Your Website Simple
Keep Your Website Consistent
Keep Your Website Easy to Maintain
Chapter 4Designing Your Site
I Can’t Make a Website That Looks That Good!
Content Before Design
Overall Design
Design Ideas
Central Image Design
Colors
The Magic Four
Hex Color
Color Schemes
Color Blindness
Fonts
System Fonts
Fonts as Images
Fonts and Color
Images
Cascading Style Sheets
Design Best Practices
Keep It Simple
Don’t Use Attention Grabbers
Be Consistent
Chapter 5Gathering Your Development Tools
Finding the Right Tools for the Job
Tool Sites and Reviews
Downloading New Software
Downloading and Installing Software
Essential Tools
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Programs
Text Editor
Graphics Editors
HTML Editors
Sound Recorders
Advanced Tools
The Future of Free Web Tools
Chapter 6Moving Files To and From the Internet
Storing Your Files
Naming Files
Keep All Your Web Files in One Place
Have an Organizational Structure
Use a Version Control System
Uploading Files to the Internet
Logging In
Adding New Files
Changing Existing Files
Downloading Files from an FTP Server
One File or Many
Downloading from a Browser
Types of Download Files
Best Practices for Downloading Files
Part III: Website Building Basics
Chapter 7Elements of a Website
Content
Content Best Practices
Content Standards
Parts of a Web Page
Title
Header
Body
Footer
Sidebars
Navigational Elements
Parts of a Website
Home Page
Content Pages
Web Advertising
Banner Ads
Animated Ads
Google AdSense
Chapter 8Using Existing Websites
Promotion
Social Networking Sites
MySpace
Other Web 2.0 Sites
Flickr
Del.icio.us
Chapter 9Web Page Services
Google Sites
Signing Up for Google Sites
Creating a Google Site
Editing a Page
Creating a Page
Move a Page
Delete a Page
Edit Page Settings
Edit Site Settings
Google Sites Features and Limitations
SnapPages
Signing Up for SnapPages
Creating a SnapPage
Editing a Page
Adding and Editing Photos
Editing Site Settings
SnapPages Features and Limitations
Netvibes
Signing Up for Netvibes
Public Versus Private Pages
Personalizing Your Netvibes Page
Chapter 10 HTML 101
The Structure of HTML
The Structure of Tags
Common HTML Tags
HTML Structure Tags
Text Tags
Lists
Tables
Hyperlinks
Images
Free HTML Editors
Text Editors
WYSIWYG Editors
Resources
Chapter 11 Working with Images
Working with Images
Lossy and Lossless Compression
The Image Tag
Background Images
Image Maps
Animated GIFs
Optimizing Images
Resizing Images
When to Use Different File Types
Slicing Images
Finding Images
Free Images
Other People’s Images
Using Your Own Images
Chapter 12 Working with Multimedia
Digital Audio Files
Audio Formats
Audio Players
Digitizing Audio
Audio Editing
Audio Resources
Digital Video Files
Video Formats
Video Players
Digitizing Video
Video Editing
Video Hosting Sites
Video Resources
Chapter 13 Using HTML to Build a Site
How Web Pages Work
Page File
Extensions
Tools for Creating Web Pages
Parts of a Page
Cascading Style Sheets
Format of a Style Sheet
Creating and Linking a Style Sheet
Scripting
Using Templates
Chapter 14 How’d They Do That?
Viewing Code from Other Websites
Web Development Firefox Add-ons
Recommended Firefox Web Development Add-ons
Badges
Templates
Developer Networks and Sites
Chapter 15 Making Your Site Mobile
Why Should You Care About the Mobile Web?
How People Access the Mobile Web
Become a Mobile Web User
Mobile Web Devices (MWD)
Mobile Operating Systems
Mobile Browsers
Limitations of the Mobile Web
Making Your Website Mobile
Mobile Browser Detection
Domains and Subdomains
Use the Right Code
Page Sizes
Interface
Things to Avoid
Mobile Web Tools and Sites
Testing Your Site on a Mobile Phone
Part IV: Site Testing and Maintenance
Chapter 16 Testing Your Website
Why Testing Is Important
Building a Test Plan
Start at the End
Testing Basic Functionality
Testing HTML
Testing Browsers
Testing Resolution
Testing Printing
Testing Navigation
Testing Consistency of Design
Testing Security
Testing Accessibility
After Testing
Testing Tools
Chapter 17 Promoting Your Website
Self-Promotion
Have Excellent and Unique Content
Update Content
Publicize Your URL
Connect with Others
Search Engines
How Search Engines Work
Optimizing Your Site for Search Engines
Keywords
Chapter 18 Maintaining Your Website
What? I’m Not Done?
Regular Maintenance
Weekly Tasks
Monthly Tasks
Annual Tasks
The Power of Analytics
Common Analytics and What They Mean
Using Google Analytics
Tweaking Your Site Based On Analytics
Part V: Website Workshop
Chapter 19 Building a Blog Site with WordPress
What Is a Blog?
Why Should I Blog?
Blog Publishing
Syndication
What Is WordPress?
Software Versions
Five Reasons to Use Wordpress.com to Host Your Blog
Five Reasons to Create Your Blog Using WordPress Software
Building a Blog Using WordPress.com
Signing Up for WordPress.com
Activating Your Account
Logging In to Your Blog
Writing Blog Posts
Managing Blog Posts
Changing the Design of Your Blog
Manage the Comments on Your Blog
Setting Up Your Own Blog with WordPress Software
Information You Need Before You Begin
How WordPress Software Works
How Much Does All This Cost?
Before Installing Your Software
Download and Install WordPress
Download WordPress Software
Customization of WordPress
Adding Themes
Adding Plug-ins
Personalization of WordPress
Modifying Themes
Creating Themes
Creating Plug-ins
Blogging on Your iPhone
Keep an Eye on Things
Chapter 20 Using a Content Management System to Build a Website
Five Reasons to Use Ning.com as Your CMS
Five Reasons to Use Joomla as Your CMS
What Is Ning?
Building a Social Network with Ning.com
Signing Up for Ning.com
Invite Friends
Add Photos and Video
Start a Discussion
Building a Site with Joomla
Information You Need Before You Begin
Before Installing Your Joomla Software
Download and Install Joomla
Adding Articles
Managing Users
Modules, Plug-ins, and Templates
Keep an Eye on Things
Chapter 21 Building a Multimedia Website
Best Practices for Multimedia
Using Multimedia
Storing Multimedia Files
Downloading Audio and Video Files
Streaming Audio and Video
Adding Advanced Multimedia Elements
Register a Sprout Account
Building a New Sprout
Add Sprout to Your Web Page
Edit an Existing Sprout
Viewing Sprout Statistics
Advanced Open Source Multimedia
Chapter 22 Building a Wiki
Five Reasons to Use PBwiki to Host Your Wiki
Five Reasons to Use MediaWiki for Your Wiki
What Is PBwiki?
Building a Wiki Using PBwiki.com
Signing Up for PBwiki
Activating Your Account
Edit a Page
Add a Page
Linking Pages
View Page History
Setting Up Your Own Wiki Using MediaWiki Software
Information You Need Before You Begin
MediaWiki Software Architecture
Before Installing Your MediaWiki Software
Download and Install MediaWiki
Keep an Eye on Things
Part VI: Appendixes
Appendix A List of the Most Common HTML Tags
Appendix B Free and Open Source Software Sites
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