Every aspiring webmaster starts in a slightly different way. Some might have a teacher, some might learn in high school, maybe college, others grab a book and start reading, nowadays you can do a google search for free tutorials on "how to build a website" as you can see you are almost limited to your imagination or maybe fate!
I started by wondering how that page showed up in the browser. Honestly, I didn't know what the word "browser" meant. I had no idea what html was and I didn't know what "source code" defined.
The first time I looked at the html coding for a basic webpage my old gray cells started spinning, it literally is like learning a foreign language. And like a foreign language once you learn the basics you can form words, then sentences, then paragraphs and so on.
I started around 1999 by purchasing a couple of hard cover books on how to build a website. They were difficult to read and didn't make much sense. I had no one to help me so I had to experiment myself.
I understood a little about how to build a basic page, then I learned more basics such as how to code an image into a page....trust me the learning is continual. Next I decided that I would look into a program that would build websites that had 2 views, something called a WYSIWYG editor (What You See Is What You Get) and a view that showed you the complete html source code while building your website.
The program I ultimately decided to purchase was called Dreamweaver. Now, Dreamweaver is one of the most powerful software programs that can build websites. Learning Dreamweaver was almost as difficult as trying to learn html coding! The learning curve was extremely steep. I purchase manuals and video tutorials. Finally I felt competent enough to purchase a domain name and try to put up my first website. I did and you can see the first website I did at www.desktop-wealth.com. It's really not pretty and there's so much wrong with it that I could write a book....but I took action and did something.
Remember, your first website will be the worse website you'll ever build. They only get better through time!
Today there are so many options that it would take many pages to discuss what is available. However I can narrow it down to a couple of the best.
First let me say, I really think it's important for anyone wanting to design websites to make an effort to learn html, css and php. It doesn't matter what you use for building your websites, sooner or latter you will run into a situation that needs manual editing of the html source code. Not knowing how to do that will leave you in the dark....but that's where your education starts. A problem exists....you find out how to fix it.
Today I would recommend 2 different types of programs for building websites.
The first one is called a wordpress blog. Wordpress is a blogging content management platform used to build your blog. If you can get someone to install a blog on your website, you'll be able to stumble along from day one writing posts and pages. Wordpress is very popular and you'll be able to find many free and paid for tutorials explaining how to use and configure wordpress, which would be something you'll want to do to get the most out of Wordpress. Here's a couple of different wordpress blogs:
You can start a wordpress blog on your own domain, which is what I would recommend. However, if you just want to play around to see what blogging might be like you can set up a wordpress blog that is hosted by wordpress just go to www.wordpress.com and set up an account. I'd be remiss not to mention Blogger, you can also set up your own blog that is hosted by Blogger. Be aware though, if you start a blog in which you DO NOT control the hosting, you could lose it at any moment. If you post something they consider offensive or in violation of their terms, or maybe someone just doesn't like you......they can dump your blog and you'll lose all your work. Beware, that happened to me at Blogger. I lost a blog I had worked on for 2 years...you know why, they didn't like some of my internet marketing ads...period then end, in a flash it was gone.
Next would be a website building program called Xsitepro. This program is probably the simplest way to start building a standard or static website. As with anything else you'll have to spend some time learning how to use the program. But don't worry, it comes with video tutorials and a written manual. Plus you can find many tutorials online and there is a user forum that is filled with helpful people....just post a question and someone will usually answer it in hours.
Xsitepro is particularly suited for newbies to learn how to build websites. It features a WYSIWYG editor, meaning you just type into a window...something similar to Microsoft Word. You can also view the source code and edit it. Even though it's easily used by someone new to website building, there are many advanced features and is a handy tool for even the most experienced website builder.
A big, big benefit of Xsitepro is how it puts the pages together. You may not understand this now, but certain things are needed to get traffic or visitors to your website. It's known as "Search Engine Optimization", and this is what Xsitepro does automatically. A hundred pages or more could be written on how Xsitepro does this, but suffice it to say, Xsitepro builds websites and webpages and are search engine optimized...which for you means traffic.
If you're new to building websites and want to build websites, consider investing in Xsitepro. If the budget is tight or non existent, just try using Wordpress...it's free!
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