I have been a Web Developer myself. So, I think I can give good tips on building a Website. In my 5 years of experience in this field, I have learnt some Do’s and Dont’s of making a Website. Let’s go step-by-step in building a website.
Think of an Idea
An idea must strike your mind. Be innovative and generate an unique thought. Do what others have not done. Just like MS. Hotmail was an innovation, so was Google. An idea that can serve your audience better, must be thought of. You should break the barriers of the same chat, news, e-mail, etc. stuff in your website. Be different.
If you are making a site for some one else, do what your clients want.
Decide on a Theme
Now you have an idea. Let’s say you are building a website for children. Kids do not like black & white text material flowing everywhere. They like colours, bright colours, animations and other fun stuff. But this may not go in for a business website. Such sites should load fast. Because time is money for them. So decide a theme for your website. Again the theme should be unique. There are several themes now like Classical, Retro, UltraHip, Clean, etc. Select the theme that will compliment your message.
Plan
You are not building a website for fun. You would like to generate revenues from it. You are also putting in money to host it on the net. Plan your strategy before-hand as how I are you going to earn from this website. Cultivate a good marketing strategy. For websites, the only strategy is getting more and more hits. You will get more visitors by listing your site on leading search engines. Advertising on newspapers, if affordable, is helpful.
Start Building
First of all collect all the tools required. You will require:
FrontPage/Dreamweaver for HTML designing
PhotoShop for Images
Flash for animation
ImageReady for GIF Animation
If you are incorporating database, you should have:
PWS for ASP/Apache Server
PHP Server - for PHP
SQL Server - for PHP
Access
You have a choice between ASP & PHP. ASP is cheaper, PHP has features. Choose any one. ColdFusion is other option.
For Uploading your website:
FTP Voyager/CuteFTP, etc. Anyone will do.
Once you have these tools you are ready to design your website and upload it on the NET.
Do’s
1) Create a website that will look good on both leading browsers - IE & Netscape and in both leading resolution - 800 x 600 & 1024 x 748.
2) Have your tables width-wise 100%. This will automatically adjust your webpage to all browsers and resolution.
3) Use low resolution images. Create images with 72 resolution.
4) Use animation wherever required. Put in a’Skip’ button on your Flash Intro Web Pages.
5) Use JavaScripts for your links and text effects. This brings a static webpage to life.
6) Have your text readable.
7) Your homepage should be the best page on your website. Other pages can include some images and text.
8) Do consult your friends and show them your website to get first-hand information. This will help you in knowing minuses and pluses of your site.
9) Avoid viewing your website locally, that is, on your PC. Upload your website on your server on the NET and then view it. This will help you in knowing how your website loads while surfing.
10) Put in something that will help you interact with your visitors, like a Guestbook, a contact us link or anything. This will also help in getting information about your site.
Take care of these points and follow your mind.
Dont’s
1) Heavy graphic is annoying. Use them appropriately.
2) I find Flash Intros annoying as well. Make them small and fast-loading.
3) Frames is also a big no no. Use tables.
4) Background images or background sound also takes up time in loading. Avoid them as well.
5) Pop-up windows may annoy visitors.
6) Large texts written in Italics on black background and yellow colour sums up to a bad sight.
7) Avoid Comic Sans. Use Verdana or Arial instead. For your text, that is.
8) Forms should not be very long taking all the information of your visitors. Take in what is required and that may serve your purpose.
9) Your tag should not contain huge information. Just the title of your page.
These were the dont’s. I could not think of any more.
Execute
By execute I mean, putting your website on the NET. Register a short and sweet domain name. My choice is Net4Domains.com for registering and hosting. Other choice is HostOnce.net, which gives you unlimited space for a small amount. But paid in US Dollars.
Transferring your webpage is easy. Just drag-n-drop. Instructions will be given by your server. Name your homepage index.html as it is automatically recognise by your server and browser as your homepage.
This is all you need to know. At this moment I remember this much. Novice site builders can look out for books. These were tips that I have learnt in my 5 years of experience.
Best of Luck to all website builders.