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Build a Website for Free

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Build a Website for Free

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Description

  • Copyright 2009
  • Edition: 1st
  • Book
  • ISBN-10: 0-7897-3921-6
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-3921-6
  • eBook (Watermarked)
  • ISBN-10: 0-7686-8713-6
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-7686-8713-2

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

Sample Content

Online Sample Chapter

Planning for Your New Website

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages

Table of Contents

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

    Facebook

Other Web 2.0 Sites

    Flickr

    Twitter

    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

0789739216   TOC   1/8/2009

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