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 Adapt your site for easy viewing on mobile devices 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
Author(s): Mark Bell
Edition: 2
Publisher: Que
Year: 2010
Language: English
Pages: 350
Table of Contents......Page 6
Introduction......Page 20
Open-Source Software......Page 21
I Can’t Really Do This…Can I?......Page 22
Geek Speak......Page 23
What Is the Internet?......Page 24
What Is the World Wide Web?......Page 25
What Is a Web Browser?......Page 26
Part I: The Basics......Page 28
1 The Order of Things......Page 30
The Website Creation Process......Page 31
Web Hosting......Page 36
What Is a Web Server?......Page 37
Determining Your Web Hosting Needs......Page 38
Hosting Options......Page 40
So What Works Best for You?......Page 41
Working with Different Types of Hosting Services......Page 42
Part II: Plan and Prep......Page 46
3 Planning Your Site......Page 48
What Type of Site Do You Want to Build?......Page 49
Learning from Sites You Go To......Page 52
Website Goals......Page 53
Organizing Websites......Page 54
Best Practices of Website Organization......Page 57
4 Designing Your Site......Page 60
Content Before Design......Page 61
Colors......Page 62
Fonts......Page 67
Images......Page 69
Design Best Practices......Page 70
5 Gathering Your Tools......Page 72
Downloading New Software......Page 73
Operating Systems......Page 74
Office Suites......Page 75
The Future of Free Web Tools......Page 81
6 Moving Files to and from the Internet......Page 82
Storing Your Files......Page 83
Uploading Files to the Internet......Page 85
Downloading Files from an FTP Server......Page 87
Part III: Website Building Basics......Page 92
7 Elements of a Website......Page 94
Content......Page 95
Parts of a Web Page......Page 97
Parts of a Website......Page 102
Web Advertising......Page 104
8 Using Existing Websites......Page 108
Social Networking Sites......Page 109
Other Web 2.0 Sites......Page 120
9 Web Page Services......Page 124
Google Sites......Page 125
Wetpaint......Page 135
Netvibes......Page 139
10 HTML 101......Page 142
The Structure of HTML......Page 143
Common HTML Tags......Page 145
Free HTML Editors......Page 151
Resources......Page 154
The Latest Version of HTML......Page 155
11 Working with Images......Page 156
Web Graphics......Page 157
Optimizing Images......Page 161
Finding Images......Page 162
Using Your Own Images......Page 163
12 Working with Multimedia......Page 164
Digital Audio Files......Page 166
Digital Video Files......Page 169
13 Building a Site Using HTML......Page 176
How Web Pages Work......Page 177
Cascading Style Sheets......Page 186
Using Templates......Page 189
14 How’d They Do That?......Page 190
Web Development Firefox Add-Ons......Page 191
Badges......Page 197
Templates......Page 199
Developer Networks and Sites......Page 200
15 Making Your Site Mobile......Page 202
Become a Mobile Web User......Page 203
Making Your Website Mobile......Page 208
Testing Your Site on a Mobile Phone......Page 212
Part IV: Site Testing and Maintenance......Page 214
16 Testing Your Website......Page 216
Why Testing Is Important......Page 217
Building a Test Plan......Page 218
Testing Tools......Page 225
17 Promoting Your Website......Page 228
Self-Promotion......Page 229
How Search Engines Work......Page 233
Optimizing Your Site for Search Engines......Page 235
What? I’m Not Done?......Page 238
Regular Maintenance......Page 239
The Power of Analytics......Page 240
Tweaking Your Site Based on Analytics......Page 247
Part V: Website Workshop......Page 248
19 Building a Blog Using WordPress......Page 250
Blog Publishing......Page 251
What Is WordPress?......Page 252
Building a Blog Using WordPress.com......Page 253
Setting Up Your Own Blog with WordPress Software......Page 265
Before Installing Your Software......Page 266
Download and Install WordPress......Page 267
Customization of WordPress......Page 268
Personalization of WordPress......Page 270
Keep an Eye on Things......Page 272
20 Building a Business Site Using a Content Management System......Page 274
Five Reasons to Use SocialGO as Your CMS......Page 275
What Is SocialGO?......Page 276
Building a Social Network with SocialGO......Page 277
Building a Site with Joomla......Page 283
Download and Install Joomla......Page 284
Modules, Plug-Ins, and Templates......Page 288
Keep an Eye on Things......Page 289
21 Building a Multimedia Website......Page 290
Best Practices for Multimedia......Page 291
Using Multimedia......Page 292
Advanced Open-Source Multimedia......Page 298
22 Building a Site Using a Wiki......Page 300
Five Reasons to Use PBworks to Host Your Wiki......Page 301
What Is PBworks?......Page 302
Building a Wiki Using PBworks......Page 303
Setting Up Your Own Wiki Using MediaWiki Software......Page 310
Keep an Eye on Things......Page 314
Part VI: Appendixes......Page 316
A: List of the Most Common HTML Tags......Page 318
B: Free and Open-Source Software Sites......Page 322
Web Browsers......Page 323
HTML Editors......Page 324
Blog Software......Page 325
Script Tools......Page 326
A......Page 328
B......Page 330
C......Page 331
D......Page 332
E......Page 333
F......Page 334
H......Page 335
I......Page 336
L......Page 337
M......Page 338
N......Page 339
P......Page 340
S......Page 342
T......Page 344
W......Page 345
Z......Page 350
