How to Build a Personal Website

Maybe you would like to be able to post photos from your weekend vacation, but you would rather not use Flckr.com. Perhaps you would like to have a blog but websites like Blogger.com just are not what you are looking for. Perhaps you want a unique way to express yourself to your friends and family. If this is the case, consider creating your own personal website.

Many people get scared off when they hear about HTML and how it has tags, coding and other intimidating functions. However, it is not as hard as it sounds and there are easy ways to put together a website that will suit your needs.

First, you will need to gain access to some sort of web design software and graphics editing program. This could either be by finding a library has the software you plan to use, or purchase the software. While Microsoft has a web design product called Front Page, a program used more often by professional web designers that is rather user-friendly is Adobe Dreamweaver. The latest edition, Creative Suite 3, is available for $399.00 and college students should check on campus to see what educational discounts they may be able to receive. Another popular piece of software to consider is Adobe Photoshop, in which the current version retails for $649.00.

Next, I would recommend getting a how-to book, such as HTML for Dummies by Ed Tittel. It is currently on Amazon.com for under $20.00 (before shipping). How-to books come in quite handy when trying to make a website, as they contain many tips that you may not have otherwise thought of. For example, I have learned that the first thing any webpage should start with is a table to contain all the pictures and text. This way it all has a uniform look and the pages all seem to fit together as a viewer goes through the website. It is an easy way to turn a mediocre website into a clean-cut website.

From here, you are not quite ready to make a website. Before you invest time and energy in your website, why not practice and see what problems may arise first. The easiest way to learn is by doing actual practice, such as in the form of tutorials. There are excellent, easy-to-follow tutorials related to web design at W3Schools Online and www.w3schools.com . Try some of the basic tutorials until you feel comfortable with basic formatting and design.

If you choose to use Dreamweaver, you will quickly find that you can either look at just 'Code' view, just 'Design' view, or a hybrid of the two. I recommend having the split screen view of both of them pulled up. This way you can easily do your work in the design view, but also be able to glance up in the 'Code' view section to see how HTML works.

Once you feel you have your website functional enough to put online, it is time to get a web address, or domain, and also to get access to a web server that will host your web content online. One place where you can get a package deal on all of this is GoDaddy.com. A '.com' address can be purchased for as low as around $10/year, and a basic web hosting package for your content can be purchased for as little as around $3.00/month, depending on how many months you purchase.

As far as picking a web address goes, many of your initial ideas might be taken, especially ones shorter in length. However, you do not want a long web address that will be impossible to remember. GoDaddy.com allows you to see if the domain name or web address that you want is available. If it is not available, they will give you some variations of the requested address that you put in that are available. After you have picked a domain name and paid all the bills, you will be ready to put all of your content and files for your web page up on the server space you bought. From there, it is just a matter of telling your friends what your web address is and getting you name out there!

Adobe Prices:
http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshop/

GoDaddy.com Domain Names and Web Hosting:
http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp