How to Customize Office Live Websites
Office Live is a service Microsoft offers small-business owners that includes a free website, free or paid domain name registration, a contact and document manager, and free tech support for 30 days after creating a website. While Office Live websites start with a basic template, customization options are available to give a more personalized look and feel to the site. To customize an Office Live website, first create a basic site and then apply site-wide and page specific customization options.
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Things You'll Need
- Microsoft Office Live Small Business account (free)
- Design ideas
- Image/logo file (optional)
- Web content
Instructions
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Build a Basic Site
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Log in to an existing Microsoft Office Live small-business account, or register for a new account, and select "Design Site" from the options in the "Build Your Web Site" section. This will open "Page Manager."
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Select "Design Site" from the "Design Site" drop-down box in the "Page Manager" menu.
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Look over the template, and select and view site-editing options in the "Site Designer" and "Page Editor" tabs at the top of the window. Then make the "Site Designer" tab active to begin customizing your site.
Customize a Basic Site
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Customize the header by selecting the "Header" icon from the main menu. Select the "Text" tab, change the default site title if you prefer and add an optional slogan. Format options for this section include font, font style and color. Make your selections and click "OK" to exit. Select the "Logo" tab to upload an image or logo file if you have one.
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Customize the footer by selecting the "Footer" icon in the main menu. Options for this section include a "Link" box where you can add a list of links and a text box where you can place and format the footer text, such as copyright information.
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Select the navigation layout by clicking the "Navigation" icon in the main menu. Set the Navigation menu layout using one of three options to include "Left," "Top & Left," or "Top." Choose an option and click "OK" to exit.
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Select site design options. These will help give a custom look and feel to your site. You can work on a theme, style, color and fonts.
Working with the themes, you can select a category, such as "Lawn & Garden," or "Finance," to view site design options specific to your industry.
The style option contains numerous choices for placement of images and header information.
You can choose an existing color scheme such as "Leather," or "Candy," or select "Custom Color Scheme" to create your own color scheme for the header, body, navigation, and footer areas by selecting colors from a color box.
You also will be able to choose from six font styles for the body of your site. -
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Customize page elements. To customize individual elements within the body of the web page, select the zone you want to customize and then change the font, add an image or table, or select a "Module" such as a video box, PayPal button, or a newsletter subscription box. Select the "Layout" option to view choices for changing column positions.
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Tips & Warnings
The name you supply for your company during the Office Live account registration will appear as the default site title for your website.
A default website includes a home page, an "About Us" page, a "Contact" page, and a "Site Map." You can customize each of these pages or delete them, as you prefer.
Add a new page to your site by selecting the "New Page" button in the "Page Manager."
Office Live will automatically save changes to your site and will prompt you to save all changes before exiting the application.
Individual web pages include three "zone" divisions to allow for content display customization.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit website layout image by 6922Designer from Fotolia.com
