How to Build a Web Site From Scratch
Websites can be created and hosted very cheaply. Open source HTML editors create an easy, free way to establish hypertext markup language (HTML) code. Alternatively, a simple text editor can create the necessary coding for your website. A text editor such as Notepad (or TextEdit on a Mac) is probably already installed on your computer. Web pages are essentially documents written in HTML.
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Instructions
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Create a plan for your website. Draw a general outline of your website with enough detail to visually map out your site. Decide how many pages you'll need and the content that you'll include on each page.
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Open a text or HTML editor. If using TextEdit, you may need to click "Format," then "Make Plain Text" to write plain text instead of the default Rich Text Format.
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Type the essential HTML elements into the text or HTML editor. HTML codes and style suggestions can be found at html-tags.info.
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Save the file as an HTML document by adding an ".html" or ".htm" file extension. Click "File," then "Save As," and enter your file name, e.g., "mypage.html." (On a Mac, you may be presented with a pop-up that asks if you wish to use an ".html" extension. If so, click "Use .HTML.")
Images should be saved in the same directory as your html document. The most common images are gifs and jpegs. An image file might look like this: lassie.jpg
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Upload the files that comprise your website (your HTML document and images) to your Web host. A Web hosting provider is necessary to view your pages on the Internet. Web hosting costs generally start from $4 per month and up, depending on the provider and package chosen. Find the "File Manager" application or equivalent on the control panel provided by the Web host you've chosen.
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Purchase a domain name (URL) from a domain registrar. An example of a domain name is demandstudios.com. Costs are typically between $5 and $15 per year, depending on the registrar. Domain names are often available as part of a hosting package. Common extensions are .com, .org, .net, .info, and .us.
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Rename the HTML document at your Web host from "mypage.html" to "index.html." This is the required file name for most hosting providers and is necessary for your page to be viewed on the Web. Type the URL of your website to view your page on the Web. Your website may look different depending on browser used.
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Tips & Warnings
Learn CSS, PHP and JavaScript to create more elaborate Web pages.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Computer image by Altmann from Fotolia.com
