Setting about creating a website can be difficult. What any first time developer needs to know is what the fundamental tools are for getting started. You have two options of how to make a website. You can either use a free online content management system to set up a template for you or start from scratch. This article will demonstrate the advantages and cons of both.
The first tool you’ll need is a web development application to code your website. Two such pieces of software are Adobe Dreamweaver and Kompozer. Kompozer is free to download online while Dreamweaver will cost you $300 - $400. Without prior knowledge of coding these applications will allow you to put together different pages of your site. These programs come with a lot of tools and wizards which will create the code for you. Dreamweaver has a lot of documentation to back it up. If you’re ever stuck you won’t have to look far for a Dreamweaver tutorial. However it is a steep price and Kompozer will also provide you will the relevant tools to make a website.
A second requirement when you need to make a website from scratch is an image manipulation application. Photoshop and GIMP are two examples of these. The latest version of Photoshop will cost you up to $700 but GIMP is free to download. Photoshop is overflowing with tools for extensive image manipulation. GIMP however, is certainly the cheaper choice if you just need some basic shapes or text. It matches most of the Photoshop tools for image manipulation.
With the tools to code and create images you’re ready to start creating your first site. Nevertheless if this all looks a bit too much work then it might be worth looking into setting up your site using a prebuilt content management system. Two examples are Wordpress and Joomla. Both these allow you to construct a site in minutes, starting you off with a basic template that you can then edit to suit your needs.
It is worth considering what your site’s focus is before deciding between Wordpress and Joomla. If you’re looking to make a personal site to express some thoughts then Wordpress is an excellent blogging tool. You can make posts quickly and easily in it’s admin section. [It also has a [great|wide] selection of plugins you can easily install allowing your [visitors|readers] to quickly bookmark posts or track the amount of visitors to your site.~Wordpress also gives you [a whole host|wide range] of plugins for monitoring and changing various [things on|parts of] your site.} The ability to quickly add widgets to your website is also useful. You can link up to your twitter account or add a calender to your page with just one press of a button.
Wordpress is a good blogging tool but not everyone wants a blog. Joomla is an altenative option, especially if you are building a site for an organization. It has been designed to manage all forms of data rather than just posts. It comes with all kinds of features to help you install things such as communication tools and ecommerce systems into your website.
Joomla and Wordpress are both valuable tools for quick web development. They have their restrictions though. A beginner will struggle to deviate too far from their set layouts. Starting your site from scratch means you can build it in anyway you see fit but will always take more time. Choosing the right approach is crucial when setting out to make a website.
Mark Kostner has been building websites since 2004 and runs http://www.dreamweavermadesimple.com, an online web dreamweaver design course teaching everday people how to build a website