I agreed. I am especially grateful to Roger for supplying me with the questions he faced as he worked through the issues. These are really valuable because they're authentic. They're questions from a layperson which, when answered, are much more likely to be helpful to other laypeople than questions I think up and hope might be helpful.
There are quite a few of them, and too many for one article, so I'll start with the first few this month, and carry on in subsequent months. The first months set of questions will be like an overview. IN subsequent months we'll get more specific about things.
Question 1: What is HTML?
HTML is short for Hypertext Markup Language. Its the name of the
type of code used to make most web pages. It may sound complicated but it really isn't at
all. The "hypertext" just refers to stuff online that you can click on to get
other stuff - in other words, web pages. "Mark-up" simply refers to written
instructions about how words or images are to be displayed. The good thing about HTML is
that you don't need to learn any programming languages to create something decent. The
"code" used is just abbreviated English and commonsense. "Language"
just means that there are rules about how you have to write the code. You do need to do
things a certain way, but as I have stated, the concepts are reasonably simple. It would
take the average person less than five minutes to understand how to create a few lines of
text in the size, colour and font of their choice. Five minutes more and they would be
able to place images on the page. Five minutes more and creating basic links would be a
snap. Question 2: Is it possible for a layperson like me to set up an Internet website?
Yes, it is quite possible for someone who knows nothing about web sites to quickly learn enough HTML to make a basic site. The basic concepts are very easy to understand and no specialised tools are needed. I have dealt with this question before so I won't go into too much detail yet about how HTML code actually works. Two articles are Your Personal Actrix Web Space and What is All This HTML Stuff? Of course, the Internet itself abounds with free and simple tutorials. Any search engine will produce a long list of sites to try.
A lot is going to depend on the individual and how much time and inclination they have. Different people will catch on quicker than others. Once the creative bug is caught, there can be no stopping some people. Others may give it a try and decide it isn't worth the bother. During my time on the help desk I have watched several people develop sites from scratch. At first they need a little help or a few pointers. Before long they're doing amazing things.
Question 3: Website design seems a complicated procedure. Is it?
This question follows nicely on from the one above. Web design is as complicated as you want it to be. A simple site containing text and some images and links is dead easy. Animations, things popping up, things that change when you mouse-over them - these aspects are a little more complicated. You would need special and expensive software for some of the more complicated things, but a good, functional web site does not need to be that complicated and could be created just using Microsoft Notepad.
Question 4: How do I get my website onto the Internet?
Once you have a site designed (and we'll deal with design issues a lot more in later questions) you need to organise a domain name for yourself and some hosting space. Your ISP can step you through these procedures. They will rent you some space on their servers for a monthly fee (Actrix currently charges $12.50/month for a small to medium sized site) and they can secure a domain name for you. As part of the service they will take care of all the technical business that makes your site come up when someone types your domain name into their browser. You don't even need to bother with understanding how all that works.
As far as getting the site up onto your ISP's server so that the world can get to it - another piece of cake. The process to achieve this is called FTP. You can download free FTP programs that are easy to use. Most of them resemble Windows Explorer. They connect to your site and list all the files that are currently there, if any. You just select the files you've created that you want to upload to your site, and up they go. Your ISP will give you the user name and password for your site so you can tell your FTP program how to connect. You can also use your FTP program to delete files, change their names, and so forth.
Question 5: What is a domain name?
A domain name is a web address such as actrix.co.nz. Most domain names are used with a www. in front of them. The domain name system in New Zealand is maintained by the Domain Names Commissioner. You can visit the site of the Office of the Domain Names Commissioner at www.dnc.org.nz where there is a search tool that lets you see whether the domain name you want is available. If it is, contact us and we can register it on your behalf. Once that's done, no one else can use it but you. You can register a domain and not use it if you want. Some people do this to safeguard a domain name for themselves for future use. As mentioned above, once you have your domain name registered, Actrix can take care of making sure it points to your web site or we can just hold it for you on your behalf. You can also begin using your domain name as your e-mail address and you don't have to set up a web site first in order to do this. Our help desk can talk you through setting this up in your e-mail program. It won't take long. With Actrix (and our rates are hard to beat) a domain name will cost you $79.95 in the first year, and $44.95/year after that.
Question 6: I hear about programs like Microsoft's FrontPage or Macromedia's Dreamweaver. Will I need to buy software like that to create a web page?
Programs like these can be really helpful because they allow you to design your page by dragging and dropping stuff and they automatically create the HTML for you behind the scenes. They are very expensive (though FrontPage comes free with Microsoft Office 2000 Premium), and they have problems of their own. Sometimes they think they're smarter than you are and will re-arrange things their way, and it can be very hard to boss them back into doing things the way you wanted them to. There are cheaper alternatives to FrontPage and Dreamweaver, and you can download lots of them from the Net on a free trial basis before you buy. Coffeecup HTML Editor, for example (and this is one of the cheaper alternatives I'd recommend), has a free 45 day trial version, and eventually will cost you just $49 US. It is just over 6 Megabytes to download.
If you're planning on practicing and getting better at web design then I would recommend against them, at least at first. HTML files are just text files, so you can create web pages using just Notepad. By having to create everything from scratch all by yourself you get a much better grounding in the fundamentals. Later on you can try am automatic HTML editor, and you'll know enough not to let it get the upper hand on you. That's just my opinion, though. Lots of designers started out with the auto-editors.
Question 7: Can you summarise the main costs involved in getting a web site going?
There are three general aspects to a simple web site and we've dealt with each above. Firstly there's the content or the pages that you've made or that you've arranged for someone to make for you. Secondly there's the domain that we've just talked about. Actrix can register this for you and make sure that it is properly "advertised" on the Internet so that people anywhere in the world can type your address into their browsers and have your site come up. The third aspect is simply the space on our servers that you need to lease on a monthly basis. As stated, enough for a simple site (up to five megabytes in size which is usually ample) is not overly expensive.