You want to set up a web site but are uncertain where to start, we have produced this beginner's guide to introduce you to the world of web pages.

Setting Up a Web Site is not as complicated as you may think. Don't worry about all the Buzz words and Jargon, we will introduce them gradually, as required. We will assume you already have access to the internet, have a basic understanding of how to use it and are familliar with how to navigate between web pages.

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Beginner's Hint
Page Links are a means of moving between web pages. All links on this website look like this - Getting Started and clicking that one will reload this page.

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A History Lesson

The World Wide Web was initially created in the U.S.A. for military purposes as its web structure enabled it to continue passing information between computers even if a number of the source computers were destroyed. The web network was soon adopted by the academic world as a means of storing and sharing information between Universities world wide. The wider appeal, of being able to share information in such a way, was soon realised and the internet became the beast it is today.

Basic Concepts

To set up a web site you need 3 things

• A Name (Called a Domain Name)
• Somewhere to put it (Called a Host)
• Something for the world to read (Content)

Domain Name Registration

Your chosen name eg. www.mysite.co.uk is registered to you and is used to find your site amongst the millions of other sites out there. You could say, it is your internet postal address. Be careful when choosing your domain name:-

• Make sure it is something meaningful
• Avoid long and difficult to spell domain names
• Avoid underscores and hyphens as they are confusing to type in
• If in the UK, try to get a .co.uk domain name
• You should be paying less than £10 per year for the name

Hosting

You effectively rent space on a remote computer on which to store your web site. It does not matter where the remote computer is located as all such machines are connected togther via the World Wide Web. There are many web hosts to choose from and everyone has their favorites. Some are very good, some are average and some are downright expensive. You should be able to get a basic package for under £40 per year but that would depend on the extra items you add to the package. If you are just starting out, go for a basic package.

If Studiosoft or another design company were to add some additional functionality to your website, some or all of the following would be required so make sure that your chosen host could supply these add ons, should you require them.

• Perl
• MySql
• PhP

Which of these you would require depends on what features you wanted adding to your website. A hosting package usually takes a few days to set up but is fairly straight forward.

Content

Once your Domain Name and Hosting package are in place, you need to fill your site with interesting content, attract millions of visitors, charge each one a small fee and retire in a few months while the money keeps rolling in. Well at least that is the theory - but don't hold your breath!

What Now?

The Internet is a versatile and interesting tool for promotion, information sharing and marketing but there are many difficulties to overcome before the full potential of any web site is realised. We would advise anyone with a business to learn the basics and set up a simple web site in order to get a concept of how the internet works and what is possible. After all, you wouldn't allow a stranger to set up your sales office, would you? Once your basic site is up and running, then you can get a web engineer such as Studiosoft in to do the complicated stuff, leaving you free to run your business but at least you will have some idea about what the web guy is talking about.

For those intending to expand their web site into an on-line shop or one with a large quantity of content, it would be worth exploring the business orientated packages available. We would advise you to dip your toe in the Internet water and get a taster of what the internet can do for you and your business and hopefully, once you can appreciate the potential benefits of a friendly web site, you will contact us here at Studiosoft and allow us to transform your ideas into reality.

What Do I Do Now?

Once you have a domain name and somewhere to put your content then you can start to create your web site. If all of that sounds too daunting, don't despair, If you prefer, we can do all the set up for you but we want you to be involved as much as possible in the development of your web site and for you to learn the basic principles of how a web site works. This understanding will enable you to fully appreciate the potential benefits that a creatively designed web site can have on your business. Up to now, we have only dealt with getting the necessary items in place so that your web site can be viewed over the internet. In the next chapter, we take a look at how to create the site itself.

Link to Chapter 2 > Filling The Site