Keys to a Great Website
The key to contructing a great website is to follow a few simple rules.Simplicity
A busy website makes it difficult to determine what is trying to be said. A good website should be well laid out with enough, but not too much, information so that you dont lose the "forest through the trees."Good Programming
Many websites will only display correctly with the most up to date browsers and plug-ins. If a user is using an older version, what is seen on the screen may be incorrect, potentially losing a customer. All Cityline personnel test the websites on both Internet Explorer and Netscape versions 4 and later.Less Bells and Whistles
Have you ever noticed the bigger the company, the slower the website? We at Cityline feel less is more. Animations, sounds and an overload of detailed pictures will slow down the loading of the website. Not everyone has high speed access. A slow website is a poor website! You need enough to be attractive without being distractive.Steps to a Good Website
- Plan ahead
Start by figuring out what you want out of a website. It may be just information about the company, or it can be a complete on-line e-commerce masterpiece. - Register a domain name
This can be done on-line or by any website company. There are a wide variety of prices and services. It's a balance between reputability of a company and cost. It's probably best to go with someone you've heard of. Sometimes the company who will be hosting your website will register it for you as part of the setup fee. Look into it first. - Draw up a flowsheet
Draw up on paper a quick layout of what each page is for and how you want them linked together. - Determine Page Details
Determine the detailed content of each page and the general layout of the website. Figure out issues like your desired colour-schemes, locations of your links and ideas of backgrounds and pictures. Take a look at other websites to get an idea of what works for you. If your mind draws a blank, ask someone for his / her opinion. - Program the website
If you can't program yourself, there are a couple options.
- Purchase Software such as Microsoft Frontpage or Dreamweaver to help convert files to websites. These however, take some time to learn how to use and are costly for the recreational programmer.
- Sometimes, you can save Word files as web pages. Take note that they may not look quite right (especially with pictures) and may look different with different browsers.
- Find someone who can program. This is recommended because a good programmer will make sure there are keywords in the code to get noticed by search engines. Also a good programmer will make the website easy to change. There are several ways to do this that are beyond the scope of this site. You can do a web search under "website programming".
- Find a Website Provider
There are thousands of companies that will host websites. And again, there is a balance between cost and service. You can host yourself, but this is not recommended unless you know what you are doing (By hosting yourself, you are leaving your computer available for anyone in the world to access). - Upload to your website
Generally the person who programs your website will be the one to do the uploading. This requires the company that registered your name to know who is hosting for you. They will point the name to the host location. This "pointing" is part of the yearly name registration fee. Uploading requires a program which can be downloaded off the internet (there are free versions out there such as WS_FTP95-LE). Once uploaded, your business is "on the Net". Good luck!
