In the past I have had a blog with colours I loved but they weren’t the greatest (or kindest) choices for readers of my site. Even the people who really did like me found it hard on the eyes to look at my site, let alone read it. Try looking at your site from a short distance away, in a darkened room and you will get some idea of how much eye strain is a factor in the design.

This doesn’t mean you can never use bright, bold or dark colours in your websites. You can use them in creating a splash page. A splash page can give your site a grand entrance, a dazzling front door.

But, not everyone likes this plan. Splash pages used to be infamous for being full of long loading animations and scripts. They often had nothing useful to add to the site. Waiting for them to load was annoying. So, if you do decide to go with it, make sure you have three things:

• no scripts or images so it can load right away (no delay),
• very simple to use and easy to find navigation
• enough information about your site to lure people to click through to it.

I think the best way to do it is just using a background colour, no images. Pick your colour: deep red, full black, sunshine yellow and add a table of contents to your site. List all the important categories if you have a blog. This gives you a functional splash page (your grand entrance using the colour you love) and readers can go directly to whatever part of your site they like, so it’s not useless. It has function and because no one has to spend time reading there you can make the colour as eye popping or dramatic as you like.

Make sure the navigation and index  links are clear and don’t disappear into your background. Always check the links you have in this index to keep it current and useful. If any single page moves make sure you reflect changes to your splash page right away. Never let it sink into link rot.

It’s very easy to change your background colour, just look for this code (below in graphic) and change the hexidecimal code to the one you want.

I’m posting this from my very messy desk with the TV on to my left and my nearly cold coffee at my right hand, in danger of wrecking my faithful little scanner. I’m a real woman. I’m a real, live, 40+, divorced Canadian woman, a writing legend in my own mind.

In June of 1996 I began on the Internet. I was an IRC diva for quite a long time. It was a lot of fun and most of it I really should not write about here. That’s what personal blogs are all about. I wrote for a zine first, a small print publication called The Crying Clown. From there it was all online. At one point I was producing my own newsletter for writers, InkSplatters, sent out through what is now Yahoo Groups. I was a web writer for HerPlanet, BackWash, BellaOnline, Suite 101, WZ-ard.com and other sites, forums and newsletters some still living and some not. I still write Creative Fat Grrl on LockerGnome, a babbly blog more than anything seriously functional. Writing for a network is a different educational experience than writing for yourself. Which is one reason I keep doing it.

I’ve had sites and then blogs of my own. I didn’t begin online in the great time of blogging, I was here before that. So my first sites were put together with just HTML code as I learned and goofed it up. I’ve used software and I’ve cut and pasted code and I’ve hand coded my own pages. I’m not an expert, time alone isn’t enough to make you an expert at web design or development. I have learned however and as I learn I see how much more there is to be explored and discovered. But, don’t look to me expecting I’m a know-it-all. If I ever say that you can be sure I’m just laughing at myself.

I love creative things. I’ve done so many interesting forms of art, just to try them out. I made ASCII art for a few years. I continue to take digital photos of abandoned places here in Ontario, starting in 2006 when I bought my first digi camera. I’m also teaching myself to draw cartoons, some people even like them! This week I re-learned the art of cutting out paper doll chains so I could make them into a graphic for a blog. I really think it’s important to keep the creativity and free writing in blogging. It would be a real shame if the personal journal and creative element of blogging were lost in the rush for SEO and money making.

Anyway, I’m here to help the less experienced blogger with my experiences. I’ve got a stack of great books about web design on my bookshelf and I will be using them (finally) for more than a place to hide my dust bunnies. I seem to collect books with great good intentions and then not get very far. You can also find me writing about web writing and posting writing ideas and prompts on my blog, Word Grrls.

ThatGrrl.ca

One of the first bits of code I learned (and memorized) was the HTML to create a link. More than that, a link that I could anchor into the content as I wrote it. Rather than making the link obvious or having the HTML code itself stuck into the post I was writing, it just blends right in.  It’s a nice trick and very easy too.

This bit of code is great if you are linking to another site in a forum, blog comment or just want to add a quick link in an email. It’s easy, handy and looks tidy too.

Keep the code handy in a text file on your desktop so you can check it when it doesn’t work the way it should. Usually its just a missed space or something small like that.  For me, each time I master a new bit of code I feel I’m that much closer to actually knowing what I’m doing.

So you are REALLY new to web design, but you managed to create a pretty neat website using one of those fun WYSIWYG web site builders like iWeb, Dreamweaver, or Frontpage.. Now you have a fun website with no way for the world to see it!

What you need to do is get your website onto the internet, and how you do that is this:
(click each step to read a more in depth explanation on how to do it)

1. Get a Web Host and Domain Name

2. Connect to the Web Host’s server using FTP (file transfer protocol) and upload your website

3. Go to your domain name and see that your website is there for everyone to see

4. Market your website and submit it to search engines.

Feel insanely overwhelmed with the infinite amount of web hosts there are out there? Well, I can help you choose the right one.

Now, I can say right off the bat, sign up with HOSTMONSTER and you will have no worries ever.. But then again, you don’t know me, so why trust me?

So I can going to give you some criteria to look at, some links to look at reviews, and then you can decide whether or not you want to sign up with hostmonster.

When you are searching for a web host, you want to get the most for your money, but you also don’t want to choose one that is going to scam you with promises of low prices.

Let me just tell you a quick story before we move on.

I needed to get a web host for my husband’s photography website. At the time, we JUST wanted a website to host pictures on. We weren’t planning on having an entire e-commerce setup like we have now, but we just wanted a basic web host that is cheap and easy. I had already hosted 1 website on hostmonster, but they offered a LOT of extras that I did not feel that we needed for this website. So I did some searching and found GLOBAT. I will tell you right now RUN from GLOBAT. We signed up for the $3.00 per month hosting which $2.00 cheaper than hostmonster, and hostmonster requires you to pay up front for a certain number of months, where as GLOBAT let you pay monthly. I thought it was a perfect fit. BOY was a wrong. When we signed up, apparently the fine print said that they had the right to upgrade my account at any time, and they sure did exercise that right! We went from $3.00 a month to $75 a month in 2 months! Unfortunately i was not on top of my bank statements at the time and we did not catch it until 4 months later! That’s an extra $72 a month for 4 months for a total of $288 We fought them but unfortunately their customer service is based out of India and they did not speak english well (nothing against people from India, but customer service in my opinion should be based in the country from with the company originates to make communication easier). We never recovered that money.

So back on track. The few things that you absolutely should find out about your host

• 24 Hour PHONE customer support. Internet support tickets are slow and frustrating, and if you are anything like me, you do your website building late into the night. Also, even if you do a lot of your website building during the day, your website is available all of the time, and things can happen at any moment. 24 hour phone support is just a nice security blanket.
• Server side scripting* abilities like PHP and Perl
• Multiple mySql databases*
• Bandwidth*
• Storage Space
• e-mail account support (so you can have an email like yourname@yourdomain.com)
• A control panel (I prefer a control panel called cPanel)  with access to an online File Manager*
• Free shared SSL Certificate *
• Control of your own php.in i file
• access to your .htaccess file
• option to change your “register globals” off

Now, I am SURE that a lot of these things sound greatly complicated and way over what you think you might need, but TRUST me, you will want these things.

Things like email and unlitmited space are obvious and I am sure that you understand what they are.. Space to put ALL of your stuff on the server, and emails so that you can have your own domain emails.

Bandwidth: is the movement of data from your website to your viewer’s browsers. Every time someone looks at your website, they are downloading all of the content onto their browser. Even a simple website will have a lot of information to be downloaded. When you start out, your bandwidth will be low because you will have few visitors. That is ok, but the whole idea of having a website is to get visitors. Why limit yourself from the begining. Its best to start with a company that will allow you to grow with them.

Server Side Scripting: is something that is very complicated, but you need it. If you plan on having an e-store, a forum, or a blog, you will need server side scripting. PHP especially, is used to simplify websites. It is used in one way like a template. Instead of having 10 separate pages all with the same information on them, you use server side includes and instead of creating a new page, you just change the inner content. Take this blog. You notice that the top header, right sidebars, and the footer are always the same and the inside content changes based on what you click. It is a server side include that takes care of that. PHP and Perl is also used to talk to your mySql database. If you want ANY type of content management, blogging, or e-commerce shopping cart, you will NEED this.

mySql Database: is two things. mySql is just a database management system, much like wordpress or blogger is your blog’s management system. mySql holds your databases. A database is used to store information that will be called upon through your PHP scripting. All blogging and shopping cart software use mySql databases. For instance, all of your posts don’t have their own web page, instead the content is stored in a database and when a user clicks on a link, that link is written in php and it calls for the post to be displayed from your database. In shopping carts, it is the same idea but with product information. mySql is something that I am still learning. I understand the inner workings of it, but there is a language all of it’s own to create specific tables and functions in your databases. If you want ANY type of content management, blogging, or e-commerce shopping cart, you will NEED this.

SSL Certificate: is something that is not offerd by every host, but it is very useful if you have an e-commerce website. An SSL Certificate will encrypt infomation that customers put into your website. So if your customer is logging into their account on your website, that log in information should be funneled through an encrypted tunnel so that people can not intercept it and steal it. This is different, however from a secure payment gateway though. You can read a detailed description of this on THIS post.

php.ini file: is a file that all of your scripts like wordpress or shopping carts will use. It tells the php how to act. It is not something that you will nessecarily HAVE to mess with, however there are addons and plugins that sometimes require access to changing this file. Some hosts will not allow you to touch it. This is where you would change the configuration for register globals

register globals: is a function inside of your php.ini file that regulates the variables in your php coding. All you need to know is that you SHOULD have register globals OFF by default as it is the standard now for php scripting. You should ask your host if they require register globals to be on or off, or if you can control it. You don’t really need to know what you are talking about, just make SURE the answe is. “We prefer register globals OFF but you have access to your php.ini file” Anything other than that, you should find a new host.

.htaccess file: is similar to the php.ini file but instead it controls the html in the website. More specifically, it controls who can access your html (or web site). There are maliscious people out there. My website once got hacked the first 2 days it was live, so don’t think you are safe because you are small. Being able to control your .htaccess file is very important. You might notice in your logs that some IP address is spending too much time in an area of your site people normally wouldnt (like a contact page, or other form type page) you can do the WHOIS search and make sure its not google or some other search engine. If it looks malicious, you can block them using your .htaccess file. HOWEVER, with hostmonster, you don’t NEED to access your .htaccess file. They make it even easier. They allow you to go into your control panel and just go to security and type in the IP address in the field where it asks you who you want to block. VERY awesome, VERY easy. But you do wan to control that area of your website – most definitely.

You also want to make sure that your host does not try to talk you into other “services” that they will say that you need, but it is just a ploy to get you to sign up and pay more. I was working with a client who was hosted with GoDaddy. GoDaddy has been involved in some sketchy endeavours like stealing domain names and such. Anyways, the guy had signed up not knowing a lot about websites, so he purchased a “website tonight” account where you have to pay EXTRA to use their website builder. This is just a little ridiculous since other hosts will give you their website builder for free. But that was not the scam. They told the person that he really NEEDED what they call “domain privacy.” Domain privacy is something that you have to pay an additional $8 for and what they do is when someone looks up your domain name HERE, instead of giving your actual information, it gives the host’s information. Now, this is a REALLY bad idea for businesses because as a business, you want to be as transparent as possible. You want people to know that the website/domain is owned by the same company that is displayed on that website. For bloggers, its a personal choice, personally I am ok that people can find me email address if they search my domain name. You can see my WHOIS search here for webdesignforidiots.net. I am pround that I am the owner of this site. You can also verify there that my website is infact hosted by HOSTMONSTER.

So if you end up on another blog who is touting a hosting account, check up on them. They might just be trying to sell you an account for a profit. Use that link and look up their domain. See if they are really practicing what they preach!
I will always suggest that before you settle on a hosting account, call the customer service and ask questions. When I first signed up with HOSTMONSTER, I felt SOO lucky. I had no idea how to get my website from my computer to the internet. All i knew was I had to buy a host and somehow link my computer to the server and upload it. So after I signed up I called. HOSTMONSTER actually has REAL computer geeks working on their customer service team!! They are people who understand websites and hosting, and they talk to you like they are really trying to help you, and not just flipping through an answer book! Its a great thing!! So i called them and had no clue. The guy walked me through step by step and even went above and beyong and taught me how to use DREAMWEAVER. I have not seen any other host’s customer service will will help you with scripting and software issues – its not technically their job.

HOSTMONSTER also has a great option called SIMPLE SCRIPTS. Simple Scripts has saved me MANY MANY hours of frustration and heachaches. Simple Scripts is a neat little option in your control panel. When you click on it, you are brough to a list of scripts. OSCOMMERCE, ZEN CART, WORDPRESS, BLOGGER, FORUMS….. and then some. All of those things you can install with LITERALLY one click. So you want a wordpress blog? Go to simple scripts, click on it click install and you’re DONE. It creates the database and your first username and password for you and you are ready to roll. Same with oscommerce. One click and the website and database is all set for you. Even go to the installation support forums for those things? Poor people kill themselves trying to install it?? Not you. Just one click and you are ready to roll.

There is SOO much more that I can tell you about HOSMTONSTER, but i am getting long winding.

SO what I will tell you is to go and see what other people are saying, MANY will agree with me that hostmonster is a GREAT host.

HOSTMONSTER makes it to the TOP 10 EVERY time!

Web Hosting Geeks

Top Ten Web Hosting

Host Critique

I am not familiar with some of the others on the top 10 like “just host” and “blue host” All i can say is from my experience with Hostmonster.

IF YOU SIGN UP FOR HOSTMONSTER THROUGH THE LINKS IN MY POST (not the top ten links) HOSTMONSTER WIILL BE GIVING $65 TOWARDS A NEEDY PUPPY!!!!!

Read his story here:

Cappy Peg Leg

I was at a party the other night and talking to a LOT of people about web design and blogging. There was one statement that really had me a little stumped. (and mike, if you’re reading this, please don’t take offense)

This was one of the SUPER NEWBIE questions, which prompted me to create a new category called SUPER NOOB so that I can kind of separate them, since it’s not really “web design” but basic concepts.

So I was talking to Mike who has a really great band, and he said “I have a website, but I wish I could change the stuff on it. My guitar player created it on his computer, which is a Mac, and I have a PC. So I can’t edit it.”

So basically, he was saying that because the website was created on a Mac computer, he didn’t think that he can edit it on his PC.

This is NOT the case!

The great thing about websites is that they are written in a universal language called HTML. I am sure that you have heard the name HTML before, even if you have not gotten into coding. HTML is the most basic language that a website can be written in, and HTML is what creates the overall look of your website.

What is Operating System Specific is the program you write it on. You can use Dreamweaver for a Mac, or Frontpage for a PC and you can not put one program on the other, BUT the code that those programs create when you are designing your website is ALWAYS going to be HTML. So if you have Frontpage on a PC, and you created a nice website in WYSIWYG mode (or design mode) for your band you will create it and then put it onto your host’s server. Then, if your singer wanted to edit some of the pages, all you would have to do is download the website files from the server onto their Mac computer and open them in their own website editor which could be Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver will then read the HTML code the same way that the other computer read it, and show the proper layout and look of your website.

It is basically the same idea of when you VIEW a website. When you are browsing the internet on your PC, it does not matter what the website was created on. You would not even know, because HTML is HTML and all you need to view the “output” of HTML is any program that can read it. Be it a web browser or a program like Front Page or Dreamweaver.