How Do You Create a Web Site?
by Mitch Keeler

Creation has been a fundamental stepping stone to the world we live in today. Our ancestors created works of art out of wood, paint and stone. These days such works can be created in a much more digital sense. For those of you who would say Web site creation is far from being a way to express your artistic abilities, I would have to disagree. It takes many hours, days, months and years sometimes to create a successful Web site. Basic fundamentals should be followed, and once it is done there should always be room for more. Don't get me wrong, just about any idiot can create a Web site, but creating a good Web site is another matter all together.

The Web Hosting Easy Way

Here are a couple of ways I would describe as being the easy way out of creating a Web site.

Hire Somebody Else to do it for You

There are a number of Web design firms out there Online today that would be more than happy to design your Web site for you. They are often professionals who do design for a living, so you do not have to worry about quality of work. The best thing to do would be to shop around at several different companies before you make your final decision.

On the up side, this leaves you more time to focus on the content of the Web site rather than the design. On the down side though, you are often as the mercy of the person doing the work. It might take some people longer to see the vision you have for your Web site and that alone can be a demanding process.

Use a WYSIWYG Editor

To answer your first question, WYSIWYG stands for "What you see is what you get". By using a WYSIWYG editor such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver you often do not have to worry about the back end coding of the Web site. Instead, you are given a blank page, and you can change boxes, tables, fonts and colors just as you would inside a word processor.

On the up side, this leaves you with an easier way to create what it is you want to put out Online. After reading through a few instructions and tutorials you should be well on your way. on the down side though, you might be limiting your audience. Not many WYSIWYG editors do a good job at making your Web site look good across all of the browsers out there today. What looks perfect in Internet Explorer might look like a jumbled up mess in Firefox.

The Web Hosting Hard Way

I do not want to disenfranchise anybody by describing these as the "hard" way out. Maybe a better term for them would be the more "advanced" way in.

Designing it Yourself

This is the approach I like to call, getting your hands dirty. Just like you would when building a car, or constructing a house you are in charge of every single bit of code that gets plastered up onto your Web site. On the up side, this means you are given total control over everything you see. On the down side, you need to read up on your HTML (hyper text markup language) and be ready to learn more as you progress.

Using a Content Management System

There are many CMS (or content management systems) out there today to choose from. Many are meant to control and manage blogs, but that should not limit your imagination. Some of the best Web sites Online today are controlled by such blogging tools of the trade, like Movable Type.

The upside is that your Web site has many more powerful tools for your users right at your fingertips. Some of these include forums, comment management and syndication of your Web site content. The down side is that many of these Web sites (especially with PHP-Nuke) look the same. There are all pretty much the same Web page layout with a different banner on the top. Not much room for individuality.

Which Way is the Best Way?

None of these options listed above I could put over the other. Depending on the Web site and the person running it, it could truthfully change by those factors alone. The best thing to do would be to figure out which would work best for you, then stick with it. Creating your own Web site can be as satisfying as finishing any job that is worth doing. The hard part is keeping things updated and evolving so that you can keep your visitors coming in.