Designing and maintaining a website isn’t very hard anymore. Whether you want to build PC Software or design Flash websites there are tools to help you do everything. Nobody need learn to hand code to do wonderful things with their own website anymore.
Truth is some of us (myself included) aren’t up to the challenge of designing anything more exciting than an exit sign. Graphic design is an art, and as the web has proven, it is best left to those with talent. Our solution is to get pre-designed templates from the people who know graphic website design the best.
There are many free web templates available online. You can get your hands on the ultimate free online marketing template from Template Monster. Search “Free Website Page Templates” to find many others. We suggest TemplateMonster, they have 1000’s of themed templates (click here) to choose from and their templates are easy to update.
With a MonsterTemplate updating your website isn’t difficult at all. You’ll need to install the following freely available Open Source software I linked below. Click each link, download the package and follow the included instructions to install. Look for a file called README if it doesn’t install on its own. If you don’t know what an installation option means your best bet is [OK]. If all else fails I will answer questions on the CJV Google Board.
Grab this free Open Source* web page editor (click here), this Open Source Image Editing Software (click here), and this Open Source FTP client (click here). Those are three simple yet powerful applications are available from the Open Source Community at no cost. You will use these to maintain your website. We’ll take a look at them when we need them. If you are adventurous you can fool around and get familiar with the tools. Possibly Google a tutorial or consult the HELP Files?
Your almost done but there is one more useful software no self-respecting web developer will be found without, and one you will use all the time to make things simple for yourself. If you are using Internet Explorer this is the time you must switch to Mozilla’s Firefox Web Browser. Not only will you be protected from almost every web page virus on the internet immediately, you will begin seeing websites in a whole new way, the way they were intended. Download the Firefox Browser (click here), install it by following the instructions.**
Once you’ve downloaded and installed Firefox we will get your second best friend (who’s your best friend?) in the world of website development, the FireFox Web Developer Toolbar (click here). Visit the link with your new Firefox browser and simply click install, once it is installed in your browser and visible you are done.
Without both the Mozilla Firefox browser and the Web Developer Toolbar Plug-In you will be at a major disadvantage when it comes to keeping your website content fresh and new. Tasks like adding new pages to your website or modifying the layout of existing pages are also simplified immensely with nothing but these free tools.
The more your page content changes the more attractive your site is to visitors as well as the search engine spiders. Keeping on top of web page design can and does become a headache and you want all the help you can get. These free tools are the next best thing to hiring a costly web developer of your own.
In the next newsletter we’ll start looking at a real website. We will introduce you to the building blocks of every web page, examine them in some detail using your new Firefox plug-in (make sure it is installed), and load up a free template for updating in your new web page editor. Once you see how easy it is you’ll have the confidence to start editing your site right away.
*Open Source software is your best friend on the internet. If you are looking for a certain type of software product it is likely one has been created and contributed to the Open Source community. GetWebActive has contributed their Affiliate Building software to the Open Source community. This means anyone can get a copy and install it on their website at absolutely no cost.
** IE users will see a big difference with Firefox. You’ll want to look around at the various options and find the ones you recognize. You can [File Menu >Import] your IE settings easily, including all your bookmarks. Never uninstall IE, just use Firefox as your browser by default from now on.
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