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How to make a site
Soldat Forums - Soldat Fans - Web Pages
Sam
March 26, 2005, 2:07 pm
I just thought I would create this thread to help all the people out there who are not as knowledgable about sites as some of us. I also want to prevent any horrible free site designer sites that come free with hosts like freewebs and geocities which look horrible, and have terrible space/bandwidth limits.



1. SITE TYPE
The first thing you will have to do is decide what your site is going to be like. Is it a resource site? A clan site? A bit of both? This is important becase the type of site changes the way the design should look. A resource site has to be clean, easy to navigate, and very user friendly. A clan site on the other hand should have darker colours and have more contrast than resource sites, however this can change dewpending on what type of clan you're making, if you are a fun clan, or if you just want a lighter, cartoony site be my guest. Remember, Im just giving you guidelines, do whatever you think fits.

2. MAKING THE SITE
Once you have decided which category your site falls into and what type of design you want for your site you either have to create it from scratch, or find a template you like.

- Creating a site from scratch: This is the harder and more complex way to get your design. You need to be confident in html and have a site making program such as frontpage or dreamweaver, if you have both, use dreamweaver to create you're site as its a much better tool. If you want to learn HTML, go to www.w3schools.com, it is very useful. Now obviously im not going to take you through making your site but there are a few things to bear in mind. If you are coding directly into HTML plan your website layout on paper before coding it, this makes it a lot easier. Keep to one or two colours (red and black, green and white, for instance). Use photoshop or paintshop pro or a program like that to make all your graphics, [URL] has tons of good tutorials for this.

- If you want to take the easier route or do not wish to learn a complicated program, you can use a template. Probably the best site for templates is [URL]. Select one you like (keeping in mind what type of design your site wants) and download it. They usually come in .zips so unzip the folder to a place you'll easily remember (my webs, for instance). Edit the banner with a graphics program and the text with notepad or a website program (frontpage/dreamweaver/etc.)

3. FINDING A HOST
Next you need to find a good host for your site. Luckily a thread has already been made here, [URL] which lists some of the best free hosts out there. Bear in mind if you're template uses php, you're host has to support php and mysql. You could ofcourse get a paid host but I wont get into that.

4. HOSTING THE SITE
Once you have decided on the host most suited to hosting your site you have to upload the whole of the template folder to the internet. Find out how your host uploads files, usually through ftp so find a good ftp program on google, aceftp is a good one. Once you have connected to your ftp you can upload your files and go to the url of your host (myhost.com/myusername or myusername.myhost.com usually) and it should display your site as long as you include an index.htm or home.htm in the root folder of the site. If your host doesnt use ftp, find out what it does use and upload your files that way.

5. GETTING A REDIRECTOR
If you want to shorten you're url you can get an url redirector such as .tk (www.dot.tk) which redirects your browser to your site when yoursite.tk is typed in, as long as the domain isnt already taken.



So that concludes my guide to getting you're site up and running, if you have any questions dont hesitate to ask. If a mod would make this a sticky I would be honored for the rest of my life :P.


USEFUL LINKS:
Templates Tutorials Both
- www.clantemplates.com
- www.zymic.com
- www.good-tutorials.com
- www.w3schools.com
- www.pixel2life.com
- www.n-sane.net

Remember, www.google.com is you're friend.

Vijchtidoodah
March 26, 2005, 5:33 pm
Nice. Concise and to the point.

Liber_Lupus
March 26, 2005, 6:33 pm
Nice tut.

Norse
March 26, 2005, 8:01 pm
Sticky it! Nice advice to the less-site building-fortunate!

Sam
March 30, 2005, 5:39 pm
Mods? This gonna get a sticky or what?

Deleted User
March 31, 2005, 9:45 am
Uhm. This topic didn't show in active topics for me, sorry.

I'll sticky it if you pimp www.w3schools.com in there, its a brilliant site for learning HTML. Also, recommend that people hand draw a design for their page before they start making it, I always do this for important websites, it makes it really easier if you're writing in HTML.

Wopkeuh
March 31, 2005, 11:22 am
I agree completely...

Addon to point 1:
The site should represent the type of clan you are starting. I just started our own clan and we chose not to use a dark interface. Our clan is about fun, so we chose the cartoon-style.

Swebonny
March 31, 2005, 12:53 pm
Very nice! Finally i gonna do a better homepage thena my last onw :D

Yukwunhang
March 31, 2005, 1:05 pm
More templates :
www.zymic.com
www.nextdesign.com

Sam
April 1, 2005, 5:22 pm
Ok, all youre points added, and a useful links thing added. The next design.com link goes to some cafe site 0.o

Deleted User
April 2, 2005, 9:23 am
Thank you. Stickied! :)

Sam
April 3, 2005, 2:52 pm
HAHA, Eat THAT Lizard face!
*Thanks for the sticky :P*

Jamesmax0
May 25, 2005, 2:48 am
this site is somewhat good for a quick reference while your coding html http://www.funkychickens.com/html.html

Deleted User
May 26, 2005, 4:58 pm
about the templates... i didnt see no framesets in the code...
so does that means u have to just copy the same page over and over again and only change the text?

Deleted User
June 6, 2005, 8:50 pm
the link for www.w3schools.com doesnt work. you shouldnt have put a peroid at the end

Deleted User
June 6, 2005, 11:01 pm
quote:Originally posted by Faulty Doorknobthe link for www.w3schools.com doesnt work. you shouldnt have put a peroid at the end


I just fixed that for Sam. Thanks for pointing it out.

skill
June 30, 2005, 11:05 pm
Nice, for newbies :)

FliesLikeABrick
June 30, 2005, 11:39 pm
most importantly, don't make a site that is just the same as or very similar to something that is already out there, be original and go all the way with your ideas

CKA Le MeSsiE
July 4, 2005, 8:28 pm
quote:Originally posted by skillNice, for newbies :)


Or for experimented people too^^