Holiday sites can be festive or educational. There are many different holidays around the world and just as many ways to celebrate them. Some holiday sites have recipes, ideas on what to do for the holiday and fun things to do. Others have a history of the holiday, poems or prayers and other things to tell people what the holiday is about.
Here I have gathered together some tips and links to help you create your own holiday Web site. If you don't know how to create a Web site you will find that information here to help you get started. Then you will find links to clip art and graphics to help you decorate your site. If you need some help on what to include in your holiday site I can give you some tips there too.
The Basics
If you have never created a Web site before you may need to learn the basics of HTML and Web design first. First take Jennifer Kyrnin's HTML 101 Course. She will take you through the basics, step-by-step. If you need more help, while taking her course you can check out the tutorial that I have put together.
When you are finished learning HTML you can go on to my Web Design course. Here you will learn what you need to have a successful Web site. You will even learn how you can create your site without knowing HTML using some of the online tools that some hosting providers offer.
What To Include
There are many different holidays around the world and many different ways to celebrate them. I can't tell you what you should include on your site but I can give you some ideas. First of all give your holiday site a title. Not just "Jane's Holiday Page" but something unique yet descriptive. This makes your site yours and more personal.
You might want to create a page on your holiday site that tells what your holiday is. Since the Internet can be seen by people all around the world there will be many people that come to your site with no idea what your holiday is, when it is or what it is about. You may also want to include a brief history of the holiday so people will understand where it came from. A fun thing to include here would be a description of how you and your family celebrate the holiday. If you really want to personalize this page you could include pictures of your family celebrating.
One thing I love to see on a holiday site is recipes. Food is what makes most holidays and each holiday has it's own special foods. Another thing would be crafts or games that can be done or played to celebrate the holiday. Most holidays also have songs, poetry or prayers that go along with them as well. You may want to consider including the music or words for these on your site so others can learn them. If you know of other Web sites about this holiday you might want to include links to them as well.
Web Space and Software
You will need a place to put your site. For this you will need to sign up with a Web site hosting provider. Some of them, like Freeservers, offer domain names too. Others, like Trellix, offer templates and easy to use progams to help you design your site without knowing HTML.
Clip Art
When you have your site written you will be ready to make it look good. To do this you may want to add some holiday clip art. You can find graphics that are made for these types of sites including: backgrounds, borders, dividers and much more. On top of this type of clip art you can also find free clip art graphics of other types to create a special feeling or theme to your site.
