• Part 2: Tools, Tips, Graphics, Color & Sound
• Part 3: Personal Pages & The Year To Come
The end of another year is here. Some of you may have received some new things to help you design your Web pages and are eager to get started along with starting the new year. If one of your New Year's resolutions is to design your own Web page then I would like to help you see your resolution through. In the past year I have done many things to help you with this goal and I will do more in the year to come. That's my New Year's resolution to you.
Let's review some of the things I have helped you with and also some of the fantastic pages that have been featured here. By the way, if you every have ideas for future features or ideas for theme pages you would like me to add to the pages of links of great personal Web pages that I have gathered for you, just let me know and I will consider them.
HTML & Design
In the beginning of the year I introduced you to a fictional character named Corey. At the start of the story Corey was just learning that there were Web sites out there that were not at all commercial and where in fact very personal. She discovered that she was able to create such a page and by the end of the story she did. I took you step by step through her journey of discovery to show you that anyone can create a Web page, even you.
On top of the many things I taught you in Corey's story I also went on later in the year to teach you how to add different types of links to your Web pages. There are 3 main types of links: links to other pages, links to your own pages, and links to other sections within the same page.
For the beginning beginner I wrote a special feature on how to Cut, Copy & Paste. I did this because I was getting some emails asking what I meant when I said "you have to copy/paste the text". For the WebTV users among you I explained how one can create a Web page using WebTV. Speaking of WebTV, that adds another browser you have to worry about when designing your Web page.
One other really important thing you need to know if you are going to design a successful site is how to write and communicate with your readers. Graphics, colors and other visual things are great but if you don't have something new for them to read once in a while then they have no reason to keep coming back.
Hosting For Your Site
There was a two part feature on the free hosting sites that are out there. I sent emails to most of them and the ones who got back to me got included in part 2. The first part told about which basic features they offered such as space they offer, FTP, online editor and things like that. The second part included more advanced features. This was inspired by several emails and forum posts I received after the first part was featured. There will probably be a third part later in the new year.
When About started offering Web hosting I let you know, they don't offer it anymore. I also told you about a unique place where you can create an online diary without any knowledge of HTML. Whether you design your site online or offline there are many different ways to do it, many different programs you can use and many different places to host it.
More recently I told you how you can register your domain name. You would want to do this to make it easier for other people and for search engines to find you. If you're site is doing well but the address for it is long you may want to consider this.
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