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Checklist to plan and build your Web site

• Overview
• Create a new Web page
• Edit an existing Web page
• Learn about design and promotion

Overview

1. Get space for your Web site
   Web pages must be stored on a Web server. Most Web servers at the University are UNIX-based, so you will probably need to get a UNIX account. To find out where to store your pages (and how to get the right kind of account), visit our site on Creating a Web Site: Where to Put It.
2. Create a home page
   Create a file on your local computer called "home.html". It is important that the file be called "home.html". For information on using Web editors, see the quick guide later in this document, or visit our Getting Started page, and look for the links on using Web editors.
3. Upload the home page to your site
   For information on uploading your Web page, visit our Getting Started page, and look for the links on publishing your page.
4. View your Web page with a browser
   Open Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, and browse to your newly created page. If it is a personal Web page, the URL will be:
   http://www.people.virginia.edu/~mst3k
   where mst3k is your computing id. The part that says "~mst3k" means, go to the public_html directory of mst3k, and show me the file called "home.html".
   At the point you have learned the basic skills to get started with page creation - creating the html document, publishing the page, and viewing the page with a Web browser. Now it's time to talk about site development and design.
5. Create a story board for your site
   If you are creating a Web site (several or many Web pages), you should begin by collecting the content matter for your site. Determine how the pages in your site will be linked, and decide what content to include on each page.
6. Create the other pages which make up your Web site
7. Check your site thoroughly before you publish it
8. Upload the pages for your entire site
9. Recheck all of the links in your site

Create a new Web page

1. Open Dreamweaver or another Web editor
   The following steps are specific to Dreamweaver, but they apply generally for other Web editors as well
.
2. Open Netscape
   You should now have two applications open -- Dreamweaver and Netscape. This will allow you to create the pages in Dreamweaver and view the results in Netscape.
3. Become familiar with switching between applications
   You may switch between Dreamweaver and Netscape by clicking on the appropriate icon on the Task Bar (the gray bar at the bottom of the screen), or by pressing ALT and TAB on the keyboard at the same time.
4. In Dreamweaver, create a new blank page
   Usually Dreamweaver will open with a new blank page ready for you to use, but if not, go to the "File" menu and choose "New".
5. Resist the temptation to change the background color or text color
   Dreamweaver documents, by default, have a white background and black text. This is a GOOD thing. Adding a colored background or background wallpaper can be very distracting. It is probably best that you avoid colored text, animated gifs, and background patterns. Until you have learned some design use this simple rule: pictures serve to inform the user or enrich the user interface. Use as little decoration as possible.
6. Type in your text
   Enter your text and format it. Note that there are two different kinds of line breaks in HTML: Paragraph and Break. If you simply press the Enter key, you will get a Paragraph line ending. If you press SHIFT and ENTER at the same time, you will get a Break line ending.
7. Save your file
   Use all lower case characters, and avoid putting any spaces or special symbols in the file. Use the .html extension (Dreamweaver, by default, will use .htm).
8. Switch back to Netscape
   Use the icon in the Task Bar or ALT-TAB.
9. Preview the page from Netscape
   Choose "File", "Open File" and browse to find your page.
10. Switch back to Dreamweaver and make necessary changes; save the file; switch back to Netscape and click "Reload" on the toolbar
    Repeat this process as many times as necessary. When you are satisfied with your page, upload the page. Dreamweaver has a built-in FTP client, or you can check out other methods of publishing in our Getting Started pages.

Edit an existing page

1. Download the existing Web pages
   Before editing existing pages, you will need to download the pages and any images they reference from the Web server so that you may edit them on your local computer. The easiest way to do this is with SecureFX or Fugu.
   
2. Switch to Dreamweaver
   Open your downloaded pages in Dreamweaver. Edit your pages; save them; upload them.

Learn about design and promotion

The previous sections have dealt with the basic mechanics of putting together a Web site. Once you have an idea of what the content is for your site and how to go about publishing Web pages, you should browse our documents on Web design and promotion. These documents cover topics such as simple, practical design ideas, and how to make your Web site accessible via search engines.