I have an idea for a webpage that I want to create. What the best way of going about this? I already chose what I want to call it, and made sure it was available. I think I'm going with iPowerWeb as my webhost, but should I build my webpage first before signing up for a host?

I have no clue how to build a webpage, but I am really good at working with document creation, productivity software and photoshop/corel and other related programs. Would my best bet be to use something like Frontpage to get started? Its mostly going to be a news/info website.

Also, I have FrontPage at home and Publisher at work. What are the differences?

Anyways, since I know many of you have had to go through this at one point or another, I figure I'd ask around and maybe forgo making a newbie mistake.


Thanks.

Trial and error. That's how it starts. No matter if you're using Frontpage or coding it yourself. It only took me about a year to learn what i know now. It was a struggle in the beginning, then again, anything is a struggle when you don't know about it. I would suggest, if you really have passion for making this project work, learn how to code it yourself. I would strongly suggest that you don't use a wysiwyg editor. Learning html is like learning how to build a machine. Once you know the parts, it's prettly simple to understand where they should go. And, if you do screw up, it's not difficult to move the parts around until it works. Once you've gotten the basics down concerning html, learn css... make it your friend. It will make building your "machine" fun and easy. I was building web pages a couple of weeks after teaching myself, by trial and error, and now (a year later) it's like a second language to me.

I would suggest building most of your pages before signing up, as long as you know what the host can offer you (php, mysql, bandwidth, etc.) I made the mistake once of having signed up before i even had the index page built and spent two months working on the pages. Waited another two months for the word to get out. So, it's good to have something ready to go.

Sorry, i don't use Frontpage or Publisher... can't help your there.

Frontpage is fine to use to get started and learn the "how-to" on building a website, however, you must know that FP also adds extra coding into the HTML. So when you complete the webpage, and want to FTP it to your server, you must make sure that you have the FP extensions loaded onto your webserver.

FrontPage is a website (HTML) editor. A program to create websites.

Publisher is a desktop publishing software used to create flyers, ads, business cards, etc.

There are plenty of free web editors out there, one that was recommended to me (but I don't use it myself) is 1st Page 2000. It's a free download.

I would suggest that you start by roughly designing your webpage on a piece of paper. Just to give yourself an idea on how you want to lay it all out. From there, go to your web editor and begin. It might be a good idea if you have at least an index page completed first before you decide to sign up for a host. Or...you could sign up with a host, and just leave your domain parked until you're finished with your website. There are choices.

Hope this helps,
DianeD