General Website Tips

RSS feeds scare me

I think the moment people realize they have too many to read, they begin to read less. As far as my own blogs are concerned, I prefer just showing up on the search engines and be read as needed. I also prefer to read blogs as I see them on search engines.

I think not everything I say in my own blogs are important enough for the same person to keep reading.

Val Zubiri

Programming by Val Zubiri
Art by Val Zubiri
Arts Global Impact.org / Original Art and Art Books for Collectors for sale
Chicago Art Movement.com
Get a Massage Contact and Shop using your mobile phone

Blogs get indexed by the search engines faster than websites.

Websites tend to just “wait” for the search engines to come visit them.

Blogs tend to “alert” search engines that there is a new entry on the blog.

Val Zubiri

Programming by Val Zubiri
Art by Val Zubiri
Arts Global Impact.org / Original Art and Art Books for Collectors for sale
Chicago Art Movement.com
Get a Massage Contact and Shop using your mobile phone

Besides yourself, your computer and an internet connection, you need two things.

A Dotcom Name and a Web Host.

Here is the most important tip I can give you…

Do not use the same company for both registering your dotcom (your domain name) and hosting your web pages.

The company will do everything in its power, and creatively too, to prevent you from conveniently switching to other companies that are much cheaper than the one you are using. You will be penalized for making changes. You will be penalized for you disloyalty. You will have high blood pressure and headaches.

For your dotcom, or “domain name,” try www.godaddy.com.

For your web server, check out www.bluehost.com. Compare what they are offering with other companies you may have heard of. I highly recommend Bluehost.

Actually, you need to coordinate the above two elements. You need to check www.godaddy.com that your domain name is not yet owned and used by someone else. This will just take a few seconds.

Once you have decided that you want a certain domain name that is still available, you have to first pay the web server for the hosting package you want. You will then get an email confirming that you have purchased a hosting package, and you will also see a phrase like “NS1.BLUEHOST.COM” and “NS2.BLUEHOST.COM” (if it’s Bluehost that you paid).

Go then to a domain registering company like Godaddy.com, and pay for the domain name you wanted to own. You will then be asked what two main nameservers you want to use. Type in the phrases that look like “NS1.BLUEHOST.COM” and “NS2.BLUEHOST.COM”

Wait a half day to one or two days. Open your browser, type in your dotcom name and see if your dotcom is operational and ready to be edited!

Domain Names - This is your “dotcom” name. You pay godaddy to tell the entire world, that yourname.com exists, and that no one else can use it anymore. After you register (and pay) for the domain name, you will need to wait up to a day or two (lately, sometimes it’s less than a day) for the registration to be complete. Companies like Godaddy.com tell the entire world which nameservers to go to in order to see your files.

Web Hosting Companies - Web hosting companies are where your web pages are stored. Your own computer could not be a host, because you turn it off once in a while, and your internet address ("IP address") usually changes everytime you log back on whatever internet service you have. Web hosting companies are on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They also have more permanent IP addresses. There are two nameservers, so that if one of the servers is under repair, the other server will continue to serve your pages to your website’s visitors.

Here is another reason why you should use two different companies…

The company where you register your domain charges on a yearly basis, sometimes longer.

The company who holds your web pages, the web host, might charge you a monthly hosting fee.

If you fail to pay your web host the monthly fee, for whatever reason, they will have the power to suspend your most treasured dotcom name, that took you days or even months to think about and decide on.

At least, if you registered your name with a separate company, you will have the option to use a different hosting company without having to be forced to pay your past dues from the previous hosting company.

What you need next is an HTML editor. Dreamweaver or any other product is okay. Dreamweaver can be quite complicated for a lot of people, but I would highly recommend easing into Dreamweaver as soon as you get familiar with the simpler programs.

Obviously, you also need internet connection.

Finally, you need a browser.

Next, when you get to making your web pages, you must constantly check if you coded correctly. The way to do this is to constantly save your web pages ("upload") to your server or hosting company as you edit - your html editor should have the capability of uploading to your hosting company as your click save.

At the same time, you also have your browser open, and you constantly should also call your page to see if you are progressing correctly.

You’re just a beginner, so one browser should suffice. However, you should also be aware that browsers also differ in the way they show pages. As your designs and/or coding get more complicated, you will want to use a few browsers to check if they are each showing your page the way you want it seen.

(I’m switching between similar terms just for the heck.)

Val Zubiri

Programming by Val Zubiri
Art by Val Zubiri
Arts Global Impact.org / Original Art and Art Books for Collectors for sale
Chicago Art Movement.com
Get a Massage Contact and Shop using your mobile phone