Web Site 101 was a presentation by Eric J. Gruber to a group who knew practically nothing about how to get a web site online. I hope you find it useful.

1. Web Site 101 Eric J. Gruber

2. “Explain it to me like you would to a third grader.”

3. Three Elements of a Web Site Domain name also known as a web address, such as example.com Web host where your site files will be served to the world Talent to build your web site, keep content updated, maintain the pages and learn how to continually keep it modern

4. Step 1: Get a domain name Find a domain name registrar: GoDaddy.com Affordable, but watch out for “add ons” during checkout Network Solutions.com Been around a long time, but expensive 1and1.com Cheap, decent, but somewhat clunky interface Smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains Reliable and affordable

5. Step 1: Get a domain name .com names are harder to get .net and .org are easier .org is good for non-profits .us and .info aren’t bad either Avoid hyphenated names if possible Buy the most years at a time you can afford Once your domain is purchased, figure out how to update your nameservers

6. Step 2: Find a good web host

7. Step 2: Find a good web host You get what you pay for (typically) Expect to pay between $10 to $20 per month Look for uptime of 97% or greater (nobody gets 100%) A good control panel helps Should also support PHP and MySQL Should provide basic features (FTP, e-mail and databases) without additional fees Recommend keeping your domain registrar separate from your web host

8. Step 2: Find a good web host Host Gator – hostgator.com Very dependable, feature-filled plans are cheap DreamHost – dreamhost.com More storage than you’ll likely ever need Media Temple – mediatemple.net Expensive, but has a great control panel

9. Step 3: Find Talent

10. Get Educated You NEED to learn HTML, so you can: Fix your site when it breaks Properly use HTML on pages Use images correctly on your site Create navigation that makes sense Make pages without the need for special tools Be prepared for the future (Hint: everything is going online)

11. Get Educated Designing with Web Standards, 3rd Edition HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide, 6th Edition Read this first Read this second

12. Web Pages That Suck webpagesthatsuck.com Learn how NOT to do web design. Seriously. Visit this site every day. W3Schools w3schools.com An excellent, free resource for learning HTML and web design. Get Educated

13. Get the Right Tools Be cautious of using WYSIWYGs What you see is what you get Dreamweaver is the industry standard http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver HTML-Kit is an excellent, free editor for Windows - http://www.htmlkit.com FileZilla is one of the best free FTP apps http://filezilla-project.org

14. Get the Right Tools You need a good image editor Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshop Adobe Photoshop Elements is an excellent, cheaper alternative http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin GIMP is a solid, free option http://www.gimp.org

15. Helpful Hints Avoid varying alignments of text Don’t be too “busy” Think about content “above the fold” Know your visitors: preferred browser? screen resolution? connection speed? Don’t get crazy with colors “Boring” isn’t always bad Keep your content updated Google Analytics Google.com/analytics

16. Questions?