How to create a personal website: 8 steps (with pictures)

If you have tons of photos and videos that you would like to share with family members, the best way to do it is with your personal website. A personal website is a great tool for people to stay connected with friends and family. Because it allows you to exchange media and information (birthdays, weddings, parties) and much more. The good news is that you don't need to know HTML at this time; anyone with the time and patience can create a great looking website.

Steps

Step 1. Decide which software to use to create a website if you have no programming experience

If you are an HTML expert, you can skip this step.

Step 2. Find hosting

Hosting (hosting provider) is the company that will store the files that make up your site. Whether it's a free or a paid company (see Tips), you'll need to create an account first.

3 Get a domain name (optional). If your hosting does not provide you with a domain or subdomain name, you will need to get one. It's easier for people to remember a simple domain name (ie: www.wikihowexample.com) than a tediously long URL (ie:

Create a Personal Website Step 4

Step 4. Select content (content)

You know this is a website for your friends and family, so think about what you offer them when they visit your site. Some of the great ideas are tools like photo galleries, calendar, guestbook or forum, email list, and front page news. Jot down your thoughts as soon as you figure out what to include.

Create a Personal Website Step 5

Step 5. Create a logo

Even if you think your personal website doesn't need one, the logo unifies and makes the site more user-friendly for your visitors. Use a program like Corel Paint Shop Pro to provide text (perhaps your first or last name) with an attractive and impressive design. You can just save money and look for some open source software, GIMP or Inkscape apps should do just fine. They are also free and useful, like Photoshop and Paint.

Create a Personal Website Step 6

Step 6. Create pages

Using HTML or a web publishing tool like Microsoft Frontpage or Macromedia Dreamweaver, create a Home page with an introduction to the website, news, and basic instructions on how to navigate it. Other pages such as the "Biography" page and the "Contact" page may appear later. Save the pages in.html format.

Create a Personal Website Step 7

Step 7. Publish

Add pages and files to the root folder ("/"). Use an FTP program or web browser to log into the server. Enter "ftp://your-domain-name.com" in the address bar of your browser and press the "Go" button or press Enter, then fill in the request with your username and password (provided by your hosting provider). You can view your folders just like on a personal computer or Mac.

Create a Personal Website Step 8

Step 8. Update

Supporting your family and friends by posting the latest news and photos is invaluable to them. Share new stories and jokes with them often to keep them coming back to your site again.

Advice

Save your home page as "index.html". This will be the first page that visitors will see when they visit your site.

Your hosting provider can provide you with tools such as guest books and photo galleries.

If it's available from your host, then it's a good idea to provide family members with an email [email protected]

You don't have to spend tons of money on software and services, there are free options; search and you will find.

Some hosting companies will try to sell you a domain. You don't need to buy a domain from a hosting provider - you can buy a domain from a domain name registrar (just google for "buy a domain") and then tell the hosting provider that you already have a domain without buying it from them. In practice, it's easier to buy a domain from a hosting provider (you don't have to do anything other than paying for it), but hosting providers usually charge higher prices for a domain name than you might find if you go out and buy yourself a domain from a registrar. domain names. Buying a domain is not difficult and normal prices should be +/- around 10 € (as of 2011).

Freewebs.com is excellent, completely free hosting and shorturl.com can provide you with a good subdomain name.

Knowledge of HTML is not required, but it will help a lot if you want more complex and varied web design. Try it and practice as much as possible. Compare the code to what it looks like on a real web page.

An excellent forum is phpBB (requires PHP and Database installation; ask your hosting provider).

Remember to use the same layout and logo for all pages on your site. Stick to the same colors, font, and icons.

Do not contact the first hosting provider you see; take a closer look and compare prices.

Warnings

People may think that you need to spend a lot of money on a website. You don't have to spend a lot at all. Take the time to look into these topics: Apache servers, PHP coding, HTML coding (layout), open source software. This can help you a lot.

You can often use free website templates to save time and maintain a quality design.

Never use copyrighted media unless you are the copyright owner or have full permission from the latter.

Make sure your server allows you to upload the types of files you will be sharing.

Review your hosting provider's contractual policies before creating an account. They may not be what you are looking for.