Tag Archive for 'website'

Working With FTP (upload download)

Published on August 5, 2010 in Website Building Basics. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Whether you are installing a platform like WordPress or manually creating HTML files, one thing you will have to use eventually (probably sooner than later!) is FTP.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is simply a program that lets you copy files to and from your web server (or any other computer). If you are comfortable using Windows Explorer to navigate the hard drive on your computer then you should be able to get around FTP pretty easily.

There are several good FTP programs out there. I prefer to use CuteFTP, which is a paid program (but reasonably prices) but I can also recommend FileZilla FTP Client which is free and full featured.

Okay! So you have y our first HTML files ready to go or you’re ready to manually upload and install WordPress… Now what??

Well, download and install your FTP client of choice and get ready to upload your files!.

If you are setting up a new site, you’re probably going to want to install the files on the Continue reading ‘Working With FTP (upload download)’

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Favicon – What it is and why it matters

Published on May 17, 2010 in Website Building Basics. 0 Comments Tags: , .

If you look up in your web browser’s address bar, next to the website address, you’ll see a little picture. This is called a FavIcon (short for favorite icon). The original purpose for it was that when you save a website into your favorites or bookmarks, the favicon picture would be saved there next to the website name as an additional reminder of what the site is.

Eventually, browsers started showing the favicon right in the address bar next to the website address. There are several good reasons to have a favicon on your site and I’ll tell you why and how to do it below.

BRANDING:

Whether your site is for a company or is the main center of your work, you should be branding it. Your favicon picture should be your logo or something descriptive of your site or your company. If it is a company, you should take every opportunity to put your logo somewhere where people will see it. If not and it’s just your site, your favicon will become a logo and branding not only on your website, but in peoples bookmark or favorites list!

Consider that someone may have fifty or more bookmarks in their favorites list. If more than half of them just have the generic browser favicon, then you are instantly going to stand out in the list and draw the eye to your bookmark, begging the user to click on it.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Do search engines rank you higher if you have a favicon? Continue reading ‘Favicon – What it is and why it matters’

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Choosing a platform for your website

Published on May 17, 2010 in Website Building Basics. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Ok, so you finally pulled the trigger and signed up with a webhost, got a domain name and now you’re ready to get your fancy new website up and running… So what platform are you going to use? Did you just look at me like I fed you a spoonful of worms?

Well lets start with what a platform is. Just like the word implies, it is what your website will sit on. There are many platforms out there ranging from plain old vanilla HTML web pages to using WordPress blogging software to fancy Content Management Systems (CMS) like Joomla. Here, we’ll discuss each of these platforms and briefly explain what they are and how they work.

HTML FILES:

HTML files are the great grand daddy’s of the internet. HTML is short for Hyper Text Markup Language. It is the original idea that gave us the ability to click on words (links) and have them take us to other pages and to make a page appear on the internet.

With HTML files, you manually write each page using either a plain text editor like notepad if you know HTML code or you can use a program like Expression Web which allows you to create a web page like a Word document by simply typing and dragging and dropping. Whichever way you use to create the page, when you’re done you save the page as a .html file and then you upload it to your website.

If you have a site that isn’t going to change often and isn’t going to be very large, HTML can be a simple solution, especially if you are using a program like Expression Web, which does all of the coding for you. You simply type the content you want, drag and drop pictures and files onto the page and then program generates the HTML code for you.

HTML can also be nice since you don’t need any other software or special configurations to make it work. You can literally save a copy of your website and Continue reading ‘Choosing a platform for your website’

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