Web Design Tips

There is something therapeutic in creating web pages... It allows us to express ourselves through creativity. The reason for this section is two-fold: first, so that the surfer may be benefitted by our work with HTML and Javascripts, and second, that the members of "After Twelve" may be encouraged to go on learning something that is quite new and challenging. Below are Five Rules that I propose to the surfer who is interested to go beyond being a consumeristic user of the World Wide Web and become a productive contributor to the growth of the Internet.

First Tip: Learn HTML

There is nothing more rewarding than to do something with one's own hand and to figure out something for ourselves and make it work. The same applies to web page-making. I know that there are a lot of WYSIWYGs around, free or commercial, that can make web authoring easy. But there is nothing more satisfying than to see a web page that we have planned, sketched and translated into codes ourselves.

Second Tip: Use A Good Source Code Editor

There are many source code editors that one can download from the Internet. But whatever its name may be, it has to have at least these three features

It must have syntax highlighting
It must have a Previewer
It must have FTP

Syntax Highlighting: This feature makes the codes in the file you are editing come out in different colors. The purpose of syntax highlighting is simple to understand: it helps the web author distinguish between text and code. This is very useful when one is working on a web page that incorporates different kinds of codes: HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc...
Previewer: All the excellent source code editors that you find in the Web, whether commercial or not, has a Previewer that allows the web author to toggle between the file being edited and its appearance in a browser. It provides great facility since a toggle on-off Previewer keeps the web page before the eyes of the author.
FTP: An editor with FTP facilities is preferable to an editor which does not have it. If the editor has FTP, then the web author is given one more way of uploading his/her files to a web server.

Third Tip: Get A Good Web Host

The choice of a web host can be crucial in the publication of a web page. And web hosts that offer free or paid services are many. Pick a web host that gives enough space (not too small and not too large) and enough utilities to keep your web site rocking. If you are a beginner, begin with a free site: Geocities, for example is a good place to start.

Fourth Tip: Take Advantage of WebMasters' Services

A budding web master can get free professional help from a lot of sites in the Internet. Guestbooks, Counters, Mailing Lists, Message Boards are services that one can add to one's website to keep visitors coming. Interaction is the name of the game. A site that does not offer a surfer the chance to react is a dead web site.

Fifth Tip: Continually Update Your Website

Do you want your visitors to keep coming back? Then offer them new content. Rewrite your web pages, or write new ones. Add a bit of fun here and there (if your web site is a personal site). Continually update. A once-a-month update is better than once-every-three-months. Continually add. At the end of one year, who knows, your web site may already begin to rock!

More to come...

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