In this post I will give you an overview of what is needed to create a website. While there are many ways to create a website nowadays, there are some things that you need to keep in mind when making decisions.
- Hosting and domain of the website
- Content management system
- A pre-made theme
- Content (Logo, text, images, etc. )
- (optional) Learn some basic CSS styling
First thing you need to do is buy the hosting and domain name for the website. The host is the place where all of the files of the website are uploaded. For the files to be accessed by the everyone, the website will need a domain name (i.e. mywebsite.com). There are many companies which provide these services. Some of the biggest ones in the world include Godaddy, Hostgator, InMotion hosting, and so forth. If your target is only in a specific country, it is always a good idea to find a local hosting company since the closer the physical hosting servers are to the customers, the faster will their connection to the website be.
Once you have set up the hosting and the domain name, you have to think about who is going to be using the website after you create it. If it will be used by you, then it is relatively easier because you will know what you have done and where everything is placed. However, when you are doing a website which is going to be managed by someone else, things get a bit more complicated. Since someone else is going to manage it, the website needs to have a simple and straightforward content management system. When choosing a content management system, you want to make sure to choose one which has all the necessary feature for your website. Some great management systems include WordPress, Joomla, Drupal. If you are unsure which one is suited best for your needs, you can check this post for more information on the pros and cons of some of the most popular management systems.
Once you have made you choice, it is time to decide on the design of the overall website. The way that content management systems work is through pre-made demo websites, which are called “Themes”. Themes are the reason why WordPress and others have become so widely used by a great number of people. Basically, themes allow you to import a pre-made website in a matter of seconds. What this means is that you only need to replace the text and images and you will have a complete functioning website in your disposal. Here you must make a decision too. While there are themes which are free to use, they usually have limited capabilities and functions. If you need a special website and not just a simple one, you will either need to buy a theme or make one yourself from scratch. A great place to buy themes is Themeforest. Just make sure you select a high ranking theme which includes demo content. A good idea is also to check the reviews to see the experience of people with that theme. Choosing the theme is one of the most important steps of the journey, since depending on the theme you will either have fun time setting up the website or you will pull out all your hair; as the saying goes, “Garbage in, garbage out”.
If you want to make a theme yourself, you will need to have an advanced understanding of a variety of programming languages. For example, if you wanted to create a WordPress theme, you would need a thorough understanding of PHP, Mysql, CSS, Javascript, and understand the entire WordPress documentation.
After installing the theme, all you need to do is replace the text, images, videos, and your website will be ready to be published. Some things to be considered though, while there are many themes which can fit well with the visual look of your company, you will almost always need to adjust at least some parts of the theme to fit perfectly with the visual look of your company. This includes the exact colors of your companies’ branding, the specific typography used in the company, and in some cases even little animations. While most of the times the options of the Content Management System allow you to change all these things, it is a really good idea to learn some basic CSS styling. CSS stands for “Cascading Style Sheets”. This way you will ensure that you will be able to adjust the theme’s style regardless if you have the options to change it or not. A great place to learn basic CSS is W3school.
