the guide to developing a website - website development made simple

Website Development HOWTO

Todd — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 19:57:47 -0500

This site was created to provide you with a step by step on how to create a website,from the registration of the domain name all the way through to search engine optimization (SEO). As a "HOWTO" this site will cover the basics, providing the information and resources you need without getting so technical it becomes hard to understand.

Step 1: Overview

Todd — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 22:09:45 -0500

Before we get started here is an overview of what you can expect. You will be creating a fully functional website hosted on a sever, not some watered down free webpage. There are many ways to go about this and we won't try to cover them all. Instead we will focus on one method that is relatively quick and gives you lots of options in the future.

Step 2: Purchase a Domain Name

Todd — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 23:04:56 -0500

Before you can create a website you are going to need a domain name. You can register a domain name or purchase a name that is already registered by someone else. You can register a domain name for less than $10(USD)/year at Godaddy.com, there are cheaper registrars out there but Go daddy is one of the most trusted. If someone has already registered the name you want you can make them an offer on the domain. To find out who "owns" the name you want you can do a "who is" search.

Step 3: Find a Hosting Service

Todd — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 01:37:30 -0500

Now it is time to find a hosting service. The host will provide a computer hard drive that will store your website. There are free hosting services out there but we don't know of any reputable ones so we won't be making any recommendations. Great paid hosting services can be purchased for less than $10 a month. We think it is worth it. The site you are on is hosted by Host Gator. We feel they provide some of the best and affordable hosting available.

Step 4: Redirect Your Nameservers (DNS)

Todd — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 01:40:08 -0500

When you registered with Host Gator you should have received a welcome email that contains your Domain Name Server (DNS) information. They will look something like this: (these are examples and not your actual DNS, you need to check your Host Gator email for yours)

ns200.hostgator.com
ns201.hostgator.com

Step 5: Access Your Cpanel

Todd — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 01:41:24 -0500

You can access your Cpanel by going to "mysite.com/cpanel", just replace "mysite" with your site name. You will get a popup where you enter user name and password.

Your Cpanel is your hosting control panel. There you can do things like check your sites email, look at site statistics and a whole lot more that we won't cover right now. Right now we are only worried about one button. Down towards the bottom of the page there is a little blue smiley face with the word fantastico, click on it.

Step 6: Configure Your New Website

Todd — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 01:43:47 -0500

If you have not done so already, go to your website. Take a moment to read the first page of your site. After that go ahead and login with the username and password you used during the Drupal install. Click on the third link down on the left titled "Administer". You will probably see a message in red that says "One or more problems were detected with your Drupal installation. Check the status report for more information."

Step 7: Change Your Site Template

Todd — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 23:22:23 -0500

Are you having fun yet? Ready to change the look of your site with a few clicks of the mouse? Let's try it. Click on the "Administer" Link. The forth link down on the left is called "Themes", click on it.

On the left you will see the available templates or themes as Drupal calls them that came preinstalled with your software. Your site will display whatever theme is set as your default. Currently "garland" is set as your theme. We are using the "chameleon" theme on this website. Let's Change your website's default them to chameleon.

Step 8: Add Content

Todd — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 03:24:19 -0500

Let's create some content for your website. The first link on the menu to the left is "Create content", click on it. There are two types of content you can currently create. Click on "Page", we are going to create the content for the front page of your site.

Step 9: Learn About Modules

Todd — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 08:18:53 -0500

Let's take a look at the modules but before we do let's be sure we are looking at the same page. Click on "Administer" link and we will go from there.

Scroll down to the third link on the right column titled "Modules" and click on it. Now you will see a list of the modules that came preinstalled with Drupal. Take a moment to read the descriptions.

There are a lot of modules you can "enable" but for now let's enable the "Poll" module. To enable the poll module just click the box to it's left and then scroll down and click on "save configuration".