Leadership Viewpoint

Building the website is really just the first part of the challenge. Once it’s ready, you need to have a place to post it to the Internet. There are countless options available to you. When faced with this challenge, I looked at professional reviews to get direction. After looking over several of the recommended options, I selected Hostmonster, and I have never looked back. Their customer service has been superb, and easy to understand. The full extent of their offerings has been mind blowing. They use a Cpanel interface, which makes it very simple for new people to be self-sufficient. Over time, I have added a number of features from both their CGI Scripts (has items like a site search and counters) and their Fantastico interface (installs unbelievable modules into the website, including this blog). Whenever I’ve had a question, I’ve called them and their terrific technical support people have sorted it out with me. Since I often work on this after business hours, their 24/7 support has been of critical importance.

Another aspect of Cpanel that is easy is the FTP Tools section. I liked it because it is modeled after Windows Explorer. Instead of moving files between the C drive and the D drive, now I just drag them between my computer and their server. It’s very intuitive and simple to use, so I was up and running very quickly, with no training.

The number of features that Hostmonster offers is really astounding. In addition to more space than I will ever use, they allow me to put more than one domain on my account. As a result, I’ve built and hosted websites for a few colleagues. Each of us can have as many customized email addresses as we would ever want too. They even have a direct interface with a firm that does free search engine submissions, which is pretty important if anybody is going to find your site. All this, and more, is supplied for only $5.95 a month! I’ve rarely been so satisfied with the value I’ve received from a technical product.

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This is the third entry in this series. Now that you have your screen resolution set and basic colors selected, it’s time to really make that home page. The use of Webstudio 4 really makes this simple. You can drag your logo and graphic elements onto the page. If you see a graphic element you like someplace online, simply drag it onto your page! Like an element from an existing slideshow or document? Drag it onto your webpage. Once the elements are on the page, lay them out in an appealing way. Remember to lay out the navigation buttons on either the top or the left side so that people can find them easily. At this point, the links will not be functional because there is nothing to link to them. Just include them in the design visually as placeholders for the time being.

Once you have the page all setup the way you want it, add the content by inserting a text object and either writing it or copying and pasting it into the text object. If you are pulling it from an existing website, you can drag it onto the page from there. Format the text font, size color, etc., thinking in terms of setting the standard for the entire website. You will want to add a copyright statement at the bottom of the page. Once you have everything all set, name the page (probably ‘home’) in the page list on the right. Then simply hit the Duplicate Page button on the bottom right to add additional pages! Customize the content for each page, replacing the Home Page copy with actual write-ups for each section. Name each page as you go.

Once it’s all set, it’s time to set-up your navigation buttons. Scan the control buttons at the bottom of the Webstudio page for LINKS, and click on that. On your far left, there will be a section called Site Links. It will match your Page List. Simply drag each one up to the corresponding button on the page. Do this until every button on the page has a link connected with it. Importantly, this has activated only the links on the this particular page. To make the site fully functional, you’ll need to either repeat this process on each page, or copy the links and paste them in place on the other pages. Either way will work fine, and you’ll have a nice, basic, customized working website!

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Once we had downloaded the FREE trial of the Webstudio 4 software, the first decision that we had to make was to determine the screen resolution that we wanted to design for. To aid in this decision, I presented data from the last 30 days of the Advanced Leadership Group website:

• 1024×768 54.35%

• 800×600 12.21%

• 1280×1024 11.97%

As larger and more precise LCD screens have replaced the older and fuzzier CRT’s, the 1024 x 768 resolution has grown in usage to over 54% of the user population. The challenge for website designers is that there are still 12% of users with the 800 x 600 resolution. This means that if you design to the sharper, 1024 x 768 specification, that 12% of users will be inconvenienced, needing to scroll back and forth to see a full screen of your website information. Ultimately, it is very helpful to know more about your target users, whether they are more or less likely to have the newer screens and higher resolution. Each business needs to make this call for itself.

After you lock in a screen resolution, it’s time to get down to deciding on the graphic design for the site. Start with your logo and colors. In general, it’s wise to keep your graphics simple and readable. For our business, we designed to coordinate well with our corporate brochure, reinforcing and building upon our company image. For startups and businesses that are solely online, consider the colors that are generally representative of your industry. Soft colors may be appropriate for a yoga studio, for instance, but may not convey enough strength for a war games site. Here’s a nice online resource if colors are challenging for you.

This first page is the foundation that the rest of the website will build upon, so take your time and work with it until you are really happy with it. The navigation buttons should be placed either along the top or on the left side. While another set may be added on the bottom, that is not sufficient for the primary site navigation — people simply don’t look there for them. As you design buttons, a nice rollover feature is a simple way to add life to the site; it also makes it clear to your visitors that they are hovering over a link, which is an aid to usage. Be certain to plan a button for each major category of information that you will put online. It’s smart to look around at other sites and critically assess their categories of information. Customize your own site accordingly.

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In addition to my day job, I serve our local ASTD chapter on the Board of Directors as the VP of Professional Development. In that role, I ran a workshop for my colleagues on building their own website. There’s been so much general interest in the topic that I have decided to walk people through the topic here on the blog. This will be the first in a series of entries on this topic.

The first issue we must address is:

What type of website do you need?

• Basic One Page Website – Personal

• Small Business Website – 5 to 15 Pages

• Corporate Website – 60+ Pages

• Part Flash Website – Adds Fun and Sparkle

• Full Flash Website – Fancier, and Costlier

• Database Website – Great for E-commerce Integration

For the sake of discussion, we’ll assume that a Small Business Website is desired. This will provide what I think of as a “digital brochure” for the business. It’s important to decide what information you would want to include. Also identify the logos, photos, colors, etc. that you will want to include. Be certain to have digital copies of everything to use in the process.

The second issue to consider is Website Design Software.

This is NOT design software in that it does not replace drawing and photo software. It is entirely oriented toward turning what you see into a working website.

Many Hosts offer templates with their basic service.

• Upside – easy

• Downside – not robust, little creativity

Industry Standard is Dreamweaver by Adobe @ $399.

• Their Suites go up to $2,499, and $4,500 for full flash.

• Need a course (or more) to learn to use them.

We tried several FREE options and eventually found Webstudio 4.

• Robust

• Easy

• FREE trial for 30 days

• $139 to own

We used the Webstudio 4 FREE trial in the class, and everyone was impressed by its extensive features and simple drag and drop interface.

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