Weaving Webs by George Hernandez

Overview of the process of creating web sites.

Intro
Directory Setup
Domain Registration

Intro

Larger websites are now being written by teams of people instead of a single Webmaster. Just as a magazine may have artists, writers, editors, and marketing staff, so can web pages. Just as computer applications can have designers, system developers, and component developers, so can web pages. Just as a network can have network administrators, database administrator, and technical support, so can web pages.

Here is a rough of the website making process.

Decide what you want to say.
Organize what you want to say.
- Sketch page layouts, site structure.
- Organize files & folders.
- Develop a visual and structural theme.
Define the work environment.
- Choose the tools (eg MS FrontPage and MS Internet Information Server).
- Clarify the relationship with development and the production server.
- Clarify the Internet connection. If using an ISP and/or Web Host, match their technical requirements with yours.
Add content, links, and interactivity with HTML, JavaScript, database connectivity, Java applets, etc.
Test, test, test.
- Spell check, edit, and proof, proof, proof.
- Verify internal links.
- Put onto server and test external links.
- Try out forms and interactivity.
Participate in trans-media marketing, including:
- Register with the portals and search engines.
- Add web info to brochures, business cards, letterheads, etc.
- Have radio, newspapers, magazines, sales, marketing, etc. participate.
Continuously review, improve, and test.

Directory Setup

There are many variations on setting up the directory of a site but the following is what I like.

The web site itself has a root directory. There shouldn't be much in the root directory. Most of the site content should be contained in modular directories underneath the root.

Each major directory, including the root directory should have these directories associated with it:

include. This contains inserted files such as dir.css, dir.xml, etc. This can be shortened to something like inx.
media. This includes read only files such as pictures, audio, and video. This can be shortened to something like pix .

Content scope should be as local as possible. EG: If picture.jpg is only used in the /story dir, then it should be placed in /story/media instead of /media. This will make the /story dir much more portable if it ever has to be moved.

Here is an example site directory setup.

/default.htm
/include/dir.css
/media/logoSite.jpg
/media/logoStorySmall.jpg
/story/default.htm
/story/story1.htm
/story/story2.htm
/story/include/dir.css
/story/media/logoStory.jpg
/story/media/story1a.jpg
/story/media/story1b.jpg

Domain Registration

Network Solutions (formerly InterNIC) is where you go to register for an domain name, eg yourname.com.

The fee is $70 for the first two years and $50 per year after that.
Domain names can be up to 22 characters. It can use letters, numbers, and the dash (-).
You can also use their WHOIS to find out who owns a particular domain name.
Once a domain name (eg abc.com) is set up on a DNS (Domain Name Server), it may take up to 2 weeks before the domain is visible globally. All DNS's update their lists periodically but it takes time for the name to pass around from DNS to DNS.

It is possible to get other TLDs (Top Level Domain), eg the official ISO 3166 country codes like .ph for Philippines, .mx for Mexico, etc., but those are not Network Solutions TLDs. The TLDs registered at Network Solutions (all .com, .org, .edu, .gov, .mil, and .int domains) are still the most popular TLDs world wide.

ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the body that handles TLDs. As of 2000/11/17 ICANN added these TLDs: .pro, .info, .aero, .museum, .name, .coop, and .info. They rejected these TLDs: .kids, .sex, .xxx, and .geo.

Page Modified: (Hand noted: 2007-07-24 03:25:37Z) (Auto noted: 2008-08-27 16:38:05Z)