“Building a website” or “web-site-design” are commonly used terms, but what do they mean?
In this section I will outline what you need to run your own website and for some elements describe them in more detail. Some items are required as the minimum to run and most items have a variety of options both in price an capability.
You need at least:
- A domain name – which is your address on the internet – see: Getting your domain name
- A set of two or more DNS servers to translate your domain-name to the IP address of the web-server. THIS is managed by your domain registrar and has default values when you register your domain. Settings need to be matched to your choice of web-server.
- A web-server – which is any computer (or “virtual-computer”) with software capable of presenting page information to a browser requesting your address across the internet – see: Getting your web-server
- At least ONE web-page which will be presented by your server (strictly speaking it is NOT required as your server will likely have a “default page”).
Beyond these basic requirement there are many optional items which can make it simpler to create and maintain you content and to interact with your users.
AND then there are items which are prerequisite for others or are auxiliary (i.e. not necessary to present web-pages). Many options for your own server and content management are described in more detail on the page: Getting your web-server
- A content management system CMS (e.g. WordPress, Joomla,
Drupal or similar). This allows you organize your content systematically
and typically control the appearance (i.e. ‘theme’) of your web-pages
separately from the actual content.
-
A content management system CMS (e.g. WordPress, Joomla,
Drupal or similar). This allows you organize your content systematically
and typically control the appearance (i.e. ‘theme’) of your web-pages
separately from the actual content. - An automated backup of your server and content to an off-site location
-
An external up-time monitoring (to know when your server fails – and be able to fix problems quickly)
-
An external analytics (to evaluate how your site is used by visitors)
In addition there are other “external” services which may help you in creating and tuning your website. In the long run you may find useful:
- Testing DNS configuration (to make sure your site is configured right)
- Testing eMail configuration (ensure that you eMail is delivered and you can receive eMail too)
- Speed test your site to see how long it takes to load (many improvements can be made based on this testing)
- Guidance for compliance with Data Privacy and other Legislation (many pitfalls here if you are running a business site!)
- Colour guidance (especially for readability and eye fatigue)
- Style guides for fonts and layout
- AI tools for text generation
- Timed posting of new content (your BEST choice for SEO)
- Automation for running multiple sites
- SEO guides (BEWARE, this is a “moving target” and ‘experts’ may fleece you until your funds run out …