Saturday, December 27, 2008

Building your Website Starts from the Inside Out

By Theodore Metagastar

Are you thinking about starting your own website for your personal interest? Whether you are looking at a topic related creative outlet or a site designed to promote a product or service, the first thing you should consider is the tools available to you.

Did you know there are many ways to build a website? You can have simple html or php pages, but you either need to know how to code them. You can use Microsoft Word to write and publish some simple web pages, but this option has pros and cons.

If you are interested in having maximum control over the appearance and performance of your website then you might consider buying one of the many software packages that are available for writing and managing your website. The possibilities are endless, and these packages offer many powerful features.

You might want to consider a content management system. What exactly is a content management system? It is an integrated package of software that pulls your website together, giving you options for the underlying theme or template of your website as well as features that help you to build and publish your website.

A couple of the popular Content Management Systems, or CMS or short, are Joomla and Wordpress. Both of these CMSs are build with Open Source, meaning that the code is provided to help others to build supporting components. This shared environment makes open source programs an amazing creative collective that has resulted in a wide array of features. Some of these features are fee based, while many are given freely or by donation.

Lets take a look at Joomla, and the best place to look is at their own website. This system is free to download, and offers many powerful components and add on features. Templates are available as well, both free and paid. The forum is a great resource as well.

Wordpress is another popular choice for a content management system. There are three options with Wordpress. The first is Wordpress hosted at the Wordpress site. This option limits the templates and features of your website, but is free hosting. The next level is to install Wordpress at your own hosting, which gives you more control over the inner workings of your site.

If you want to have a community type setting you can always consider Wordpress MU. This software is a variation of the typical wordpress installation, but lets you run multiple sites with only one install. You can control the features available for each subdomain within the MU community.

Building a website takes time and a lot of thought. When you build from scratch you need to know both languages for the html or php code that gives your site form and structure. Using a content management system will save you a lot of time by providing structure, freeing you for the more creative aspects of your website.

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