WEB DEVELOPMENT GUIDE
PART I: MOVING FROM WEB PAGE TO WEB SITE ACHIEVING UNITY: WHAT MAKES A SITE TRULY A SITE DETERMINING THE UNDERLYING THEME SETTING LIMITS ON CONTENT KEEPING THEM COMING BACK CREATING A COMFORTABLE SITE KEEPING YOUR SITE FRESH TAPPING CREATIVITY ONLINE SOURCES FOR CREATIVE THINKING DRAFTING A PLAN WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH? WHO DO YOU WANT TO REACH? WHAT OUTSIDE HELP DO YOU NEED? DESIGNING THE LOOK OF YOUR SITE APPEALING TO YOUR AUDIENCE AVOIDING CLUTTER THE BIG RULES FOR PLANNING YOUR SITE ONLINE SOURCES FOR WEB DESIGN TAGGING ALONG WITH HTML EXAMINING PAGE-BUILDING PROGRAMS TEXT EDITORS WYSIWYG PROGRAMS DETERMINING YOUR WEB PAGE STRUCTURE NORMAL ELEMENTS FRAMES AND FRAMESETS GETTING WORDY PARAGRAPHS HEADINGS FONTS LINES USING COLOR CREATING LINKS PICTURING IT: USING IMAGES GRAPHICS PROGRAMS IMAGES BACKGROUND IMAGES IMAGE MAPS WORKING WITH DREAMWEAVER SETTING THE PAGE PROPERTIES ADDING IMAGES WORKING WITH TEXT AND LINKS ADDING A HORIZONTAL RULE ONLINE SOURCES FOR WEB PAGE BUILDING PLANNING USABLE NAVIGATION ADDING A SEARCH FUNCTION GETTING A FREE SEARCH ENGINE WITH FREEFIND DROPPING IN PERL CGI SCRIPTS WITH SIMPLE SEARCH SHOWING THE WAY WITH NAVIGATIONAL TOOLS SHELVING YOUR LINKS WITH BOOKSHELF CREATING MENUS WITH VMAXNAV MAKING DROP-DOWN LISTS ONLINE SOURCES FOR IMPROVING SITE NAVIGATION PART II: ADDING SPARKLE TO YOUR SITE GETTING GRAPHICS — FOR FREE! HEEDING COPYRIGHTS AND CREDITS CREATING YOUR OWN IMAGES DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN GRAPHICS FILE FORMATS PUTTING YOUR GRAPHICS ON A DIET GIFWORKS SPINWAVE ORDERING GRAPHICS BY GRAZIA CIPRESSO CREATING A LOGO WITH COOLTEXT COM BASIC DESIGN WITH IMAGES PLACING IMAGES FOR MAXIMUM EFFECTIVENESS SIZING IMAGES ONLINE SOURCES FOR QUALITY GRAPHICS MAKING SURE THAT YOU HAVE CGI ACCESS WHY YOUR ISP WON’T HELP FINDING A CGI PROVIDER USING REMOTELY HOSTED CGI SCRIPTS ADDING CGI SCRIPTS BASIC TECHNIQUES SOLVING PROBLEMS INCORPORATING JAVASCRIPTS DEALING WITH PROBLEMS DROPPING IN JAVA APPLETS ONLINE SOURCES FOR SCRIPTS AND APPLETS GETTING MUSIC AND VIDEO FINDING MUSIC HOUSES FINDING PUBLIC-DOMAIN MUSIC AND VIDEO PICKING A FILE FORMAT COMPRESSING FILES ADDING AUDIO AND VIDEO FILES TO YOUR SITE ONLINE SOURCES FOR WEB AUDIO AND VIDEO W3C HTML VALIDATION SERVICE CHECKING THOSE LINKS 2BONE COM’S LINK CHECKER LINKALARM TESTING YOUR SITE WITH NETMECHANIC ONLINE SOURCES FOR FINE-TUNING YOUR SITE PART III: GOOD CONTENT MAKES CONTENTED VISITORS PROVIDING GUESTBOOKS CREATING MESSAGE BOARDS SETTING UP A MESSAGE BOARD WITH BOARDHOST MODIFYING YOUR BOARDHOST MESSAGE BOARD GIVING VISITORS THE GIFT OF GAB BLOGGIN’ THE NIGHT AWAY ONLINE SOURCES FOR ADDING COMMUNITY TO YOUR SITE RUNNING RIDDLENUT COM’S RANDOM RIDDLES ADDING BOGGLERS TO YOUR WEB PAGE PLACING QUOTATIONS ON YOUR SITE QUOTING WITH THE QUOTE MACHINE QUOTING WITH QUOTER SETTING UP MYPOSTCARDS COM ON YOUR SITE GOOFING OFF WITH GAMES DOWNLOADING FREE GAMES FROM LOONYVERSE PLAYING GAMES JAGEX STYLE PLACING CARTOONS ON YOUR WEB SITE ADAM BOMB TOY TRUNK RAILROAD ONLINE SOURCES FOR GAMES, RIDDLES, AND FUN ADDING 7AM COM NEWS TO YOUR WEB SITE PROVIDING WEATHER FORECASTS ON YOUR SITE WEATHER UNDERGROUND WEATHER COM FINDING COPYRIGHT-FREE MATERIAL THE OTHER KRISHNAMURTI PROJECT GUTENBERG ONLINE SOURCES FOR CONTENT PART IV: RAKING IN THE BUCKS LEARNING THE REAL SECRET TO INTERNET SUCCESS DEVELOPING THE RIGHT ATTITUDE FOCUSING ON YOUR BUSINESS GETTING SUPPLIES FLOWING DESIGNING FOR E-COMMERCE ONLINE SOURCES FOR INTERNET COMMERCE GETTING A MERCHANT ACCOUNT CHOOSING WHICH ACQUIRERS TO SIGN UP WITH DECIDING WHICH CARDS TO TAKE SIGNING UP WATCHING OUT FOR FEES PROTECTING AGAINST CREDIT CARD FRAUD ONLINE MALLS CHECKING OUT ALTERNATIVE PAYMENT METHODS PAYPAL E-CASH PHONE CHECKS PHONES, FAXES, AND SNAIL MAIL CONVERTING CURRENCIES ADDING THE CONVERTER TO YOUR WEB PAGE CUSTOMIZING THE CONVERTER ONLINE SOURCES FOR MERCHANT SERVICES YEAH, SURE IT’S FREE CAN I JOIN? FINDING PARTNERS WORKING WITH A NETWORK PROFITING FROM YOUR PROGRAM TAKING TIME TO FIND THE RIGHT PROGRAMS CHOOSING PROGRAMS THAT FIT WITH YOUR AUDIENCE ADDING VALUE TO YOUR SITE TO KEEP VISITORS COMING BACK FOCUSING ON YOUR SITE RUNNING YOUR OWN AFFILIATE PROGRAM DOING THE MATH USING SOFTWARE TO HOST AFFILIATES ONLINE SOURCES FOR AFFILIATE PROGRAMS PART V: PUBLISHING AND PUBLICIZING YOUR SITE GOING LIVE: CHOOSING A HOST ISPS VIRTUAL SERVERS DEDICATED SERVERS FINDING YOUR MATCH KEEPING IT CHEAP: FREE WEB SITE PROVIDERS GETTING YOUR OWN DOMAIN NAME PICKING A NAME FINDING A REGISTRAR ONLINE SOURCES FOR WEB HOSTING AND DOMAIN REGISTRATION WORKING KEYWORDS INTO YOUR PAGES ADDING META TAGS INCORPORATING KEYWORDS IN THE CONTENT AVOIDING KEYWORD TRICKERY ANALYZING KEYWORDS THAT OTHER SITES ARE USING SUBMITTING TO THE SEARCH SITES DOING IT YOURSELF USING SUBMISSION SERVICES KEEPING OUT OF THE SEARCH SITES CHECKING YOUR SEARCH SITE POSITION INVESTIGATING RECIPROCAL LINKING FINDING SITES TO LINK TO JOINING WEB RINGS JOINING A BANNER EXCHANGE ONLINE SOURCES FOR GETTING THE WORD OUT ABOUT YOUR SITE USING AUTORESPONDERS WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH AUTORESPONDERS USING GETRESPONSE COM OPT-IN NEWSLETTERS HOW AN OPT-IN SYSTEM WORKS TRYING OUT EMAILXTRA COM KEEPING VISITORS UPDATED ABOUT CHANGES TO YOUR SITE CHANGENOTES CHANGEDETECTION COM ONLINE SOURCES FOR VISITOR COMMUNICATIONS TRYING OUT FORM MAKERS TAKING POLLS ALXNET POLL FORMSITE COM PRIVACY AND SECURITY ONLINE SOURCES FOR FORMS AND POLLS PART VI: THE PART OF TENS COZAHOST NEWSLETTER KASAMBA GRAMMARNOW! GEEK/TALK FORUMS FOR WEBMASTERS THE SMALL BUSINESS ADVISOR LAWGURU COM BIZY MOMS WEBSITE TIPS WEB DEVELOPER’S JOURNAL SITEOWNERS COM WORLDPAY OSCOMMERCE HUMANCLICK CAFEPRESS COM ECOMMERCE GUIDE MAPQUEST S&H GREENPOINTS SYSTRAN TRANSLATION SOFTWARE TRUSTE DMA PRIVACY POLICY GENERATOR THEFINANCIALS COM MERRIAM-WEBSTER ONLINE GEOPHRASE LEONARDO RECOMMEND-IT SUPERSTATS @WATCH CROSSWORD COMPILER BIGMAILBOX COM LOCALENDAR WHAT YOU’LL FIND ON THE CD ADOBE GOLIVE CS ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS AUTHOR’S LINKS COLDFUSION MX 6 1 ENTERPRISE DREAMWEAVER MX 2004 FLASH MX 2004 FREEHAND MX HEMERA PHOTO-OBJECTS 500 SAMPLER HOMESITE+ INTRODUCTION M AYBE YOU ALREADY HAVE YOUR OWN WEB SITE AND YOU’RE NOT QUITE SATIS- FIED WITH IT OR PERHAPS YOU’RE STILL IN THE PLANNING STAGES AND WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO TO MAKE YOUR SITE AS GOOD AS IT CAN BE YOU’VE BEEN TO WEB SITES THAT HAVE ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES, AND YOU WOULDN’T BE HUMAN IF YOU WEREN’T JUST A WEE BIT ENVIOUS WELL, NOW YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL, TOO IN THIS BOOK, I SHOW YOU SOME OF THE BEST STUFF AROUND, AND I TELL YOU JUST HOW TO GO ABOUT PUTTING IT ON YOUR SITE ABOUT THIS BOOK THIS ISN’T JUST ANOTHER WEB-DESIGN BOOK IT’S SPECIAL REALLY I SET OUT TO WRITE THE ONE BOOK I’D WANT BY MY SIDE IF I WERE LOOKING TO SET UP A REALLY FANCY WEB SITE AND NOT BREAK THE BANK DOING IT I TRACKED DOWN AND TESTED ZILLIONS OF WEB SITE ENHANCEMENTS AND SELECTED THE TOP OF THE LINE TO SHARE WITH YOU AND I’M HONESTLY PROUD OF THE RESULTS I’VE AUTHORED OR COAUTHORED MORE THAN 20 BOOKS ON COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET, AND THIS ONE IS MY HANDS-DOWN FAVORITE IT’S FULL OF THINGS YOU’RE SURE TO LOVE IT’S PACKED WITH FUN STUFF, BUT IT’S GOT PLENTY OF SERIOUS STUFF, TOO, LIKE HOW TO GET PAST THE HYPE AND REALLY MAKE MONEY YOU’LL WONDER HOW IN THE WORLD YOU EVER GOT ALONG WITHOUT HAVING THESE FEATURES ON YOUR WEB SITE HOW TO USE THIS BOOK KEEP THIS BOOK NEXT TO YOUR COMPUTER AND NEVER LEND IT TO ANYBODY IT’S FAR TOO PRECIOUS FOR THAT MAKE YOUR FRIENDS BUY THEIR OWN COPIES IF YOU NEED TO MAKE SPACE ON YOUR BOOKSHELF, THROW AWAY ANYTHING ELSE YOU OWN TO MAKE ROOM FOR IT WHEN YOU TRAVEL, TAKE IT WITH YOU HOLD IT IN YOUR ARMS AT NIGHT AND TELL IT HOW MUCH YOU LOVE IT EACH CHAPTER IS A STAND-ALONE ENTITY (DON’T YOU JUST LOVE THAT WORD?) YOU DON’T HAVE TO READ THE WHOLE THING, AND IT’S A RARE PERSON WHO WILL READ IT FROM COVER TO COVER RIGHT OFF THE BAT GO AHEAD — HIT THE TABLE OF CONTENTS OR THE INDEX AND JUMP TO THE PARTS YOU’RE MOST INTERESTED IN BUT DON’T FORGET TO EXPLORE THE REST OF THE BOOK AFTER YOU’RE DONE WITH THE PARTS THAT EXCITE YOU MOST YOU WON’T REGRET SPENDING THE TIME — YOU’LL FIND WONDERS IN EVERY CHAPTER FOOLISH ASSUMPTIONS I FIGURE THAT YOU HAVE SOME KIND OF EXPERIENCE WITH CREATING WEB PAGES YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A WIZARD AT IT, JUST GOOD ENOUGH TO PUT TOGETHER SOMETHING THAT OPENS IN A WEB BROWSER AND TO UPLOAD IT TO YOUR WEB SITE I ASSUME THAT YOU HAVE A FAVORITE WEB-PAGE CREATION PROGRAM — WHETHER IT’S DREAMWEAVER, PLAIN OLD NOTEPAD, OR THE UNIX-BASED TEXT EDITOR, VI — AND YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT SO WHEN I SAY TO COPY AND PASTE TEXT OR SAVE YOUR FILE, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO DO JUST IN CASE YOU DON’T HAVE A GOOD WEB-AUTHORING PROGRAM, YOU’VE GOT THAT COVERED, TOO THE CD-ROM THAT ACCOMPANIES THIS BOOK HAS A PASSEL OF HTML EDITORS ON IT CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS BOOK IT’S ALL ORGANIZED, I PROMISE EVEN THOUGH IT’S RATHER PLEBEIAN COMPARED WITH FINDING FREE CONTENT FOR YOUR SITE, LOTS OF PEOPLE WORKED VERY HARD TO MAKE SURE THAT THIS BOOK FOLLOWS SOME STRAIGHTFORWARD RULES, LIKE TYPOGRAPHICAL CONVENTIONS CODE LISTINGS, OF WHICH THERE ARE PLENTY, LOOK LIKE THIS: <HTML> <HEAD> <SCRIPT> </SCRIPT> <TITLE> </TITLE> </HEAD> HTML ELEMENTS IN THIS BOOK ARE IN UPPERCASE AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES ARE IN LOW- ERCASE, AS IN THIS EXAMPLE: <INPUT TYPE=”HIDDEN” NAME=”ANSWER” VALUE=”YES”> IF THE VALUE OF AN ATTRIBUTE IS IN NORMAL TYPE, YOU ENTER IT EXACTLY AS SHOWN IF IT’S IN ITALICS, IT’S ONLY A PLACEHOLDER VALUE, AND YOU NEED TO REPLACE IT WITH A REAL VALUE IN THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLE, YOU REPLACE MYOWNIMAGE WITH THE NAME OF THE IMAGE FILE YOU INTEND TO USE: <IMG SRC=”MYOWNIMAGE”>