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Website designed using CoffeeCup Visual Designer |
Copyright 2009 Infomum-Enterprises.com |
Your Web Page Layout & How to Upload to Your Host. |
Work at Home Answers |
Lets talk about page layout first as there is no point in uploading an empty page to your host. The following are some design tips I have picked up along the way. There are many great sites out there on design and layout so please feel free to search and learn from them. |
First you want a clean (uncluttered layout). Too many gadgets and flashy lights are off-putting, and give a first impression of no content and all glitter. This is not what you want as many visitors will hit the back button before your content has even loaded. Divide your content into easy to read chunks, and intersperse with headings and pictures. If your layout is offset like mine is, the eye tends to read each chunk and move on instead of skimming a whole page of words and missing most of the actual content and meaning. Keep to a single font throughout your site unless you want to highlight something with a different font - but use this sparingly. Try to stick to a single colour scheme too. My method for doing this is to choose a base colour, then on the colour picker use the sliding scale that most programs have to move up and down through the lighter and darker tones of the one colour. You can add a contrast colour of a similar hue (ie dusky pink to go with a dusky green). Too much glaring contrast can be too much for a more mature reader, even though it may appeal to young eyes, so try for a little subtlety in your colour scheme. |
Make sure your font size is easy to read, and makes a good contrast to your background. You want your visitors to read what you have written after all - so make it easy for them. While on the topic of font - its best to stick to the basic fonts that most or all browsers have (Helvetica, courier, Times New Roman, Arial, Georgia, Verdana etc). Fancy fonts may be harder to read for some people, or not supported by their browser. |
Divide your topic into easy to read chunks (pages) like chapters of a book. Place pages with related or follow on content in a group and link to them with in-text links like I have done on this site. Place pages that are not directly related to each other on the menu bar. You can also link to them in your text as I have done. |
You should not try and put all your closely related links on the menu bar. It clutters the menu, confuses visitors, and is not necessary. Imagine my site with content 2 and content 3, website and website 2 all on the menu bar. It would be cluttered and have visitors wondering what content 2 and 3 are about. While the content on these pages does stand alone, it was designed to follow a path through the subject logically (well logical to me anyway). |
Now you have your layout, and your pages look great. Its time to upload them to your host. I will assume you know nothing about this. You can upload your files in a couple of ways. The fastest and easiest is FTP. You will need an FTP client for this like FileZilla (free) or CoffeeCup Direct FTP are easy to use, but there are many more available if you search. I have found CoffeeCup Direct FTP one the easiest for a beginner to use, so I will use it in my explanation, but others work on the same principle. You open the program and use the left hand menu to find the program files on your computer (presumably you remembered where they all were stores, and you have them all conveniently in one or two folders (if you used CoffeCup Visual designer it will do it for you). Next you go to the server function and fill in the boxes with your server ftp information (this would have been emailed to you by your hosting company in the welcome email). CoffeeCup Direct FTP has easy to read pdf manual built in so look in there if you are stuck - and of course like all CoffeCup products its free to trial and fully functional. |
Once you have your server information set up, connect to your site and navigate to your public_html folder (this is where you will put all your website files). If you don't have one of these folders listed contact your hosting company for assistance. Finally when you are connected select all your files listed on your local site (left side normally) and click upload. Sit back and watch the wonder of the Internet make your site happen. Finally log on to your site as a visitor using your browser and check all your links work properly. This is tiresome but necessary. |
Alternatively you can log on to your host control panel and upload each file individually. This is long, tiresome, and runs the risk of you missing something. I recommend FTP for new users. Now your site is up for the world to find lets talk about how to make money from it. Please follow me to my adsense page |
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