Everything You Need to Know About the Basics of Website Building

If you're not a computer wizard, you may be intimidated by the prospect of building a website. It is possible for the average person to carve out their own space online with some comprehensive guidance. Before starting your journey, it is essential to become familiar with the building blocks in order to know what to look for. 

Domain

The address at which your website will reside is called the domain name. You can either have your site as part of someone else's domain, which means it will include an extra segment in the address itself, or you can purchase your own domain. A domain isn't very expensive, usually companies charge around less than $20 annually. Your website's purpose will determine what name you choose. For example, a personal website could fit the pattern of yournamehere.com. If the web page is for your business, you should try and find an available name as close to your business trademark as possible, the shorter the better. Choosing a domain name can truly be an art form. 

Host

Without a host, your domain will never be connected to the internet. In addition to giving your page visibility, a host also stores your website files, images and content. Essentially, a host is a company that has a lot of servers that can handle the storage and traffic, even globally. There are usually a plethora of different packages and plans offering varying levels of parameters like bandwidth, space, subdomains and email account add-ons. Obviously, there are other ways that you can control the data of your website, like managing it through a cloud-based solution. If you like the sound of that, you can Check Out 4d Data Centres Here! Moving back to hosts, a lot of them offer a deal on a domain as part of the package and sometimes you can get the first year free. Bluehost is one of the most popular hosting platforms in the United States. However, there are hosts to suit almost any set of needs. There are even companies that are devoted to running their servers and business in an environmentally friendly way, like GreenGeeks.

CSS

There are five and a half billion web pages on the internet, and almost every single one uses CSS in some way, shape or form. Short for Cascading Style Sheets, CSS provides an efficient way to arrange the layout and display of the HTML elements on your website, or multiple websites at the same time. Everything from links to fonts and backgrounds can be controlled by CSS. You do need some training to be able to understand this particular form of design. Using CSS can give you almost unlimited aesthetic options, which also leaves it vulnerable to issues. That's where CSS frameworks come in- software that gives you a set of standards to work within, allowing the less advanced coders to have a go a web design. If you are a beginner, but somewhat familiar with HTML and CSS, you should choose a software like Bulma CSS that is user-friendly and creates a web page that works well on any device.

WordPress

For those not familiar with coding, WordPress offers a more accessible path for web design. It can usually be learned and executed within a couple of days. To use WordPress with your host, first you will need to install it. Most hosts make this easy with one-click installation. Once it is installed, you will be brought to a dashboard. Here you can pick a theme, which is basically like a template for your website, and activate it. Within this template you can add pages, interlink them and create a menu. You can even add a title and tagline, which shows up on the browser tab and under your search result. If you want a more complex or specific theme, you can always download or purchase one from an outside source. If you'd like a WordPress site to do more, like include submission forms or photo galleries, you have the option of adding plugins instead of trying to build them into the design yourself.

Even if you don't feel comfortable handling the final design, you can at least get the process started, or oversee a few components. However, if you try it out and don't like what you see, don't forget that you can hire a professional or freelance web designer to clean it up for you!