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Establishing A Web Presence
It wasn't too very long ago that most people were totally unaware of the Internet. Now most everyone knows the World Wide Web is designed and available for almost anyone and everyone around the world to use. And, it's easy and affordable to establish a presence on the Web for both business and personal use. Relatively no experience is needed to develop a website. If you can use a computer and basic software programs such as a word processor then most likely you are more than capable of developing your own website. Here we'll discuss some of the basics involved in establishing a presence on the Internet.
We'll begin by discussing terms you are likely to encounter and some basis aspects involving the working of the Iternet. Then, the four steps to establishing a web presence.
Terminology
Here are some of the terms you'll encounter while becoming familar with establishing a presence on the web.
- Client Server
- Describes the relationship between two or more computers connect via a network. Resource sharing between these computers is the primary purpose of them being interconnected. The computer where a resource resides and is shared from is a "server". And, the computer requesting the resource is the "client". A computer may perform in both client and server functions. Web Browsers are "client." applications that request resources from web servers where websites reside.
- File
- Often referred to as documents, images and programs. A file is a collection of data. Web page documents are files and the graphic components are image files. Software programs typically consist of a group of files.
- File Server
- A computer that respond to client requests for files by transmitting the file to the requesting client computer. See Web Server below.
- Home Page
- The top level web page at a website. Web pages are organized hierarchically. The home page is the top level page.
- HTML
- An acronym standing for "Hypertext Markup Language". HTML is the language used to construct a web page. HTML provides format and linking (hyperlink) capabilities. A browser receives a web page, then processes the HTML to display the page and provide the function described by the HTML.
- HTTP
- An acronym standing for "Hypertext Transfer Protocol". HTTP is a set of rules and procedures that the various hardware components that makeup the Internet follow to communicate requests and responses for resources.
- URL
- An acronym standing for "Uniform Resource Locator". A URL points to the location of a file (or resource). The file/web server is pointed to via an IP (Internet Protocol) address or a Domain Name that equates to the IP address. And, the URL will optionally point to a file name and may also include a location within the file. IP addresses and Domain Names are managed by what is called Domain Name Servers. URL's containing a Domain Name are translated to the IP Address of the Domain Name.
- Web Server
- A subsystem running on a computer that provides file server functions specifically supporting World Wide Web protocol requests.
- Web Page
- A text file containing encoded information used by a browser to display in a browser.
- Website
- Consists of one or many web pages that are stored on what is called a file server in a client-server networked environment. A "file-server" supporting the processing of HTTP requests is referred to as a web server. The web pages are files and are accessed from a browser by specifying what is referred to as the file's URL.
Aspects
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) describes the standard for the workings of the World Wide Web and its parts. An important part of HTTP is the file naming conventions.
Files containing HTML code are named following a naming convention established by protocol. HTML code file names end with ".html" or ".htm" extensions. Graphic file names reflect the kind of graphic format of the graphic file. There are many graphic image file formats. Currently, two are supported for display within web pages. These formats are GIF and JPEG. Their names end with ".GIF", and ".JPEG" respectively. There are additional accepted variations to these names and they may be in either upper or lower case. As an example, one variation of JPEG is ".JPG."
Home Page files are generally named "index.html". HTTP supports this as the default file name when a file server and directory is specified without a file name in a URL.
Domain Names may be registered with a variety of different services; such as Verisign. This permits a website to have a unique URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that equates to the Internet Protocol Address of the website at an Internet Service Provider's (ISP) or an owned dedicated IP Address to the computer system where the website actually resides and points to the root directory of the website. Such as "www.yourname.com". Costs to register a domain name is between $10 and $35 a year per Domain Name and the cost is continually dropping and you'll find substantial discounts when registering for more than one year. Many ISP's include the cost of registering a new domain name in the setup cost, so check.
NOTE: Some services charge for routing registered domain name, to offset systems programming and storage administration expenses. It's not required to register a domain name in order to have a website, however, it is strongly recommended if you intend to maintain a presence on the web.
How others find your Website?
You spread the word to others whom you know by telling them the URL of your page/site. Include it on your business cards, stationary, publications and marketing materials. You can request other sites to include a links to your page; especially when you include a link to their page/site, referred to as "reciprocal" links. You can enter your website in many of the various search engines and directories; some charge to do so, others do not.
Search engines are websites that compile and maintain data bases that can be searched.
Four Steps To Establishing A Web Presence
Step 1 - Get Connected
It's possible to establish a presence on the Web without getting connected to the Internet; however, you'll want to view your site, receive e-mail and perform many of the other functions and take advantage of the many features that comes with establishing an Internet account.
Most local and long distance telephone service companies offer Internet access services, as well as, many cable television service providers. Current rates range from less than $10 for limited access low speed access more commonly $20 per month for unlimited, to $30 to $50 per month for high speed access, to several hundreds of dollars per month for dedicated very high speed access. Rates are based both on connection rate/speed and amount of usage. Unlimited Access as opposed to a Limited Access refers to number of hours per month allowed, with a surcharge for use in excess of the allowance. Some companies offer FREE service for up to five hours per month, but if there is a charge for use in excess of a allotted time, be sure you monitor usage to avoid potentially excessive fees.
There are also small independent companies, referred to as ISP's (Internet Service Providers), offering Internet Dial-up Access services. Rates are often less than those charged by local and long distance telephone companies; however, make certain that the company is fairly well established with a solid reputation. Also, you will want to assure that they provide free technical support during the period of time you intend to be using the service.
The remainder of this discussion presumes you have a direct Internet connection. Keep in mind that there is a significant difference between a direct connection to the Internet, as opposed to linking to the Internet through what is called a "gateway" via an online service. Besides exceptionally improved response time with a direct connection, you also have a variety of applications available that interface to the many different areas of the Internet. Online services provide merely a glimpse of what is available in cyberspace and are a good first step for new computer users; however, these types of services can be restrictive or limited as it is to their interest to keep your sessions at their service.
Step 2 - Establish a Web Server Account
Establish an account with a virtual Web Hosting Provider. Depending on the features that are most important to you it is necessary to select a company that can provide dependable and reliable service. Assure that they permit access to your server account via your Internet Access service provider; described above. This access should support using an FTP client applications to transfer files to and from your web server account. Inquire and compare the amount of storage space included for both e-mail and web storage, and the amount of access to your site (referred to as "bandwidth"). Also, determine whether you can add storage, bandwidth and e-mail addresses in the future if you think you might expand the website in the future.
Shop around before deciding which company to go with. There are vast differences from one company to the next. Due to the rapid development and growth of the Internet be prepared to migrate your site to different services, as well as to different computer platforms; from UNIX to Windows and vice versa. This means you should carefully consider deploying features that are computer platform specific as this will limit your ability to migrate to a different platform.
Additional points to consider. Is there a charge for technical support? Are their hours of technical support consistent with the days of the week and hours of the day when you'll need to use it?
Advanced features to consider. Do they support secured links; important if you intend to support transmission of confidential information such as credit card information? Do they support CGI's (Common Gateway Interfaces) and what CGI languages do they support? CGI supports running programs on your server that are invoked from your web pages (adding computer programs to your website expands the capabilities of your website significantly).
Step 3 - Design and Create Your Website
You can begin this step before getting connected and establishing a web server account, but it helps to have access to the web so that you can see for yourself what's being done and have a feel for what's really out here in cyberspace. Start by conceptualizing, then designing, then creating your website.
Determine your website's initial content. If you need ideas, "surf" the Web for websites that may be similar in content and/or format to what you have in mind. Your conceptual design should include the primary theme and purpose of your website. Then, move your conceptual design into a preliminary design. Map out how you want things to look, where you want things to be placed, how you want things to perform.
All along the way, keep in mind what you're working with. This is the World Wide Web. That implies exactly what it means. Your potential audience is Worldwide in scope. So, keep a very opened mind, and expand on the possibilities, while at the same time, try to keep it simple and direct.
After you've defined the content and format, the next step is creating your Web pages. There are many tools readily available at reasonable prices to help you author your web pages. You can develop your initial website with very little expertise, or you can hire someone to do it for you.
If you hire someone to do the work for you, make sure your working agreement protects your copyright ownership of the web page components of your website. And, make sure you do not use copyrighted materials that are not authorized for use; especially graphics. Typically, all components should be owned by you with the exception of software components that are generally made available as licensed use only, or as public domain components. Copyright violation is a very serious offense and prosecution can include fines, imprisonment and confiscation of all equipment and resources engaged in the violation.
Step 4 - Install Your Website
After having created and tested your web pages, you'll need to install your website onto your web server. This is done using an File Transfer Protocol (FTP) application; such as WS FTP on the Windows platform, or Fetch on the Macintosh platform. You'll need to have your ISP to have already established your account directories on your web server and have been provided a user-id and password in order to access your account directories.
File transfer formats are important to be aware of. There are two file formats; ASCII/TEXT and BINARY. HTML pages should be transferred as ASCII/TEXT. Graphics must be transferred as BINARY. Check your FTP software for automatic determination of the format based on file name extension. Most FTP software does. It may be necessary to modify the preferences to recognize the file extensions you use. If your FTP software does not support automatic file format recognition, make sure to specify the correct format during the file transfer phase of the installation process.
After transferring your files to your file server account, you may be required to authorize them for access depending upon how your ISP has configured your web server space. Authorization methods differ depending on the operating system of your web server. Some ISP's by default authorize files for access during the transfer process depending upon the configuration, or provide a control panel to perform this process. Also, most FTP applications provide functions for your setting file permissions.
Test Your Website
Finally, make it a routine practice to check components after they have been installed or updated. In other words, test your website to be sure things are working as expected. Check for broken or malformed images and broken links. Many of the authoring tools now provide link checking capabilities. One common problem is for local references being erroneous inserted in your web pages. This means that the links are pointing to your desktop computer's hard disk (as absolute references). You can check for this error by testing your website from a different computer than the one you have developed it on.