|
|
     
| Purpose: To offer tips
and suggestions and offer resources for the construction of your own
local web site. |
WE WILL MAKE A SITE FOR YOU
First, if you are not familiar with the Internet or web
site-creating-software and desire a local ICG web site, the Web Site
Office will be happy to create one for you. We have a separate
site which houses all the web sites we have created as well as ICG
sites created by other individuals. Contact us at
chriscumming@gtatv.org. The Gateway web site is
located here:
http://www.icgchurches.org/index.shtml.
MAKING YOUR OWN SITE
Education will be your first step here. Following are some
elements you will want to consider. What you see below is just
the beginning. We will be adding a number of resources as we
go along.
Education
1] Consider taking a class in web site
design or which teaches how to use a specific kind of software for
making web sites. Many local colleges offer these types of
classes.
2] Look at and try out the various
types of software designed for making web sites. Some are
better than others. Some are simple and limited in scope.
Others are much more complex but learnable. I never thought I
would learn to use the FrontPage software that makes this web site.
3] Consider purchasing one of those
on-line software-teaching programs. I used Video Professor to
learn how to operate FrontPage. I found it rather easy and
could not believe I put off learning it so long. There are
many companies offering learning software and some are better than
others so shop around and get user feedback before making a
purchase.
Creating A Site
1] Surf the
Internet looking for sites you like. This is what
Mr. Armstrong did in coming up with the design and layout for the EA
site. He gave us the address of some 3 or 4 sites that he
really liked. We based the final design from the key elements
of those sites. Here are some sites to get you started:
Top 100 Sites
on the Web
Gold
[award] Web Sites
2] Learn about
color and color combinations. Each color and each
color combination presents a message and sets the tone of your site.
Click
here
to see a site showing the various colors. As you begin
working with color you will learn about "color wheels" and how they
are used to choose color combinations that will be pleasing for your
visitors. One great interactive color wheel is found
here. On this page, fill in
your name and e-mail address and this will take you to the next page
where you can activate the color wheel. I found this very
helpful.
3] Learn about
the elements of Layout. There are many books and
web sites that speak to the basic principles of layout design.
How you lay out your site determines how many visitors will return
and keep returning to your site. It must be pleasing to the
eye. Following are some sites to help you in this regard.
Basic Principles of Layout
Five Basic Rules for Web Site Design and
Layout
Basic Web Page Layout and Design
In this last site you will learn about the elements of Proximity,
Alignment, Repetition and Contrast, as well as other key elements.
Publishing the Site
1] Obtaining a
domain name. A domain name is the same as the
Internet address where your site can be found. The domain name
of this site is:
http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/
The best place to establish a domain name is with the company that
will house your site. The first step will be to see if the
name you have in mind is already being used. You can do this
at Register.com
http://www.register.com/
If you need help with this let us know. At this page
you will see a box to type in the name you have selected and the
suffix (.com, .org, etc.). We use .org for our church site as
it is an organization (hence .org).
2] Obtaining a
web host. Simply type in to a search engine, "Web
Hosting" and you will get all kinds of responses of companies
offering this service. We use one of the top companies around,
APlus.Net
http://www.aplus.net/ This is an easy to use site and the staff
will even communicate with you on-line [in text messaging] to help
you with whatever you need.
They will want to know what software you use to publish your site,
so make sure you have this information ready. Following is a
list of the top hosting sites of 2005 by a consumer network.
Top 20 Web Hosts of 2005
We do not recommend the use of free hosting sites. The
following site will confirm this even though it gives what it feels
are the best of the free hosting sites.
100 Best Free Web Space Providers
|
|
