Websites – How To Get Started

In case you happen to like the look of this this web site, and wondered how I did it, I’ve described all the steps and the tools I used to create it. Enjoy.

Buy A Domain

This is where your web site will live online, and how it will be known to others on the internet. Again, I’ll be explaining how to buy a domain, how much it’s likely to cost in future articles.

Get Some Hosting

I’ve got a server of my own at LiquidWeb so I host this site myself, but if hosting is a mystery to you, I’ll be explaining what hosting is, where you can get it reliably and cheaply, and how to set it up in further articles.

Decide to Use WordPress To Build Your Site Quickly

Having acquired a domain name of your own, and found a place to host your site, the next thing to do is build it.

I wanted to get this web site up and running quickly, so I decided to use WordPress.  WordPress is free, open source blog software that is easy to use and customisable. You can configure wordpress to look like a web site with blogging capabilities if you wish, or leave it looking like a traditional blog. Further, there are two types of WordPress installation available to you (see further comments below)

Download WordPress and Install

I don’t believe using the centrally hosted WordPress option is good for anyone long term (there is a price to pay for anything that comes too easily), so I suggest sticking with wordpress.org and resigning yourself to having to learn something about the tools you use.  Everything I say from here will be to do with the self-hosted option at wordpress.org.

The degree to which you can customise it does depend on how much time and/or knowledge you have about XHTML, PHP and CSS. But even if you are a complete beginner you can learn how to make good and practical use of WordPress.

WordPress is free, and all you need is a host with running PHP and MYSQL to get started. So why not get started.

Once you have uploaded the WordPress software under your new domain at your host, you’ll get a blog that looks like this one here, shown on the right.

Choose a WordPress Theme

That’s fine. All you have to do is select a new theme from the hundreds of free and paid themes that have been provided by theme authors.

For my WordPress themes, I either pay to get them designed for me by a theme designer I trust.  Or, I use a paid theme like the one used on this site.

Applying The Thesis Theme

Once I applied the Thesis Theme, the blog looked as it does in the snapshot alongside.

Apply Some Styling with Graphics

Next, I designed a logo, and a background image for the banner area at the top of the page.  Using the custom CSS and Custom Functions files supplied with Thesis, I changed the site design.

This dotted background generator was used to create a nice background image for the site.

I also changed the hover, current and selected properties for the anchors that comprise the menu so that the menu took on some color for each state.

Next I removed the subscribe to RSS feed link, and created my own placing it in a new location – on the same level as the menu. The RSS button used came from the site described here.

I altered the footer text, removed a link to the admin panel and added in a copyright statement.

These alterations were all done by making changes to the custom files custom.css and custom_functions.php