W3C.org's History Page
If you enjoy WebSite Primer please recommend this site to your friends!
Site Design: I Wanted It, Like, Yesterday (Creating HTML Overload ... Argh!)
Originally Published: 2001-03-12
Updated: 2006
Web Sites do not magically appear overnight. Even with an HTML editor at the fingertips you will have to set wants and needs into perspective with the limitations of what you can handle at that time versus high expectations that may be unattainable or deflate your ego.
Perhaps one reason why people become leery or question their ability about learning HTML is due to inadvertent overload. They undoubtedly viewed other home pages or Web sites, and these may have inspired them to create their own, without witnessing the gradual process behind creating many of those same inspirational sites.
They want fancy backgrounds. They want color. They want certain text styles. They want pictures. They want ... and want ... and they want it now!.
When asking someone how, they suddenly cringe in horror. The answer seemed nothing more than a spewing of brackets, quotation marks, equal signs, words that look like pure gibberish, and - at times - interspersed with warnings that some things can work with each other while others cannot.
Hiding in a corner they try to figure out the difference between upload and download or what FTP is? "All I wanted to know was to how add my picture," one of them will mumble while they wade through the feedback or follow-up questions asking how they wanted that picture to appear on the Web page.
It is no wonder that one suddenly feels out of their league or that they had bitten off more than they can chew. In essence, they had. They allowed themselves to be swayed by others' work before they had even thought of what was really wanted or needed for their content. Their expectations were higher than the amount of knowledge they may possess or able to understand, at that time.
Relax, take a deep breath, then have fun!
First off, just because there is an allotment of space for you to have a Home Page does not mean you are expected to create the most spectacular full-blown operational site within 24 hours or even three weeks. You are allowed to take your time.
Many Personal Home Pages on the Web started out with a simplistic appearance. The person creating them gradually added more as they learned more about creating their site. Seek out the most basic in HTML commands to start with, then work up in the learning ladder. When advancing to the next rung look over the contents to decide where to "share" that new bit of knowledge. In other words, let the sites and its contents evolve.
There have also been occassions where a person will dismantle their site, by taking part or all of it down off the Web, due to a variety of reasons:
- Deciding to narrow the focus of information presented through their site.
- Dropping some pages, or side contents, to concentrate or have the site's focus more narrowed versus broad.
- Deciding to re-organize the contents.
- Renaming pages, creating sub-directories or sub-domains, sortings the contents by adding new sections to the navigation menu, etc..
- Deciding to expand.
- Splitting the site, or its contents actually, by creating two or more separate sites.
- Revision.
- Contents rewritten or updated to share new information.
- Site Redesign
- Going for a new look but wanting to do it all at once. The whole new look could be due to being bored with the old color choices and/or graphics or as a result of the contents being re-organized.
- Wanting to venture in an entirely new direction.
- Dropping all existing contents in favor of presenting entirely different contents. They didn't want to split or narrow the focus, but go for entirely new content.
In other words, sit back and relax. Attempt to approach HTML and your site as a learning experience versus a race. You aren't competing with anyone but yourself if trying to rush the process of learning about HTML and creating your site. What you may not realize is that the greater risk is having your Home Page reflect your rushing around and skipping past portions of learning what you are actually doing. Therefore creating more work down the road versus lessening it.
The step-by-step building up of your site will have you feel more comfortable. It also may have some people regularly coming back and witnessing your site's growth while enjoying the contents offered.