INTRODUCTION

The web’s place in our daily lives today, is unquestionable. We can now access the Internet from our home computers, office, laptops and our phones.  When we talk of the world being a global village, it is because of the role the Internet is playing, in making sellers and buyers of product and services all over the world, to do business with each other no matter what part of the world they reside in no time or in the shortest possible time.

One of the most powerful medium through which people can reach business, schools, government, etc in any part of the world is the websites in the Internet. If you own a business and you want to be relevant globally then you must own a website in the Internet. Despite this close intimacy with the Internet, many people still do not know how to use the Internet. For these people, I will advice that they wake up from their slobber before it is too late and start to learn how to use the Internet.

This could be done by registering into any of the good wayside computer school to learn how to use the Internet.  Alternatively, if you do not want to go to school my books titled “The Internet” is a very good Internet book for beginners. Internet is part of our lives today. You will need it someday. I am sure someone is already using it to send your emails or contact your business partner for you. So why not learn how to use it yourself. 

For does who are already using the Internet bravo. You will need to move further from just using the Internet to owning your own website. You will not just own a website, but you have to learn how to build or develop websites for others and make money do that. There are a lot of other marketing things you could do using the Internet and make money. Open your door to the money making venture by learning how to build websites.

BUILDING OF WEBSITES

People learn how to build websites or request websites to be built for them, in order to develop information on the World Wide Web as a result of business necessity. These websites enable people in the world to know what sort of businesses they are doing and how to contact them.

Some might want to learn website building as a job skill allowing them to connect with millions of people whom they build websites for or as websites developing team members, in order to make money. Some are just for the fun posting articles or blogs and free things in the Internet. These are just some few reasons.

Whatever reason it is, there are some basic things the would be website developer must know, to successfully build, host and maintain websites in the Internet. The following three basic things must be studied or understood before you can embark on the website building venture:

1.     You must be a Computer Literate.

2.     You must have a basic knowledge of Computer network.

3.     You must have a basic understanding of how the Internet works.

YOU MUST BE A COMPUTER LITERATE

By this I mean you must know how the computer works and how to use it to process your data. If you do not know how to use the computer, how can you start or boot the computer? Talk more of using the computer to learn how to build a website? If you are not a computer literate, there are so many good wayside schools of computer studies around where you can register and spend at least three months there to learn how the computer works and how to use it.  

In the computer schools, you will be taught what the Computer System is made of i.e. the Hardware and Software. You will be shown the various physical parts that makes up the computer hardware, the operating system and the application programs which are the constitute parts of the computer software.

You will be taught the functions of the operating system and how to use it, the various application programs which you can use to carry out your data processing task. You will be taught how to connect the computer hardware together and install the operating system and application programs in the computer, how to use the computer, how to start or boot the computer and how to shutdown the computer. You also will be taught minor maintenance, trouble shooting and care of the computer system.

     

Alternatively, if you do not want to go to school my books titled “Computer Appreciation” and “The Micro Computers (a guide to buying a personal computer of your need)”, are very good computer books for beginners.

YOU MUST HAVE A BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF COMPUTER NETWORK

A basic understanding of the computer network is very necessary. It will give you and idea of how the Internet works, talking about computer connectivity or networking. Here you know what Servers, Work Stations or Clients Computers are. Not too deep, just the basics knowledge of networking will be enough.

YOU MUST HAVE A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE INTERNET WORKS

Having a basic understanding of how the Internet works will make you know how to use it. This is very important if you want to build or own a website. In studying how the Internet works, you will learn about everything from the history of the Internet to exploring the hardware, software and the organizations that power the Internet.

As a matter of fact, you don’t really need to know to how the Internet works to use it or own a website. But you need the basic understanding of how to use the Internet, and you must start using the internet, if you want to build or be a developer of websites. At the end of your study of the Internet, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1.     What is the Internet?

2.     What makes up the World Wide Web?

3.     What is a Web Address?

4.     How do I Navigate on the Web?

5.     Why do I need a Browser?

6.     What is a Website?

7.     What are the different types of Websites?

8.     What is a Domain Name?

9.     Do I need a Domain Name?

10.    How do I get a Domain Name?

11.    What is a Hosting Space?

12.    Who provides a Hosting Space?

13.    How do I Host a Website?

14.    Who is an ISP (Internet service Provider)?

These and many more questions you will have to answer if you have to build or own a website.

DESIGNING A WEBSITE

Websites must be designed before they are developed like any other thing you want to manufacture. Therefore you must PLAN the website, that is how it will look like, you must think of your visitor when planning your website design. This will determine the kind of website you want to build.

The kind of website will determine what the CONTENT will be, that is what you’re your visitor be looking for or what do you want them to see. Website like Facebook, Twitter, etc took all these into consideration, before they were developed. When you are satisfied with the design, then you can then start the development.  The book on “what to know before designing and developing a website will help you”.

LANGUAGES REQUIRED TO BE LEARNT IN OTHER TO DEVELOP A WEBSITE

To develop w a website, you must learn the following languages which are very easy to understand, unlike other computer programming languages which are very demanding to learn them:

1.     HTML

2.     CSS

3.     JavaScript

HTML

HTML are made up to various TAGS that are very easy to understanding how to use them. HTML helps you to structure the web page. I don’t want to name any version because HTML is still evolving. But presently HTML 5 is invoke.

CSS

CSS is for styling the webpage. After structuring the webpage, you use CSS to style it to make to look good at the browser of the user or visitor to your website.  Like HTML, I don’t want to name any version because CSS is still evolving. But presently CSS 3 is invoke.

JavaScript

JavaScript like HTML and CSS, is also very easy to learn. All it requires is a little patient. It is not like C or C++, Visual Basic, JAVA and other computer programming languages.  

Let us quickly look at two of the questions asked above: What is a Website and what are the different types of Websites.

WHAT IS A WEBSITE

A website, also written as Website, web site, or simply site, is a set of related web pages containing content such as text, images, video, audio, etc. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet address known as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). All publicly accessible websites collectively constitute the World Wide Web. A webpage is a document, typically written in plain text interspersed with formatting instructions of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML, XHTML). A webpage may incorporate elements from other websites with suitable markup anchors.

Web pages are accessed and transported with the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which may optionally employ encryption (HTTP Secure, HTTPS) to provide security and privacy for the user of the webpage content. The user's application, often a web browser, renders the page content according to its HTML markup instructions onto a display terminal.

The pages of a website can usually be accessed from a simple Uniform Resource Locator (URL) called the web address. The URLs of the pages organize them into a hierarchy, although hyperlinking between them conveys the reader's perceived site structure and guides the reader's navigation of the site which generally includes a home page with most of the links to the site's web content, and a supplementary about, contact and link page.

Some websites require a subscription to access some or all of their content. Examples of subscription websites include many business sites, parts of news websites, academic journal websites, gaming websites, file-sharing websites, message boards, web-based email, social networking websites, websites providing real-time stock market data, and websites providing various other services (e.g., websites offering storing and/or sharing of images, files and so forth). For a website to in use, it must be designed, built and hosted. Websites are design built and hosted by web developers or designers.  

What is Website Design

In general terms, website design is planning, creation and updating websites. Website design involves also information architecture, website structure, user interface, navigation ergonomics, website layout, colors, contrasts, fonts and imagery - photography as well as icons design. All these website elements combined together form websites.

 

Often meaning of "design" is perceived solely as visual. In reality, website design involves also more abstract elements as usability, ergonomics, layout traditions, user habits, navigation logic and other things that make using website easier and finding information faster.

 

Organization of Websites According to Purpose or Function

Websites are designed and built for many purposes, reasons and uses. If we start listing each different use here, the list would become too long. So let's try to sum up all those different purposes and uses into the following main types, and they are:

1.   Affiliate Websites

2.   Archive Websites

3.   Answer Websites

4.   Attach Websites

5.   Blog (or Weblog) Sites

6.   Brand Building Websites

        7.   Business Websites

8.  Celebrity Websites

9.   Community Building Websites

10.              Content Websites

11.                Database Websites

12.                Dating Websites

13.                Development Websites

14.                Directories Websites

15.                Download Websites

16.                E-commerce (Electronic Commerce) Websites

        17.                Educational Websites

18.                Employment Websites

19.                Environmental Websites

20.                Erotica Websites

21.                File Sharing Websites

22.                Forum Websites

23.                Gaming Website

        24.                Government Websites

        25.                Gripe Websites

26.                Humor Websites

        27.                Information Websites

28.                Intranet Websites

29.                Media Sharing Websites

30.                Mirror site

31.                Mobile Device Websites 

32.                News Websites

33.                Nonprofit Organization Websites

    34.                Personal Websites

35.                Phishing Websites

36.                Photo Sharing Websites

37.                Political Websites

38.                Pornography (porn) Websites

39.                Portal Websites

40.                Rating Websites

        41.                Religious Websites

42.                Review Websites

43.                School Websites

44.                Search Engine Websites

45.                Shock Sites

46.                Social Networking Websites

47.                Spiritual Websites

48.                Yellow Pages Websites

Affiliate Websites

These are sites where you affiliate or partner with.  You post their links to their products and services by recommending them in your website. And when a visitor clicks their links in your website to connect with them and purchases their products you receive a commission as a web owner through which they were reached. They are a lot of affiliate marketing sites that pays commission when you affiliate with them and draw customers to them. Examples are ClickBank, Alibaba, eJunkie, eBay, etc.

Archive Websites

This kind of site is used to preserve valuable electronic content threatened with extinction. Three examples are Internet Archive which since 1996 has preserved billions of old (and new) web pages, Google Groups which in early 2005 was archiving over 845,000,000 messages posted to Usenet news/discussion groups and the Way Back Machine storing entire copies of current and past websites.

Answer Websites

These are sites where people can ask questions & get answers. Some examples: answer.yahoo.com, wiki.answer.com, askpedia.com, howstuffworks.com JustAnswer.com, ask.com, etc.

Attach Websites

These are sites created specifically to attack visitor’s computers on their first visit to a website by downloading sometimes free content, like games and music files. Trojan horse usually accompanies such files. These websites rely on users with no or poor anti-virus protection in their computers.

Blog (or Weblog) Sites

These sites are online diaries which may include discussion or forums. Blogs have evolved over the years to do much more than post your thoughts. Blogs can be created by anyone using free services like Blogger.com (Google) or Windows Live Spaces (Microsoft). You can also install blog software, like the free WordPress or Joombla on your pre-existing website and start putting your thoughts online in a matter of minutes.

Many bloggers use blogs like an editorial section of a newspaper to express their ideas on anything ranging from politics to religion to video games to parenting, along with anything in between. Some bloggers are professional bloggers and they are paid to blog about a certain subject, and they are usually found on news sites. Blogs are so easy to create, manage and you can earn money from online blogging.

Brand Building Websites

These are sites with the purpose of creating an experience of a brand online. These sites usually do not sell anything, but focus on building the brand. Brand building sites are most common for low-value, high-volume fast moving consumer goods (FMCG).

Business Websites

These are websites that are owned by business, companies and corporate bodies. They are used to provide background information about a business, organization and the services they render. They have few pages of information on the business, its services and clients. These sites are more like "online brochures". Some tasks of these sites include:

1.     Providing company information.

2.     Providing company's products information.

3.     Marketing company's products.

4.     Providing help and support to costumers.

5.     Selling company's products online.

Business websites can be divided into:

1.     Small Business

2.     Large Business4

 

Small Business Websites

Small Business websites range from individuals running business to groups of people running small businesses. They have a budget more than personal websites but less then large business websites.

 

Large business Websites

Large business websites belong to large organizations and have more budget than small business websites. In large organizations, generally a section of staff is dedicated for the maintenance and management of these sites.

Celebrity Websites

These are websites whose information revolves around a famous persons, stars, superstars, movie stars, icons, pop idols or personalities. These sites can be official endorsed by the celebrity. Or run by his/her fan, fans, without implicit endorsement.

Community Building Websites

These websites build online communities of people who want to interact with other people socially or meet people who share their interests. The best known websites of this type probably are MySpace, LinkedIn, Faces, DailyStrength, Flickr, Focus, Google+, hi5, Twitter, My Opera, MyLife, MyHeritage, Livemocha, FaceBook and a myriad of similar sites. For sharing and discussing mutual interests, there are online forums for practically any subject you can think of. Photo Sharing, Dating and Blogging sites might also be considered community building sites.

Content Websites

These are sites whose business is the creation and distribution of original content, like media and publishing.

Database Websites

These are sites whose main purpose is to search and display stored data such as the Internet Move Database, the Political Graveyard, JAMB, WEAC, NECO, etc. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information related to films, television programs, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million unique users each month and a solid and rapidly growing mobile presence. IMDb was launched on October 17, 1990, and in 1998 was acquired by Amazon.com. The Political Graveyard is a database of political history and cemeteries, with brief biographical entries for 236181 U.S. political figures, living and dead, from the 1700s to the present.

Dating Websites

These are sites where users can find other single people looking for long range relationships, dating, or just friends.

Development Websites

These are sites where information and resources are provided for subjects related to software development, web design and programming.

Directories Websites

These are sites that contain lists of information organized into categories and subcategories such and Yahoo! directory, Google Directory and Open Project Directory. Classified directories sites like yellow pages, list businesses (both online and offline) segregated into different categories or geographic locations. Directories may also include an internal search engine that helps users quickly locate information.

Download Websites

Strictly used for downloading electronic content like software, games, demos and desktop wallpaper. Example sites are Tucows and ZDNet.

E-commerce (Electronic Commerce) Websites

These are the sites from where you can purchase good or services online such as Amazon, Alibaba, Ebay, Target, etc. There are other millions of small businesses who use their ecommerce websites to sell their products over the Internet.

Educational Websites

Educational sites are sites devoted exclusively in providing latest information on education programmes, university degrees and curriculm of different colleges around the world. There provide opportunity for eLearning. Examples of some  educational sites are: Admission News, eSiksha,  I Know That, Scholastic, Room 108, Britannica, Enchanted Learning, Brainpop, edHelper, Indiaeducation.net, etc.

Employment Websites

These sites allows employers to post job announcements for a position so prospective employees may apply. Examples of some job sites are Monster, HotJobs and CareerBuilder.

Environmental Websites

These are websites that deals with environmental activities and education. Examples of these sites are: ecohearth, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Defense Fund, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace , Rainforest Action Network, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy, SEAC--Student Environmental Action Coalition, etc.

Erotica Websites

These sites show sexual videos and images. Sorry, I am not going to mention any examples of these sites here.

File Sharing Websites

As internet speeds have increased and more and more people are using broadband connections, the importance of file sharing types of web sites has grown. Megaupload.com and RapidShare.com are two prime examples of such kind of websites. You can not only find images, but also music (sometimes even full albums) and video (entire movies). These websites offer both free and paid memberships - the former is usually a cut down version of the latter. However, because of the huge number of files stored on these sites, it is almost impossible to find the file you are looking for unless you know the direct link. Websites like loadingvault.com provide a decent enough search engine that helps you locate files based on your query.

Forum Websites

These are sites where people discuss various topics. Forum web sites serve as platforms and promote interactions amongst the users. Unless specifically blocked and requiring a special invitation, you can join any forum on the web. Forum websites can be a great source of information and help for the small business person. There are forums dedicated to different types of business. Most forums cater to a specific industry or a field. For example, you may find forums on web design and development, banking and finance, etc. Forums on web sites, typically, contain categories that further narrow down the subject. Registered users can post questions or start a topic which other users can reply or add to. A lot of valuable information and knowledge exists in online forums and I urge you to join and actively participate in online discussions with people that share the same interests.

Ready-to-use free software such as phpBB or SMF help you set up a forum web site in a matter of minutes. If you already have a web site, check with the hosting company; they would probably provide such forum software for free which you can install via the control panel. Examples of forums are: webworkshop, webmasterforumsonline sitepoint.com/forums, webproworld, webdevforums, dofollowforum, googlecommunity, internetbasedmoms, geekvillage, warriorforum, forums.vmoptions, blackinternetmarketingforum, webmasterworld, etc.

Gaming Websites

These are sites that let users play online games. Some enable people to gamble online.

Government Websites

These are websites made by the local, state, department or national government of a country. These sites are intended to inform tourists or support tourism and let people know what the government is doing. 

Gripe Websites

These are sites devoted to the criticism of a person, place, corporation, government or Institution. PowerMarkHomesSucks.com. This gripe site is critical of Ohio home builders Mark and Lisa Powers and Power-mark Homes. There are a lot of other gripe sites out there in the Internet.

Humor Websites

The sole purpose of these sites are too amuse and entertain. Example sites are Stuff White People Like and Bored.com.

Information Websites

These are the types of websites dedicated for purpose of providing information to visitors, whether for commercial purposes or for free. Information web site can also contain TV guides, reference material, sports data (like cricket scores), weather and stock data. A major informational site is wikipedia.org, the online encyclopedia and the ezinearticles. These sites are unique, because they allow visitors to contribute and edit articles. If you have information to share of sell, an informational website would fill the bill. Most government, educational and no-profit institutions have an informational site.

Intranet Websites

A site created for a group of employees that work for a specific company. Intranets are only viewable by employees currently working there and typically store information on internal projects and corporate happenings.

Media Sharing Websites

These are sites that enable users to upload and view media such as pictures, music, and videos into the Internet. Examples are Flickr, YouTube, SlideShare, etc.

Mirror Sites

A complete reproduction of a website. A website that is the replication of another website. This type of websites are used as a response to spikes in user visitors. Mirror sites are most commonly used to provide multiple sources of the same information, and are of particular value as a way of providing reliable access to large downloads.

Mobile Device Websites 

The use of mobile devices (cellphones, PDAs, iPods, iPhones, etc) is becoming much more widespread and prevalent. One problem is that standard websites are difficult to view and take a long time to download on some of these devices with their small screens and wireless connections. Websites whose pages are narrower in width and take up less bandwidth work much better for mobile devices. Mobile device websites help you create websites that are "mobile friendly".

Examples are www.xislegraphix.mobi and www.bmobilized.com. These sites enable you to design Small Business website and Host them. With the responsive design technology currently it place, website designers and developers make website that can resize itself to fit into any device. 

News Websites

These sites are similar to an information site, but dedicated to dispensing news, politics and commentary. Sites such as CNN, Channels TV, AIT, BBC World, Aljazeera and Euro New are some of them.

Nonprofit Organization Websites

These are websites belonging to nonprofit organizations that are out for educational charitable reasons. A nonprofit organization (NPO) is an organization where the shareholders or trustees do not benefit financially. Any money earned must be retained by the organization, and used for its own expenses, operations, and programs. There are a lot of these websites in the Internet. An example is www.globalfundforchildren.org.

Personal Websites

Personal websites are sites that contain any kind of information and are usually administered by a single individual who can choose whatever to put online. The theme and content of these websites is based mostly around personal information.

These websites can include the following:

1.     Sites that give information about the individual, like what he/she does or something about their family etc.

2.     Hobby sites.

3.     Resume sites.

Websites that are built by an artist to show others his/her work or a student showing others the projects he/she is working on are personal website. The astronomical number of personal websites one finds on the web is mind-  blowing! Personal web sites and blogs would probably be the fastest growing types of website in the Internet.

Phishing Websites

These are websites created to scam people and acquire sensitive information, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business (such as Social Security Administration, PayPal) in an electronic communication.

Photo Sharing Websites

These are websites that offer free photo sharing paid for by their online advertising. Also, many digital cameras and photo printers now come with software enabling users to create digital photo slide shows and upload them to the web. These types of website are cropping up like fleas on dog. There are web companies like, Flickr.com, Photosite.com, and Google's Picasa, etc.

Political Websites

These are sites on which people may voice political views, show political humor, campaigning for elections, or show information about a certain political party or ideology. Site such as Huffington Post and Politico, are examples.

Pornography (porn) Websites

These are sites that show sexually explicit content for enjoyment and relaxation. They show pornographic images and videos. They can be similar to a personal website when it's a website of a porn actor/actress or a media sharing website where user can upload from their own sexually explicit material to movies made by adult studios.

Portal Websites

These are sites that provides a broader platform for the company to promote their different services. A site that provides a starting point or a gateway to other resources on the Internet or an Intranet.

Rating Websites

These are sites on which people can praise or disparage a product, place or service on websites.

Religious Websites

These are sites  in which people may advertise a place of worship, or to give out inspiration or faith of a follower to such religion.

Review Websites

These are sites on which people can post reviews for products or services.

School Websites

These are sites on which teachers, students, or administrators can post information about current events at or involving their school.

Search Engine Websites

These are some of the most popular types of websites in the world. They are websites that indexes material on the Internet or an Intranet (and lately on traditional media such as books and newspapers) and provides links to information as a response to a query or search. Popular among the search engines are: Google, Yahoo!, ASK, Bing and MSN.

Shock Sites

These are sites that include images or other material that is intended to be offensive to most viewers.

Social Networking Websites

These are websites which helping you locate schoolmates and past colleagues to blogging, these web sites have a whole array of utilities and features with more being "invented" and added each day.  Examples Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn, Twitter and many more have been added some couple of years. Dating web sites have grown over the years and now offer services quite similar to those of social networking (the idea is basically the same) hence they are a good fit in this category.

Spiritual Websites

Spiritual sites are sites that publish and discuses issues pertaining to sacred part of human life.  

Yellow Pages Websites

These are sites that list businesses (both online and offline) segregated into different categories or geographic locations. These may also include an internal search engine that helps users quickly locate information.