How to Create a Website

Getting Started

1. Determine if you have any webspace.
   • If you have an e-mail address you're bound to have some webspace.
   • Ex. My e-mail address is hdp2@duke.edu, thus my webspace from my college e-mail account is /~hdp2 appended to the college website, which is http://www.duke.edu.


2. Download a file transer protocol, or FTP, software package.
   • This will allow you to upload each webpage of your website to the server so that everyone can view them over the World Wide Web.
   • I used to use SmartFTP, which I downloaded for free from the appropriate website. I now use a file transfer program that is part of the information technology infrastructure that Duke University provides its students. It does not require me to download anything, and it is much easier to use than the SmartFTP program. Assess your own situation and the resources available to you and obtain such a file transfer program or service.


3. Open your FTP program and log in using your username and password.
   • Your username is probably the first portion of your e-mail address.
   • Your password is probably the password that you use to access your e-mail account.


4. Select your folder and upload files to your webspace.
   • Your folder should be in some sort of list of folders and subfolders that is being displayed by your program. Just click until you find the right folder. The one you're looking for probably has the same name as your username. This folder should then contain a subfolder named "public_html". This is the folder to which you need to upload your files in order for other people to access them from all over the place without needing to know your password.
   • Select the appropriate folder and upload the files in question to the server using whatever commands your particular program provides.
   • *Important* Whatever file you wish to use as your homepage must be renamed "index.html" so that the computer knows which page to display as a starting point for someone visiting your website.

Creating Files for Upload

There are several types of files that you can upload using your FTP program for use on your website. The most basic of these is a webpage, which is a document full of nothing but text that you write in Notepad (or any other similar unformatted text program - that is, not Microsoft Word or similar programs). By saving it with the suffix ".html" the computer knows to treat it as a web document.

There are several essential components of a webpage that must be present in order for it to function properly. The easiest way for you to learn what these are, as well as what the various tags are and how to use each of them properly, is to select View from the top of this webpage, or any of those on my website, and click on Page Source. This will let you see exactly what I have written in order to produce everything that you see on the page itself.

Everything on my website is really incredibly basic in terms of what is capable of being done on a website. I like it that way: I am a simple man. But please, feel free to research how to do more complicated things with webpages using the internet. Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, for example, can be made that allow you to dictate the style of your webpage in detail. I have never bothered to figure out how to use them, which is why my website is so plain. The most important thing for you to realize at first is that ".html" documents are not the only things that can be uploaded using your FTP program. If you want to put images on your website, for example, you can upload them. They can then be referenced from within the source of a webpage using an image tag. Creating links to other webpages can also be done with anchor tags. Further possibilities are left open for you to discover. Have fun.