How to build a website: Tools and Advice
The Geographer online has now existed for a few years and when I look back at how it started I am constantly reminded about how BAD I was at making a website. What you see today is by no means a perfect product but it has in many ways exceeded my initial expectations. This is the story of the site and what I have used so far to get it up and running.
Step 1: Website Builder & Host
:Other than the obvious - What should I make my website about? - your next most pressing question is:
"How should I get my website on the internet?"
In my experience this depends on how much you already know about website design and building. If you are anything like me and you are just starting out, then this advice might save you a lot of hassle.
These are the two main things you need to consider:
"How should I get my website on the internet?"
In my experience this depends on how much you already know about website design and building. If you are anything like me and you are just starting out, then this advice might save you a lot of hassle.
These are the two main things you need to consider:
- If you are serious about building a site DO NOT just take any free or trial version. These are often very restricted and you will not get the full support or have all the options available to you. It will be frustrating and will generally not look as good! Most worth while things cost a little money and therefore at the very least purchase the introduction plan.
- Decide on the type of site you will build. Do you want simplicity or do you want a very unique and personal design based website?
A WORD OF WARNING
After you have made your choice you can not transfer from one platform to the other!
After you have thought about this carefully here are the three options you should be considering:
(You can't really go wrong with any of them)
After you have made your choice you can not transfer from one platform to the other!
After you have thought about this carefully here are the three options you should be considering:
(You can't really go wrong with any of them)
This site is ideal if you want something simple, easy to maintain and you are not overly worried about having many graphical design options. It is very easy to use and reasonably priced. A great choice for beginners or for people who want a largely text (content) based website.Graphics are simple but effective. NO coding knowledge required and excellent plugins.
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The in-between choice. Some great designs and excellent themes. You can build graphically appealing websites with a very nice functional drag and drop system. You can also change themes at any point during the build. The ability to change themes though comes at the cost of a modular design that does not allow full creativity or positioning of website features. Great for a mix of text and graphical products. It is currently getting much better with many new plug in apps becoming available.
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The design choice. Completely personal design and placement of content. Hundreds of different options and choices to make a beautiful website but due to the choices available this adds a layer of complexity to the build. There is a steeper learning curve. It is totally worth it though if you want a very graphic based site.
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What tools - 'Hardware' I recommend.
What 'hardware' you are going to use to build your website is in my opinion very important. It takes a really long time and you need to therefore have the tools to work comfortably for long periods of time. Cost is also a factor, or more specifically in my mind 'cost effectiveness' is very important. I want to use devices that allow me to work efficiently but are also flexible.
Here is my set up for content making and the reasons behind it.
Laptop
I prefer using a laptop as it is much more mobile and I can edit content on the move. Size is a drawback but if you supplement it with a monitor, full size keyboard, external mouse and some other peripherals you can actually have a far more flexible platform which will allow you to do everything with the exception of editing 4k videos (1080 HD work fine though).
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I actually love my Surface Pro. As a teacher it is extremely flexible, powerful and allows me to make web content easily, with the added bonus of the digitizer stylus. I also use this to make my YouTube Videos and to hand annotate diagram for my students, to digitally mark assignments and also to carry with me when I travel to conferences. I loved this so much that I upgraded to the Surface Book, which although is a nice treat but not necessary if you are just starting out.
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Monitor
The Surface Pro 4 is very excellent but I feel that I want to set up my desk with other peripherals to compliment it. This Dell monitor is my favourite, as it hits the perfect aspect ratio and also picture clarity to work using more than one window.
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Other items
Your microphone is extremely important if you want to make good YouTube content. In the end I compromised between a good sounding microphone and also an affordable one. Literally you can pay thousands of $ on a microphone. A big comfortable mechanical keyboard is a bonus as is a good mouse. If you use the tracker pad you are likely to injure yourself simply because of the amount of items you have to carefully place! By the way, the mouse and keyboard maybe betray my gaming hobby! There is no reasons why you cant use your devices in another way.
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