WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
In this lesson we cover the basics
of building and publishing doorway pages.
THE OUTLINE
Recall the outline given in Lesson #8 for Building and Publishing:
Building Your Doorway Page
- Browser compatibility issues
- Resolution compatibility issues
- Loading speed
- Language, grammar, and spelling
- Graphics refinement
- Navigation issues
- Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
- Space requirements
- Code writing
- Resolution compatibility issues
- Loading speed
- Language, grammar, and spelling
- Graphics refinement
- Navigation issues
- Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
- Space requirements
- Code writing
Publishing Your Doorway Page
- Choosing an ISP
- Contract issues
- Uploading your site
- Registering your site
- Maintaining your site
- Contract issues
- Uploading your site
- Registering your site
- Maintaining your site
BUILDING
YOUR DOORWAY PAGE
BROWSER AND MONITOR RESOLUTION COMPATIBILITY ISSUES
Everyone sees the Internet from the
perspective of their own computer. Most people have only one browser installed
and running on his or her computer . As browsers differ somewhat in the way
that they interpret and display the code they read from retrieved Web pages, we
see Web pages somewhat differently than other users with different types or
versions of browsers. Also, people use different resolutions on their monitors
or have their monitors adjusted differently. This doesn't have much
significance until you start the process of designing your own Web page. What
you see when you look at your own Web page may not be exactly what others else
see when they look at it.
Although Internet Explorer and
Netscape are by far the most common browsers, they behave differently from each
other and each has had several different versions to date, with each version
behaving somewhat differently from previous and subsequent versions. When you
add in the different monitor resolution settings, there are quite a number of possibilities
as to how a Web page will look from computer to computer. Just because your
Website looks good on your computer does not prevent it from being a jumbled
mess on someone else's screen. For example, if you design your site to fill
your screen using 1024x768 resolution, only a portion of your page will be seen
on a monitor using 640x480 resolution.
Sophisticated Web designers deal
with this problem with Java or other code that reads the browser version of
each computer before it is displayed. The code that is sent to the browser then
depends on which browser is reading the page. An appropriate page of code will
be sent to each browser version. Such designs are expensive, however, and are
not feasible for the novice Webmaster to code for themselves. Another approach
is to use basic, standard HTML code, which is compatible with all browsers, and
build the page so that it looks good on a variety of different platforms. With
a little time and research, this is within the reach of the novice Web designer.
It is better to build a simple page anyway. Simple can be quite attractive.
LOADING SPEED
Another reason to keep your page
simple is the loading speed. Research suggests that the amount of time viewers
will wait for a page to load depends on how valuable they expect the page to
be. However, if they are not already convinced the page will contain value for
them, they will not wait very long. Thus, a doorway page has to load very fast.
The simpler the code and the fewer graphics and script it contains, the faster
it will load.
When you use graphic designs and
photos on your main page, keep them small. You may give your viewer the option
of waiting to see a larger version of the photo by clicking on it if you think
it will be important to them. Do not make them wait for the large photo to load
on the main page. These smaller pics which click through to larger versions of
themselves are called "thumbnails." Using thumbnails helps to keep
your main page fast loading.
Also, keep the number of graphics
and photos as small as possible on your doorway page. I once knew a would-be
Web designer who designed a beautiful page for a local agency. The page was
truly beautiful, but had one small problem—it took 25 minutes to load through
the average modem. Finding the right balance between using graphics and fast
loading speed is the key to an effective page.
LANGUAGE, GRAMMAR, AND SPELLING
How many of you noticed in the
outline listed in the last lesson that the word "grammar" was
misspelled? For those of you who noticed that, how did it affect your reading
of the last lesson? How did it affect your feelings about the competency of
this course in general (before reading here that we did that on purpose)? It
made a difference, didn't it? While not everyone notices small errors, it makes
a difference to those who do notice them.
It goes without saying that you
should take care that the written content of your page does not contain glaring
errors in language, grammar, or spelling. While electronic communications such
as chat rooms, e-mail, and, to some extent, even Web pages are more tolerant of
such errors than the print media audience, it will make your page much more
effective if you take care to draft your wording wisely and effectively and use
proper grammar and spelling.
GRAPHICS REFINEMENT
It is not advisable to grab the free
clipart from popular clipart pages to build your Website. That same clipart is
probably already in use on thousands of other pages precisely because it is
free and readily available. In addition, clipart is not really what you want on
your page. You need graphics which provide identity and flow. Clipart tends to
be cute rather than professional. The novelty has worn off for the popular
clipart. It would be better, in my opinion, to have fewer graphics on your page
than to use clipart. Small buttons and arrows are ok, but use the subtle ones.
Flashy animation can detract from the flow of your page.
It takes both art and science to
develop professional-looking graphics. Knowing the right resolution to maintain
quality appearance within acceptable loading speeds is crucial. Reducing an
image or a scanned or digital photograph to the desired size and resolution
without distortion can be a tedious task. You need to have good graphics
software and some knowledge of how to use it. In sizing your images, remember
again that different people use different resolutions on their monitors. The
relative size of the image on a screen will depend on the resolution of the
monitor on which it is viewed. The standard graphics file formats across all
browsers are .GIF and .JPG. Thus, you want to put your graphics in one of these
formats. You need to put the size of your image in the HTML image code to speed
loading. Otherwise, the browser has to determine the size of the image first in
order to allocate the space for the image on the screen, slightly reducing
loading speed.
Also refine your graphics for visual
effect. If you have sophisticated graphics software, you can slightly adjust
your images to pull the eye in the direction you desire to promote the flow of
your page.
NAVIGATION ISSUES
If you have more than one page on
your doorway site, the method you provide for visitors to move around your site
is of utmost importance. Each site with more than a couple of pages needs a
well thought out navigation scheme. Navigation of the site is accomplished, of
course, by the insertion of hyperlinks that move the visitors to other pages on
the site. A doorway page should not have too many links because it has a
directional purpose. Links that are used should be clearly identified and
should lead the viewer logically through the information on the site. Links can
also give your visitors a choice of the content on your site. A navigation bar
across the top or side of your page should be sufficient for a doorway page.
Some links within the content itself may be appropriate, but do not overburden
your visitors with choices. Links, like footnotes, can be distracting from the
flow of your content.
Be sure to include return links to
bring your visitors back into the directional flow. You don't want your
visitors to wind up at a dead end somewhere because they clicked on a
hyperlink. A navigation bar on every page can be a safeguard against this. By
"navigation bar" we mean a set of links placed together with some
symmetry of design. When you create a navigation bar, you can then just copy
the code and paste it on your other pages.
PRIVACY POLICY AND TERMS OF USE
Including a Privacy Policy for your
site will give your site a professional feel and provide a comfort level to
your visitors. Your Privacy Policy is simply your statement of what information
you intend to collect from your visitors and what you intend to do with that
information.
There are two ways to collect
information from the visitors to your site. One is to have the visitor fill in
information on a Web form. The other way is to collect information by capturing
the CGI variables that accompany the request to retrieve your page. This
less-obvious method is cause for more feelings of insecurity for your visitors.
When surfing the Web, a browser sends out a signal to the Web server hosting
the desired page. That signal says, in effect, "Here's my IP number, send
me your page." The page is then sent to the computer so that the browser
can read the code and display the page on the screen. The signal sent to the
Web server also contains some other information, such as the user ID, the type
and version of the browser being used, and other information.
Thus, even if you do not collect
personal information with a form, it is a good idea to include a Privacy Policy
stating your intentions as a Web host with respect to the personal information
you could be collecting from the CGI variables accompaning the requests for
your page. If you do collect information with a form, it is even more important
to have a clearly stated Privacy Policy on your site.
"Terms of Use" is
different from the Privacy Policy. Terms of Use is where you make legal
declarations which may protect you against liability if someone misuses the
information on your page or injures themselves somehow while trying to use
information you have provided. If you have a discussion board or other means
for your visitors to post information to your site, your Terms of Use can set
the rules for participation. Terms of Use can also be used to claim
intellectual property rights in the information on your site, including the
information posted there by others. Discussion of all possible legal issues
that may need to be addressed and how they should be addressed in your Terms of
Use is beyond the scope of this course. Competent legal advice should be sought
if you feel you might have any liability issues with respect to your site.
SPACE REQUIREMENTS
Finally, you should approximate the
size of your site in terms of bytes of disk space needed, including all images
and graphics you will be using. Take into account future updates. Make sure
that the size of your site matches the server space available from your host.
WRITING THE CODE
Coding a Web page can be very simple
or very complicated, depending on what you try to do and how you try to do it.
It is beyond the scope of this course to teach you HTML, and it would be
reinventing the wheel if we attempted to do so. There are countless tutorials
for HTML on the Web itself. Just go to any search engine and search for
"HTML help" or "HTML Tutorial" and you will get a wealth of
information. If you learn better with a book in hand, I would recommend Creative HTML Design.2: A Hands-on HTML 4.0 Web
Design Tutorial with Cdrom available
from Barnes and Nobles. Barnes and Nobles also offers a free online course in
Web design under "Online Courses." Excellent online courses can also
be found at http://phonl.com/training/.
If learning HTML gives you a
headache, but you don't want to hire a design firm, you have two other
alternatives. You can install an HTML editor on your computer and use it to
build your code. Free editors are even available at such sites as download.com.
However, some HTML editors take more time to learn than HTML code itself, so be
careful in your choice. Your other option would be to use a site like http://www.bigstep.com. Bigstep allows you to build and host a Website using their
forms system, which is easy to use and does not require any knowledge of HTML.
PUBLISHING
A DOORWAY PAGE
CHOOSING AN ISP
Web pages reside on Internet
Servers. While it is possible to host a page from your own computer, you would
need to have Internet Server software installed and configured, and you would
need a continuous high speed connection to the Internet. In addition, you would
also need a permanently assigned IP number, which is used to find your page. If
it changes each time you connect, your page will be lost to the Internet.
Thus, you need to find a hosting
service for your Web page. You want one that has a lot of bandwidth so that
your site will be served up fast, even at busy times. You will want one that
has good support. If you have problems getting your page on their server, you
want to get someone on the telephone to work out the problem. You also want one
that's going to stay in business. At the time of this writing, a popular free
Web hosting service just went belly up and left a lot of affiliates without a
site (many did not even have a backup copy of their HTML code)! Websites went
offline and the phones were disconnected with little advance warning. Thus,
while free is nice, you may prefer to pay a reasonable fee for hosting of your
site to ensure that you get good support and that your site will not just
disappear.
CONTRACT ISSUES
You should consult an attorney
before entering into any important contract. It is beyond the scope of this
course to identify all issues that may be important in your hosting contract.
Some issues that are usually important, however, are the following.
How much disk space and bandwidth
are you allotted for the base fee? What are the charges for exceeding the
diskspace or bandwidth limitation. (Bandwidth is used each time someone
retrieves your page—approximately the same amount as the size of your page in
diskspace.) What notice will you be given when the base allocation is exceeded?
What is the term of the contract?
That is, how long are you committed for? Can the price be increased during that
time?
Who pays for the domain name
registration with the registration service—you or your host? For how many years
will the name be registered? Who is responsible for renewing it?
Make sure you maintain ownership of
your domain name if you are registering one. I knew an unscrupulous ISP that
registered all of its Web customers' domain names as its own. When anyone tried
to change services, they were told they did not own their domain names.
Make sure you maintain the intellectual
property rights for your own site, even if the ISP is hired to design it.
What editors do they support? What
CGI support do they have? Do they provide database integration? If so, for what
platforms?
Find out what the updating charges
will be, if any. What access do you have to update your site on your own?
What backup procedures does the ISP
use and are copies available to you?
Do you get e-mail addresses with
your domain? How many?
What will the ISP do to promote your
site, if anything?
What exactly will happen if you fail
to pay on time? Will an embarrassing notice be posted in place of your site?
Again, these are just a sampling of
the things that may need to be spelled out in a written contract with your
hosting service. You should consult an attorney regarding any other issues that
may be important in your particular situation.
UPLOADING AND MAINTAINING YOUR SITE
Another thing to discuss with your
hosting service is how you will get your site on their server. Some hosts
support FrontPage, which is an editor that has a unique way of uploading the
Website. If you build your site with FrontPage, you will need FrontPage support
on the server, not only to upload it, but for it to work at all on the host's
server. Otherwise, the most common method is FTP (File Transfer Protocol). You
will need FTP software on your computer. I would recommend WS_FTP LE which can
be downloaded with a free trial from download.com. You will need to find out
the FTP address to your Web directory from your host and the username and
password to access it.
Some hosts allow you to send in your
page and its updates as e-mail attachments or through an uploading form on
their Website.
REGISTERING YOUR SITE
"Registering Your Site"
can mean two different things. If you want your own domain name, it must be
registered with ICANN through one of the registration services, such as Network
Solutions. The registration service must also be supplied with the proper DNS
numbers for the primary and secondary DNS servers for your host. If you
registered your domain name before you acquired your hosting service, you will
need to make sure that your host's DNS numbers get listed in your registration
profile with the registration service.
The term "registering your
site" is often used to refer to registration with search engines. There is
no one definitive place to register your site. There are countless search
engines on the Internet now. Fifteen or so of them are generally considered to
be the important ones because they get 90% of the traffic. Registering your
site with the search engines can be a complicated process, which we will begin
to discuss in the next lesson.
CONCLUSION
Doorway pages can be very useful in
promoting affiliate programs. They allow you to target specific audiences and
lead them to your target link. Doorway pages allow you to optimize search
engine acceptance and placement. Building and publishing your own doorway page
can be an exciting and interesting adventure.
WHAT'S COMING NEXT
Our next lesson will introduce you
to search engines.
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