Websites are created as individual web pages bundled together in various ways within the host environment. These web pages outputs as HTML documents via the web browsers. The system might not be written in HTML alone. With the introduction of dynamic web page creation,comes PHP, JavaScript and others.
A basic website can be written with simple html in the format as represented below;
Creating a Home page for xyz.com can look similar to this format in reality:
<description> This is the Home page for xyz.com. Welcome! </description>
You can repeat the same format while making the other web pages for your website. Some of these generic pages are "About us page", "Contact us page", "Products Page", "Services page"...
Using this technique in creating your website is great, but not the best solution. This is what we call the static web page generation and you will have to do this process of repeated function for every time you want to add a new page to your website. As a beginner, you will not even want to imagine what will happen if you have to generate over 100 pages for a website. It is cumbersome and monotonous.
This used to be the only way to create web sites in the past but today we will not be using this method at all, but do remember these tags that were highlighted above. they will come handy when it is due.
Create Website Dynamically
For us to understand dynamic web page creation, we need to separate the tags and expose what they do in every web page. Lets begin with the top most:
This is a post content within the blog
While this happens basically for every content of your website, it allows your content to be called directly from the database once requested by the user. I will not recommend a beginner to try doing this on their own cause it is a tedious job that will consume a lot of your time. There are easier ways to creating a website with these basic tools already in place. We mentioned CMS earlier and that is the route i recommend you to follow. There are lots of CMS out there for free on the internet and many offer specific functionalities for users experience but in all WordPress still remains the most dynamic CMS in this era. It comes with easy to manage interface, simple understandable functionalities and can be uploaded to your host space at a reasonable speed.
Suppose you have five web pages to create in your website, you will have to follow this format for all individual page. Your <head> tag holds the information that differentiates each page for the browser while your <body> tag contains the actual content you want listed on the page.<html>
<head> Here goes all the needed scripts and web page information </head>
<body>
Here goes the main content for the visitors on your website
</body>
</html>
Creating a Home page for xyz.com can look similar to this format in reality:
<title> Home page - xyz.com </title>
<html>
<head>
<description> This is the Home page for xyz.com. Welcome! </description>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Home Page</h1>
<p>Welcome to our Home Page. We offer the best solution in the world for all your needs.</p>
This is fun while writting and uploading to your web host location. Your Home page can be named as "index.html", "default.html" or "home.html". The browsers searches for these pages in your web host location to present them as your home page automatically.<footer>Copyright 2016 - xyz.com</footer>
</body>
</html>
You can repeat the same format while making the other web pages for your website. Some of these generic pages are "About us page", "Contact us page", "Products Page", "Services page"...
Using this technique in creating your website is great, but not the best solution. This is what we call the static web page generation and you will have to do this process of repeated function for every time you want to add a new page to your website. As a beginner, you will not even want to imagine what will happen if you have to generate over 100 pages for a website. It is cumbersome and monotonous.
This used to be the only way to create web sites in the past but today we will not be using this method at all, but do remember these tags that were highlighted above. they will come handy when it is due.
Create Website Dynamically
For us to understand dynamic web page creation, we need to separate the tags and expose what they do in every web page. Lets begin with the top most:
- HTML TAGS: The html begins every website you have ever seen on your browser. It still remains the only language the browsers displays your website pages in. Even with the availability of HTML 5, it gets better cause browsers understands it has much more functionality than its predecessors.
- HEAD TAGS: This is within the html tag. It holds basic information of your web page identity in relation to your website as a whole. It contains links to your CSS pages, JavaScript pages and tells the browser how the webpage must be presented to the visitors.
This is also where your search engine bot harnesses information to be displayed when searched, which include the favicon, page title, description, images, ad many more.
- BODY TAGS:The body tags comes after the head tag, while still within the html tag. Here the information provided bu the head tags are used in the content to present a better looking web page. The body used commands like Class and Id to call on the linked CSS pages and JavaScript for a more robust visitors experience.
- HEADER TAGS:This tag is found most times within the body tag. It exist to hold basically the top part you see on the website before the menu navigation system. It holds the Logo, search form if available, and many cases the social icons. These are different in other websites. The Navigation system can most times be found here while others choose to create a separate tag for this called the nav tag.
This is a choice you can make independent of what your user experience fancy more.
- FOOTER TAGS: The footer tag like the header tag is also found within the body tag. It holds basically the copyright information, and other needed navigation system to terms of service, privacy policy and others. It can now be modify to hold much more than these basic information.
Why do i need to know these terms?
The idea of dynamic web page generation starts with these basic understanding and many platforms existing today has utilized this idea in creating what we know generally as content management systems (CMS). Same tags still exist in every web pages but values are stored in databases and called upon requesting any page of choice. So if you call on the Home page, the title value comes from the database telling the browser what the page is called. These are shown at the top of the browser close to the Favicon value. This is a home page to our blogHow you should Create Website
- Register a Domain Name: Domain name registration can be done from a lot of existing web hosting companies and it has become well priced to serve anyone the need required. Your website domain name reveals your fist intent to your online visitors. If you intend to sell groundnuts online, you can get a domain name that says "buyyourgroundnutshere.com" or "Cheapavailablegroundnuts.com" or more. Yes you could just say "groundnuts.com" but i will assume that such domain has been acquired already and no two website has the same domain name.
- Register for a web space: When you get your domain, you should also seek a web space from any of the available web hosting companies. In many cases, most domain registrars also offer hosting spaces which can be convenient cause it is configured to link to that space automatically, otherwise, you will need a more vast technical person to help link your domain name with your chosen web host company.
- Upload your CMS: If you chose a very unique web host companies, they might offer Cpanel web hosting platform or other which are now using instant script uploads via services like Softalicious and fantastico. Your CMS will be uploaded almost instantly and you can begin the next phase of actually getting your website readable in regards to your intent for your online visitors.
- Choose a Theme of Choice: If you do not like the present theme in your CMS, you can just choose another from the available free themes. These theme gives your website a unique look and feel when visitors comes and if your theme is not too great, they could instantly leave without even a glimpse on your important content. Choose wisely.
- Upload your Contents: Most of your contents are categorized as post or pages. Your pages are what you define in your menu for easy navigation, while the post can be found under your archive.
Needed Steps to drive traffic to your website
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Social Media Integration (SMI)
- Newsletter Subscription (NS)
- Page Load Optimization
- Image Rendering Speed
- Spam checks and error management
- Web Host Ip address Check against Blacklist database
- Readability Checks
- GZIP Compression factor