feedback please, first website FAQ

hey up, I have the task of produing a 1 page document, a guide for people that want a website but don't have a clue where to get started. It is NOT supposed to be a guide on how to actually put together a website, just a guide to how the whole hosting thing works etc.

this is the first edit, it's not been spell checked or anything, im more interested in whether it makes sense and if anyone can think of anything really important i've missed out.

thanks

you want to have your own website but the whole domain/hosting concept is confusing you.... try this on for size -

a domain is like a plaque containing a housename, you put it on the front of your house (your website) to help people find you. However before you can build your house you need some land (hosting/webspace) to put it on.

Hosting

Unless you are rich you can only rent webspace. if you type in 'cheap host' into google you will find millions of companies offering webspace, you just need to find the one you feel most comfortable with. you will see space advertised with 'disk space/ webspace', 'bandwidth', and features such as 'php/ mysql/ cpanel etc'.
- disk space/webspace is the size of space you are renting, unlike land which is measured in hectares or metres web space is measured in Mb and Gb (1 Gb = 1000 Mb approx). A website that just has a few pages of text and some pictures will only take up 5-20Mb tops, if you want sound, video, interactive elements then you will need considerably more.
-bandwidth is how much people are allowed to use/view your website. it is measured in Gb. if you have a small site then you do not need to worry about bandwidth as even the smallest hosting packages give one hell of a lot of it. If you are sharing large video or audio files or are planning a site with perhaps a forums with 100s of regular posters each day then bandwidth can become more of an issue. However hopefully for your first website you wont have to worry about such things
- extras include email, databases, templates, interactive features and much more. the only thing you have to worry about is what features you want, as in decide before you start looking for a host. do you want email? do you want forums? do you want a shopping cart? if you are unsure whether a given host can do something then dont be afraid to ask, its a buyers market, hosts should be most helpful in the hope of gaining extra custom.

Once you have your webspace you will need to point your domain name at it. whoever sold you the domain name should have an area on the site that allows you to do this. if not check their site for a 'FAQ', 99 times out of 100 they will provide the information in one form or another. if they dont then ask.


Building your site

So you have hosting on which to put your site. The important thing to remember when building your site is unlike building a house you build a website on your computer first then copy it onto the webspace. To build a website you need tools on your computer. popular software for bulding websites are frontpage, dreamweaver, golive all of which work like feature heavy word processors/DTP tools such as MS Word, Publisher, In design. Using one of these programs means you do not need to know how to write code (html/php/asp/xhtml/css etc - the languages that actually make up webpages). Alternatively you can build a website using a simple text editor such as notepad, but you will have to learn 'html' at the very least to achieve this. (check out google for millions of tutorials)

when you have made your site on your computer then you need to copy it onto the webspace. Hopefully your hosts will have given you instructions on how to do this as the process can differ from host to host, but normally you will be given a username, password and a server address. The most common method for coping accross (known as uploading) your website to the webspace is called ftp. the program you made your website in may have this ability, otherwise there are many ftp programs available on the net such as coreftp which will do the job nicely.


useful tips -
-if you are unsure which host to go for then try emailing them explaining what you want with your site. If they don't reply or do reply but aren't polite/helpful/agreeable then its probably best you continue looking.
-if you do not have hosting or a domain yet then it is often easiest to find a host that will sell you/give you the domain name as well. if you do choose this path then make sure you check the terms and conditions to make sure it is actually you who will own the domain not them.
-google is your friend. really, if you get stuck at any stage of the way have a go with google to find the answers, keep your searches simple, eg 'ftp' if you are having problems with that and so forth
-pictures have to be uploaded seperately to the web pages. it is not like a word document where once you have put in a picture it is part of the document, with web pagesyou are only ever pointing at the location of pictures.
-Don't be afraid to ask quesions, either to your host or on the various help forums on the internet (go to google, type 'making websites help forum' or something similar) you only learn by doing and asking questions, some people may prove stuck up if they think they know a lot more than you about a subject but there should always be a few people about who understand what it is like starting out and will be happy to help as long as you are willing to put in the effort to learn.