PledgeForMoms.org » Tutorials http://www.pledgeformoms.org Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:44:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 How to Start a Website For a Cause – Part I http://www.pledgeformoms.org/2009/07/28/how-to-start-a-website-part1/ http://www.pledgeformoms.org/2009/07/28/how-to-start-a-website-part1/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:54:53 +0000 Mariya Nikiforova http://www.pledgeformoms.org/?p=815 success2 - headerYes! You too can have this face of pure accomplishment. Aren’t you glad that you didn’t give up after reading the intro? Starting a website can be a wonderful experience of self-discovery and personal growth, but as I learned very early on, you have to venture out of your comfort zone to really get what you want (and if you don’t at some point go red in the face and try to throw your computer out the window, you’re not really learning). Don’t get discouraged! This is why I’m putting all of the information you need to get started in one place – so, let’s begin with some common vocabulary and requirements:

Web Hosting and Domain Name

A web host is a server where your website’s directories, files, graphics, etc. reside. Think of it as a safe where you keep all of the pieces that comprise your vision – your .html, .php, .css, and .jpg/.gif/.png files. It’s typical for web hosting firms to provide you domain registration services, and I recommend that you conduct all of your business with one company (it just helps you keep track of billing and additional sites in the future; keeping everything with one firm will allow you to remain in control of your accounts’ administration or any critical changes that may occur over time). Should you go with paid or free hosting? This depends largely on how media-rich you plan to make the site. Are you going to be including a lot of high-resolution images, videos, music? I strongly suggest you consider using DreamHost (which offers unlimited storage, and unlimited bandwidth – both critical in content-heavy sites that can be constrained by the limits of free hosting). However, if you’re just planning a simple blog, events itinerary, or donation/info page, then you can’t go wrong with free hosting. The most popular free hosting services among bloggers are: Yahoo! GeoCities, Netfirms, Bravenet , Blogger, LiveJournal, Wordpress .

A domain name is the identity of your site, typically beginning with www, and ending with .com, .net, .org, etc. If you believe that your site’s name is sensitive to infringement (or ‘stealing’), you have the option of purchasing additional relevant extensions so that other people do not invade your brand (intentionally or otherwise). So, if you’re buying a .com, be prepared to buy the .net and the .org if necessary (and if you can spare the extra $9.99/year each). You are welcome to try “free domain registration,” but this comes with a ton of loopholes (you can even lose your domain all-together, you’re basically at the mercy of the registration firm) that you can easily avoid by shelling out the $10 for a “paid domain.”

The best way to pick the actual name is up to you but you should ask yourself the following questions:

  • Do I want the name to contain common words associated with the cause? (i.e. GreenPlanetRecycling.org is a good name for a cause that focuses on “green living” and “recycling”; MariyasCauseSite.org is not a very good name because it’s too obscure and may miss out on a good chunk of a potentially interested crowd)
  • Do I want users to associate my cause with a specific symbol, logo or idea? (i.e. SaveGreenRecyclingPlanetAwesomeTrees.org is not the greatest approach for naming website, and you will find that many times organizations use a symbol, logo, or idea to communicate their vision, such as the WhiteRibbonAlliance.org – though the site does not use maternal mortality or maternal health in the domain, it’s still obvious what the organization represents)

Once you commit to a name, it’s a good idea to register your domain for more than a year to avoid extra costs or potentially losing it.



HTML

This is a BOLD sentence <strong>This is a BOLD sentence</strong>
This sentence is ITALICIZED <em>This sentence is ITALICIZED</em>

This is a heading

 <h1>This is a heading</h1>

This is a heading

 <h2>This is a heading</h2>

This is a heading

 <h3>This is a heading</h3>
This is a link <a href="http://www.pledgeformoms.org">This is a link</a>
This is an unordered list:

  • Coffee
  • Milk
 This is an unordered list:
<ul>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ul>
This is an ordered list:

  1. Coffee
  2. Milk
 This is an ordered list:
<ol>
<li>Coffee</li>
<li>Milk</li>
</ol>



Remember, that the correct syntax of HTML requires the use of tags on both ends of the text you’re trying to manipulate (these are often referred to as opening tag and closing tag). Here are some examples:
Paragraph – <p></p>
Heading1 – <h1>Heading1</h1>
Heading2 – <h2>Heading2</h2>
Heading3 – <h3>Heading3</h3>
Heading4 – <h4>Heading4</h4>
Heading5 – <h5>Heading5</h5>
Heading6 – <h6>Heading6</h6>
Single line break – <br></br>
Bold – <strong> </strong>
Italic – <i></i>
Subscript – <sub></sub>
Superscript – <sup></sup>
Quotation – <blockquote></blockquote>

One of the most useful tags at your disposal is the one you can’t see when you’re browsing the website – <!-- This is a comment -->. Comment tags can be extremely useful tools for any number of special notes (reminders, definitions, indicators), so use them as often as you can until you get used to running the site.

These are all of the basic tags that you will use on a regular basis. Though you can also explore HTML styles… it’s a lot more time effective to learn Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). CSS allows you to define all of the styles for an entire site in one targeted file (or several) and you will not have to build every post from scratch. To give you an example of what I mean:

  • HTML is great for editing posts, specifically to link images or text, and formatting
  • CSS, on the other hand, is perfect for defining the overall look of you site. Unlike HTML, which needs to be adjusted in every file every time you make a change, CSS allows for a smooth, seamless, and fast administration and browsing.

Luckily, most website templates (even free ones) already come with stylesheets (you’re not expected to make them yourself), but it is recommended that you become familiar with the “Box” concept around which CSS is written. Here is a quick cheat sheet you can download (made available by the team at AddedBytes.com), which can get you familiar with the language attributes quickly. Are you a little confused? Don’t worry, everything will become clear when you start to actually work with your site template.



PHP and MySQL
Ah, the most hated part for newbies! What is PHP? PHP is a scripting language upon which most current websites are build – it’s is extremely popular and accessible. PHP code in a script can create images, read/write files, talk to remote servers (and it is designed to go hand-in-hand with HTML and many top servers (Apache) and databases (MySQL) in order to make the page dynamic) – the possibilities are literally endless. Do you need to know a lot of PHP when you’re starting out? Absolutely not – in fact, real knowledge of the intricacies of programming only comes through experience. With PHPs surging popularity and extraordinary dedicated team and community, it’s hard not to love it. More on PHP.

MySQL is a relational database system that is used to store information. MySQL can store many types of data from something as tiny as a single character to as large as complete files or graphics. Although it can be accessed by most programing languages, it is often coupled with PHP because they work together with ease. More on MySQL

CSS, PHP, and MySQL aspects of starting a site are relatively easy because most templates include working code (and set up instructions come with most site platforms, such as WordPress) – however, I do suggest that you practice adjusting them if you want to be comfortable running a site.

This concludes Part 1 of How to Start a Website For a Cause. The next post will address the following questions:



Part II – Building your website using pre-existing themes and widgets/plugins with WordPress

  • What is WordPress? What other platforms are available for site management? How do I set up WordPress?
  • What are WordPress themes? What themes fit a non-profit cause?
  • What are WordPress widgets/plugins? Which widgets/plugins are essential for the best user navigation and experience on my site?
  • What is an RSS feed? Why is it important to syndicate site content?
]]> http://www.pledgeformoms.org/2009/07/28/how-to-start-a-website-part1/feed/ 5 How to Start a Website For a Cause – Introduction http://www.pledgeformoms.org/2009/07/24/how-to-start-a-website-intro/ http://www.pledgeformoms.org/2009/07/24/how-to-start-a-website-intro/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:32:03 +0000 Mariya Nikiforova http://www.pledgeformoms.org/?p=803 defining-it-project-successIf you’re Googling steps on how to start your own website, you’re probably already tearing out your hair over the plethora of outdated or confusing information that’s floating around out there, and you’re most likely ready to give up your hopes of ever running a successful non-profit .org or .net to save the unicorns, feed the frogs, or prevent nuclear winter; at this point, your eyes are bleeding, and you have the biggest urge to kill the internet. Don’t give up! There are ways to start your own website (without weird extensions, or a ton of flashing ads from your “sponsors”) that are fairly easy, though granted, you’ll have to put up some cash, and really commit to a long-term learning project.

Of course, feel free to use MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, or Blogger – all respected conduits for making your point – but if you are looking for more responsibility and if you feel that you can make a bigger impact with a special idea, then you’re really ready for the challenge of running your own site. Here is an overview of what this discussion will encompass:

Part I – Finding a host and domain name; understanding the programming languages involved in coding and updating site content

  • What is web hosting? Can I get free web hosting? What is the best web hosting plan?
  • What is a domain name? Where can I purchase a domain name? How do I pick the best name for my website?
  • What is HTML? What is PHP? With what basic commands/tags do I need to be familiar to be able to understand and manipulate site code if needed?
  • What is a database? What is MySQL? Do I need to be able to read or write MySQL code?

Part II – Building your website using pre-existing themes and widgets/plugins with WordPress

  • What is WordPress? What other platforms are available for site management? How do I set up WordPress?
  • What are WordPress themes? What themes fit a non-profit cause?
  • What are WordPress widgets/plugins? Which widgets/plugins are essential for the best user navigation and experience on my site?
  • What is an RSS feed? Why is it important to syndicate site content?

Part III – Search engine optimization; refining your content; “marketing”

  • How can a create a unique marketing message or communicate my special idea to the world?
  • What is search engine optimization? What does it mean in the context of a non-profit website?
  • What is Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing? Can I use PPC to advertise my site?
  • What is Google Analytics?
  • What is the best way to improve my Google ranking?
  • How can I get people to visit my site? How do I avoid getting my site blacklisted by Google?
  • How can I build relationships with similar sites? What is link-building? Why is link-building essential to improving Google rank?

I remember when PledgeForMoms.org was just a concept about 2 year ago, and my older brother laughed at my ideas. He found it amusing that I wanted to create a website in just a couple of days and have a billion hits right away (he went so far as to tell me that I should just save myself the headache and quit right then). Of course, in retrospect, it was kind of naïve to think that everyone in the world would just flock to my site and support the cause, but five layouts and 30 articles later, I’m very happy with the progress I have made.

This August, I will be posting three articles on how you can start your own cause website – I hope that you will find them helpful. Please sign up for the RSS to get up-to-date notices on new articles.

About Pledge For Moms
Every woman is a daughter and every man is a son – it is our duty to protect and advance the rights of women so that they may have the opportunity to give birth to and raise children in a safe and healthy environment. How would a boy remember his first day of school without her soft kisses and words of encouragement? How will a girl become a woman without her guidance and support? The Pledge For Moms Project is a non-profit website is tailored to encourage the online community to take part in raising awareness of the suffering of our sisters, daughters, and mothers across the globe and to set an example in the community. If you are interested in having a direct impact on decreasing maternal mortality rates in one of the most effected areas in the world, please DONATE to the Save-a-Mother Project. If you would like to become a micro-lender to a poor business-woman in need, make a difference through Kiva.org

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