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Click here to register your official website. 

Godaddy has many cheap options for purchasing website domain names.

A list of review of the top web hosting services.

Above are some helpful links to web hosting sites and the Canadian Registry, to be able to add your site to the official list. It is so common today to have your own website and multiple websites for your many purposes, so purchasing a domain is a necessary cost in today's market. Especially when search engines are so popular, another necessary attribute is to optimize your website for search engines' ability to find your website more easily. Thankfully, we have services now that take care of all our needs, we pay one simple price and hand over the potential frustration of writing your own website. Unless of course, you want to skip the price tag and create it yourself. Below are tips on HTML and CSS to help you do it yourself.

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HTML & CSS

HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) is a  computer language that allows you to tell the computer what to display and how to display it. CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) is reference sheet that works inside an HTML document, it dictates how the information in the HTML document is to be displayed. Within the CSS document there are specific "language" requirements that allow the computer to read it and display it correctly and accurately. There are requirements for the style sheets and it is important to get them exactly right or the browser can't read them at all.  It is very important to have a basic understanding beyond copying and pasting to be able to spot errors or make adjustments to your preference.

Web Hosting and Domain Registration

Thoughts on Emerging Technologies

Creating a new reality isn't a new idea, augmented reality and virtual realities have been around for many years and the future is infinite. The possible uses for these new technologies are endless, some are consumer-based, made for ease in information searches, others are education or entertainment-based. With the new technology, there will also be new ways for cyber criminals to capitalize on it, which just means security will be a large component when releasing the new technology. Another worry is the distraction; with Google Glass and augmented windshields for drivers, will this cause dangerous consequences? I say that there is a need for many requirements and regulations of the technology but it appears that the benefits far outweigh the potential risks. The benefits being medical advances, new education techniques, and different entertainment experiences. I think as a culture, we need to be aware of the effects technology is having on us and our future generations. Prior generations seem to only see the negative, isolating and obsessive tendencies of our generation with new technology but I think we are still learning and experimenting so we don't fully know all the effects yet. I think we need to have balance and take things in moderation, including technology, which our new generation is still learning, but just because it requires a charging cable doesn't mean it's inherently evil. Millennials, or those that were born after the internet, may have a hard time, (or an easy time we don't know yet) because there are the first generation that does not separate life and technology, they're intertwined, social interaction requires cell phones today. Personally, I am excited to see the new ways technology can improve life and how we react to it. 

Design Considerations

INFORMATION GATHERING
This is a very important step, it involves many aspects of research and is not to be overlooked. It may seem tedious or irrelevant, but even the smallest details can be helpful. This step requires understanding the purpose of the website, the target demographic of the website, and the website tools you will need. Depending on what you're selling/promoting/informing of/delivering you will need to know which website hosting service is for you, and then knowing which tools you will need to build the website, and which host service has those available, there are lots of free tools so start with those to not break the bank before you publish. Gathering information on your audience, what they find attractive, what page layout will be the easiest for navigation, so many factors to consider and making those decisions can be tricky, but they are usually forgiving, the testing and maintenance phases can be helpful for revision, that can be your fail safe. 

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PLANNING

The information gathering stage easily evolves into the planning stage. They are intertwined, as you gather information you begin to understand how that will affect your website and plan to implement that info. This stage also involves website map planning, drawing out a few structural drafts that could make your website easy to navigate, user-friendly, and the information isn't hidden in an unattainable page. This can be a difficult process because it involves a lot of trial and error, which means hard labor with little payoff. But don't be discouraged, these a building blocks to a beautiful, fully-functioning website. 

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DESIGN

This is fun part. Using all the information you found in step one, and gearing your product/idea/promotion towards that target audience. Now that you know what your business needs are, and your goals, the design of the website is an experimental phase, trying different things, remembering that just because you don't like it, doesn't mean the audience won't as well. Your site map should be fully formed and artistic concepts should be both useful and functional.

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DEVELOPMENT

Here is where your website is being built. The concepts take shape that the design becomes reality. Coding knowledge comes in handy at this stage, sometimes it's unnecessary, but at others moments the understanding of code is worth having to cut back on some frustrations. A troubleshooting process is often needed with website building, learning a number of steps to connect problems and solutions, so when problems arise, because they will, you can solve the simple ones without turning for help at every corner.  

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TESTING & DELIVERY

To maximize function, we want to test the website in multiple browsers and on multiple devices to explore what our potential users will be seeing and feeling when using our website. Using an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program to safely upload your files onto your server, you can then see what all your hard work looks like. At this stage, it's important to look at it with fresh eyes, taking a step back from your work, to really be able to get inside the user's head and see through their eyes. Ask for help if need be, to adapt your website for optimize search engine use, and fix any uploading problems. Now the public can see your website.

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MAINTENANCE 

You can many paths to maintaining your website, you can completely take your hands off, entrusting another company to make all adjustments or edits, or you can use a Content Management System, that allows for lots of freedom, in a controlled easy-to-use environment, or in important cases, a contract with the designers to create a maintenance package if you expect to make future changes or edits. Since our society changes, and our wants and needs change, your website will too. A static page can be helpful for a time but maintenance is guaranteed. There is nothing worse than coming across a website amidst website construction, make sure you update your website in a way that doesn't inconvenience the consumer. 

Discussion of Website Development Tools

WIX

I had a few impressions of Wix from previous hearings about the CMS, and I was gladly proved wrong. The site is easy-to-use and easy-to-learn as well, there's a lot of freedom that can come with a blank slate. As someone who hasn't had a design lesson, only someone who has seen a lot of websites over the years, a blank slate can be scary, unsure of what to put where. I feel that Wix is tantalizing their best products just over the purchase line. This is a good business technique, and I value that, but it can be frustrating to use their domain name or tools that have restrictions. It does encourage me to use a CMS in future, even purchasing my own domain name or theme. 

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USING HTML & CSS

Learning to use HTML and CSS has really made me appreciated the work that goes into building a website and how much code it takes to tell a computer how to do the job you want them to do. I know that I'm not really cut out for HTML, discovering my lack of patience during this process was both enlightening and annoying. But I truly am grateful to those who do push through and sift their entire folder of files to find that glitch. Having the knowledge although, helps me to better understand, and gives me the ability to customize because there are CMS elements that allow an input for the language, so I am the better for having learned the process of writing HTML.

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WORDPRESS

Jumping around from Wix to Wordpress has helped me learn that skill, its kept me on my toes and my eyes sharp, always looking for the same thing as its presented in its many forms. Wordpress took a special concentration, I've not used Wordpress as a CMS for a functioning, user-orientated website before, but knowing its jargon came in handy. Learning it by experience is key, I think Wordpress is capable of a lot more, therefore, it's need to be specific and picky is necessary, in turn, it's necessary for us to learn to control it. This was not easy for me, I don't follow their logic 100% of the time, I would re-do the administrator menu completely different. And I found certain functions hard to find and uncontrollable, but that's okay, I just need time to learn it.  I think Wordpress is hard to jump into right away, unlike Wix, but there are more capabilities with Wordpress. Both would be worth exploring more.

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OVERALL

It is so easy today to create your own website, and have it look professional without paying any money. And it doesn’t necessarily mean coding the website completely from scratch. As you learn more about CMS elements, you become more adaptable so when you are thrown into many varying situations, you have a base knowledge and understanding that you can use as a skill to learn another system or program. This skill is very useful, instead of looking at a website from the administrative side and throwing up your arms as a distress call, you will be able to solve the puzzle, find the link, and connect the dots.  

W3 Schools has tutorials to help with all your HTML needs. 

CSS is more complicated. Copy & Paste is recommended. 

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