Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

Book description

Think you have to be a technical wizard to build a great web site? Think again. If you want to create an engaging web site, this thoroughly revised, completely updated edition of Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual demystifies the process and provides tools, techniques, and expert guidance for developing a professional and reliable web presence.

Whether you want to build a personal web site, an e-commerce site, a blog, or a web site for a specific occasion or promotion, this book gives you detailed instructions and clear-headed advice for:

  • Everything from planning to launching. From picking and buying a domain name, choosing a Web hosting firm, building your site, and uploading the files to a web server, this book teaches you the nitty-gritty of creating your home on the Web.


  • Ready-to-use building blocks. Creating your own web site doesn't mean you have to build everything from scratch. You'll learn how to incorporate loads of pre-built and freely available tools like interactive menus, PayPal shopping carts, Google ads, and Google Analytics.


  • The modern Web. Today's best looking sites use powerful tools like Cascading Style Sheets (for sophisticated page layout), JavaScript (for rollover buttons and cascading menus), and video. This book doesn't treat these topics as fancy frills. From step one, you'll learn easy ways to create a powerful site with these tools.


  • Blogs. Learn the basics behind the Web's most popular form of self-expression. And take a step-by-step tour through Blogger, the Google-run blogging service that will have you blogging before you close this book.

This isn't just another dry, uninspired book on how to create a web site. Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual is a witty and intelligent guide you need to make your ideas and vision a web reality.

Publisher resources

View/Submit Errata

Table of contents

  1. A Note Regarding Supplemental Files
  2. The Missing Credits
    1. About the Author
    2. About the Creative Team
    3. Acknowledgments
    4. The Missing Manual Series
  3. Introduction
    1. What You Need to Get Started
    2. About This Book
    3. Macintosh and Windows
    4. About the Outline
    5. About → These → Arrows
    6. Downloadable Examples
    7. About MissingManuals.com
    8. Safari® Books Online
  4. I. Welcome to the Web
    1. 1. Preparing for the Web
      1. Introducing the World Wide Web
        1. Browsers
          1. Choosing your Web browser
        2. Web Servers
      2. Planning a Web Site
        1. Types of Sites
        2. Understanding Your Audience
        3. The Lifespan of Your Site
        4. Practice Good Design
      3. The Ingredients of a Web Site
    2. 2. Creating Your First Page
      1. The Anatomy of a Web Page
        1. Cracking Open an XHTML Document
        2. Creating Your Own XHTML Files
        3. The Document Type Definition
      2. XHTML Tags
        1. What’s in a Tag
        2. Understanding Elements
        3. Nesting Elements
      3. The XHTML Document
        1. The Basic Skeleton
        2. Adding Content
        3. Structuring Text
        4. Where Are All the Pictures?
        5. The 10 Most Important Elements (and a Few More)
        6. Checking Your Pages for Errors
    3. 3. Putting Your Page on the Web
      1. How Web Hosting Works
        1. Understanding the URL
        2. How Browsers Analyze a URL
      2. Domain Names
        1. Getting the Right Name
        2. Searching for a Name
        3. Registering Your Name
          1. Domain parking
          2. Domain forwarding
        4. Free Domain Names
      3. Getting Web Space
        1. The Big Picture
        2. Assessing Your Needs
          1. A Web Host Checklist
        3. Choosing Your Host
          1. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider)
          2. Web hosting companies
          3. A Web host walkthrough (#1)
          4. A Web host walkthrough (#2)
        4. Free Web Hosts
      4. Transferring Files
        1. Browser-Based Uploading
        2. FTP
    4. 4. Power Tools
      1. Choosing Your Tools
        1. Types of Web Page Editors
        2. Finding a Free Web Page Editor
          1. Nvu
          2. Amaya
          3. HTML-Kit
          4. CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor
        3. Professional XHTML Editors
      2. Working With Your XHTML Editor
        1. Starting Out
        2. Multiple Views
        3. Creating a Web Page in Code View
        4. Creating a Web Page in WYSIWYG View
        5. Managing a Web Site
          1. Defining a site in Expression Web
          2. Uploading a site in Expression Web
          3. Defining a site in Dreamweaver
          4. Uploading a site in Dreamweaver
  5. II. Building Better Web Pages
    1. 5. XHTML Text Elements
      1. Understanding Text and the Web
        1. Logical Structure vs. Physical Formatting
        2. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
      2. XHTML Elements for Basic Text
        1. Paragraphs
        2. Line Breaks
        3. Headings
        4. Horizontal Lines
        5. Preformatted Text
        6. Quotes
        7. Divisions and Spans
      3. XHTML Elements for Lists
        1. Ordered Lists
        2. Unordered Lists
        3. Definition Lists
        4. Nesting Lists
      4. Inline Formatting
        1. Italics, Bold, and Underline
        2. Emphasis and Strong
        3. Subscript, Superscript, and Strikethrough
        4. Teletype
        5. Special Characters
        6. Non-English Languages
    2. 6. Style Sheets
      1. Style Sheet Basics
        1. The Three Types of Styles
        2. Browser Support for CSS
        3. The Anatomy of a Rule
        4. Applying a Style Sheet
          1. Internal style sheets
          2. Inline styles
        5. The Cascade
        6. Inheritance
      2. Colors
        1. Specifying a Color
          1. Hexadecimal color values
          2. RGB color values
        2. Finding the Right Color
      3. Fonts
        1. Specifying a Font
        2. Finding the Right Font
        3. Font Sizes
          1. Keyword sizing
          2. Percentage sizing
          3. Relative sizing
          4. Pixel sizing
      4. Text Alignment and Spacing
        1. Alignment
        2. Spacing
        3. White Space
      5. Borders
        1. Basic Borders
        2. Making Better Borders
        3. Using Borders to Separate Sections
      6. Class Selectors
        1. Creating Class Rules
        2. Saving Work With the <div> Element
        3. More Generic Class Rules
        4. Creating a Style Sheet for Your Entire Web Site
    3. 7. Adding Graphics
      1. Understanding Images
        1. The <img> Element
        2. Alternate Text
        3. Picture Size
        4. File Formats for Graphics
          1. Compression
          2. Choosing the right image format
        5. Putting Pictures on Colored Backgrounds
      2. Images and Styles
        1. Inline Images in Text
        2. Borders
        3. Wrapping Text Around an Image
        4. Adding Captions
        5. Background Images
          1. Background “watermarks”
      3. Techniques with Graphics
        1. Graphical Text
        2. Backgrounds for Other Elements
        3. Graphical Bullets in a List
      4. Finding Free Art
    4. 8. Linking Pages
      1. Understanding the Anchor
        1. Internal and External Links
        2. Relative Links and Folders
          1. Moving down into a subfolder
          2. Moving up into a parent folder
          3. Moving to the root folder
        3. Linking to Other Types of Content
      2. Image Links and Image Maps
      3. Adding Bookmarks
      4. When Good Links Go Bad
        1. Site Management
        2. Link Checkers
        3. Using Redirects
    5. 9. Page Layout Tools
      1. The Challenge of Screen Space
        1. Testing Different Page Sizes
      2. Tables
        1. The Anatomy of a Table
        2. Formatting Table Borders
        3. Cell Spans
        4. Sizing and Aligning Tables
          1. Sizing a table
          2. Sizing a column
          3. Sizing a row
        5. Organizing a Page with Tables
      3. Style-Based Layout
        1. Structuring Pages with the <div> Element
        2. Even Better Selectors
          1. Contextual selectors
          2. id selectors
        3. Floating Boxes
        4. Absolute Positioning
        5. Layering
        6. Combining Absolute and Relative Positioning
    6. 10. Multipart Pages
      1. Understanding Multipart Pages
      2. Server-Side Includes
      3. Frame Basics
        1. Creating a Frames Page
        2. Putting Documents in a Frameset
        3. Targeting Frames
      4. Building Better Frames Pages
        1. Frame Borders and Resizing
        2. Scrolling
        3. Handling Browsers That Don’t Support Frames
        4. Better URLs for Framesets
        5. Nested Framesets
        6. Another Way to Nest Frames
      5. Page Templates
        1. Understanding Page Templates
        2. Creating a New Page Template
        3. The Anatomy of a Page Template
        4. Using a Page Template
  6. III. Connecting With Your Audience
    1. 11. Attracting Visitors
      1. Your Web Site Promotion Plan
      2. Spreading the Word
        1. Reciprocal Links
        2. Web Rings
        3. Shameless Self-Promotion
        4. Return Visitors
      3. Adding Meta Elements
        1. The Description Meta Element
        2. The Keyword Meta Element
      4. Directories and Search Engines
        1. Directories
          1. The Open Directory Project
          2. The Yahoo directory
        2. Search Engines
          1. Rising up in the rankings
          2. The Google Webmaster Tools
          3. Google AdWords
          4. Hiding from search engines
      5. Tracking Visitors
        1. Understanding Google Analytics
        2. Signing Up for Google Analytics
        3. Examining your Web Traffic
          1. Graph of Visits
          2. Site Usage
          3. Map Overlay
          4. Traffic Sources Overview
          5. Content Overview
    2. 12. Letting Visitors Talk to You (and Each Other)
      1. Transforming a Site into a Community
      2. Helping Visitors Email You
        1. Mailto Links
        2. XHTML Forms
          1. Form basics
          2. Mailing a form
          3. Creating a more complex form
          4. More reliable forms with server scripts
      3. Adding Forums and Groups to Your Site
        1. About Google Groups
        2. Creating a Group
        3. Participating in a Group
        4. Managing Your Group
    3. 13. Making Money with Your Site
      1. Money-Making the Web Way
      2. Google AdSense
        1. Signing Up for AdSense
        2. Creating an Ad
        3. Placing Ads in Your Web Pages
        4. Google-Powered Searches
      3. Amazon Associates
        1. Signing Up As an Associate
        2. Generating Associate Links
          1. Product links
          2. Advanced links
      4. PayPal Merchant Tools
        1. Signing Up With PayPal
        2. Accepting Payments
        3. Building a Shopping Cart
          1. Creating a custom page style
          2. Generating the shopping cart buttons
        4. Withdrawing Your Money
  7. IV. Web Site Frills
    1. 14. JavaScript: Adding Interactivity
      1. Understanding JavaScript
        1. Server-Side and Client-Side Programming
        2. Scripting Languages
      2. JavaScript 101
        1. The <script> Element
          1. Scripts and XHTML
          2. Browsers that don’t support JavaScript
        2. Variables
          1. Declaring variables
          2. Modifying variables
          3. An example with variables
        3. Functions
          1. Declaring a function
          2. Calling a function
          3. Functions that receive information
          4. Functions that return information
        4. External Script Files
      3. Dynamic XHTML
        1. XHTML Objects
          1. Using XHTML objects in a script
        2. Events
        3. Image Rollovers
        4. Collapsible Text
        5. An Interactive Form
      4. Scripts on the Web
        1. Finding a Cool Script
    2. 15. Fancy Buttons and Menus
      1. Creating Fancy Buttons
        1. Generating Button Pictures
        2. Building a Rollover Button
          1. Using image lists
          2. Preloading images
        3. Creating Rollover Buttons in Dreamweaver and Expression Web
      2. Creating Fancy Menus
        1. Do-It-Yourself Collapsible Menus
        2. Third-Party Menus
          1. Getting the script
          2. Creating the menu
          3. Placing the menu on a page
    3. 16. Audio and Video
      1. Understanding Multimedia
        1. Linking, Embedding, and Hosting
        2. Types of Multimedia Files
      2. Background Music
        1. The <embed> Element
          1. Embedded audio options
          2. Other audio formats
        2. Sound Effects
      3. Flash MP3 Players
        1. The E-Phonic Player
          1. Create a playlist
          2. Adding the player to a Web page
        2. Flashtrak Loops
      4. Video Clips
        1. Preparing Video
        2. Linking to and Embedding Video
        3. Uploading Your Videos to YouTube
          1. Signing up with YouTube
          2. Preparing a video
          3. Uploading a video
          4. Watching a video
  8. V. Blogs
    1. 17. Blogs
      1. Understanding Blogs
        1. Syndication
        2. Blog Hosting and Software
      2. Getting Started with Blogger
        1. Creating a Blog
        2. Creating Formatted Posts
      3. Managing a Blog
        1. Tweaking a Few Common Settings
        2. Configuring Your Blogger Profile
        3. Templates
          1. Applying a new template
          2. Customizing your template
          3. Customizing the XHTML in a template
        4. Moderating Comments
        5. Hosting Your Blog on Your Web Site
  9. VI. Appendixes
    1. A. XHTML Quick Reference
      1. XHTML Elements
        1. <a> (Anchor Element)
        2. <acronym>
        3. <address>
        4. <area> (Image Map)
        5. <b> (Bold Text)
        6. <base> (Base URL)
        7. <big> (Large Text)
        8. <blockquote> (Block Quotation)
        9. <body> (Document Body)
        10. <br /> (Line Break)
        11. <button> (Button)
        12. <caption> (Table Caption)
        13. <cite> (Citation)
        14. <dd> (Dictionary Description)
        15. <del> (Deleted Text)
        16. <dfn> (Defined Term)
        17. <div> (Generic Block Container)
        18. <dl> (Dictionary List)
        19. <dt> (Dictionary Term)
        20. <em> (Emphasis)
        21. <form> (Interactive Form)
        22. <frame> (Frame)
        23. <frameset> (Frameset)
        24. <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6> (Headings)
        25. <head> (Document Head)
        26. <hr> (Horizontal Rule)
        27. <html> (Document)
        28. <i> (Italic Text)
        29. <iframe> (Inline Frame)
        30. <img> (Image)
        31. <input> (Input Control)
        32. <ins> (Inserted Text)
        33. <li> (List Item)
        34. <link> (Document Relationship)
        35. <map> (Image Map)
        36. <meta> (Metadata)
        37. <noframes> (Frames Alternate Content)
        38. <noscript> (Alternate Script Content)
        39. <object> (Embedded Object)
        40. <ol> (Ordered List)
        41. <option> (Menu Option)
        42. <p> (Paragraph)
        43. <param> (Object Parameter)
        44. <pre> (Preformatted Text)
        45. <q> (Short Quotation)
        46. <script> (Client-Side Script)
        47. <select> (Selectable List)
        48. <small> (Small Text)
        49. <span> (Generic Inline Container)
        50. <strong> (Strong Emphasis)
        51. <style> (Internal Style Sheet)
        52. <sub> (Subscript)
        53. <sup> (Superscript)
        54. <table> (Table)
        55. <td> (Table Data Cell)
        56. <textarea> (Multiline Text Input)
        57. <th> (Table Header Cell)
        58. <title> (Document Title)
        59. <tr> (Table Row)
        60. <tt> (Teletype Text)
        61. <u> (Underlined Text)
        62. <ul> (Unordered List)
      2. XHTML Character Entities
      3. XHTML Color Names
    2. B. Useful Web Sites
      1. Chapter Links
  10. About the Author
  11. Colophon
  12. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Matthew MacDonald
  • Release date: December 2008
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9780596520977