Website Building – Do You Need To Master Web Programming?
Website Building – Do You Need To Master Web Programming?
If you are going to do business online, you need to have your own website. Although it is possible to make money online without it, your website is your identity in the world of Internet. Moreover, having your own site may open up many possibilities that you could never have imagined.
Nowadays, getting a website onto the internet can be accomplished very easily. Many hosting companies now provide website builders which are very useful to help you build your own website. Some even provide a collection of templates that you can customize with your own links and content. However, you still need to learn a little bit of HTML so that you will not depend on someone else in case you want to edit your works. This skill is very important to make your site stands out from the crowd.
It is nice to know a little bit of web programming language if you want to build a dynamic website. However, keep in mind that it is usually the concept or the idea and not a programming tool or language which can make you money on the internet. Unless you plan to become a professional web developer, there is really no need to learn coding. Just leave the development up to other experienced developers or use a content management system which can be installed for free.
Buidling a website with CMS means you do not even need to touch any HTML editor. There are some content managements systems which can be configured easily. Mambo, for instance, is already supported by many ready-to-install modules and templates. But you still need to become familiar with the script that you will use to run your site, both on the front end and in the admin area. Spend some time before launching your website to get to know how to make some important configurations properly.
Today, many web hosting providers have already provided a wide range of facilities in their hosting plans. Fantastico, for instance, is a feature that enables you to install various scripts very easily. But if you want to use a script which is not currently provided by your hosting company, you might have to follow the installation procedure provided.
Commercial scripts usually come with installation instructions, that can be a as simple as uploading the files to your server, setting the permissions for each file and folder, and finally opening the config file and setting the options to dictate how the script functions. Installing the script yourself is actually a handy way for getting to know how it works. In the future, in case the script needs to be updated with the latest version, you do not have to hire anyone to do it.
Having the very basic knowledge on the functions and the tags of HTML is actually enough for building a website. But depending on what you want to build, you might need to know how to setup a database on your server. With phpMyAdmin this can be accomplished easily. Additionally, commercial scripts usually have an ability to create required tables automatically. That means at the very minimum you only need to find out how to create a database and an authorized user.
How about other technical aspects such as configuring .htaccess file? .htaccess is a file that can be used to perform various tasks. One of the most popular uses of .htaccess is to make a website search engine friendly. But, although important, most of the time you will never touch the file. Many scripts today can create this file for you automatically so all you need to do is to follow the installation procedure as outlined in the manual.
In summary, building a website does not require you to be very knowledgeable about web programming and other complicated technical knowledge . However, at the very least, you need to be able to create HTML code and to utilize some features of your hosting service. Reliable hosting services will provide you with some useful facilities that you can use to create various types of websites easily.