When someone requests a webpage, a steam of text and files are
transmitted by the webserver to the requester, and the browser then
'interprets' this stream, to display the webpage it all its glory. The
webpage creator can build these webpages individually or make use of
databases to standardise things like the header, menu options, and
colour scheme. The website owner can choose to put all this web content
on a webserver in their own premises, or more likely pay a small
monthly fee to have a professional webhosting company handle all the
hardware and server stuff. Now, what if you want a brand-new
professional-looking website in just seconds? What if you want a
'website in a box'?
The good news is that this is more than just possible, it is easy and
there is even a choice. Many webhosters provide additional features and
facilities beyond just a specified amount of disk space and specified
amount of data traffice. As mentioned in previous articles, they also
provide statistics, email services, and tools such as guestbooks or
visitor counters.
But you will also find that a great many webhosters provide entire
pre-packaged websites, ready-to-go and needing only your unique content
to be added. One particularly popular service is known as “Fantastico”
- a menu service which lists a wide range of pre-built websites ready
for automated installation. Simply click on the one you like, fill in
the essential information (such as the name of your website, eg.
“Merlin Pacific IT”, and an administrator username & password), and
within seconds your website is done.
Need a realestate website? Choose the “OpenRealestate” option. Want a
corporate website that can be completely customised, controlled and
maintained using only a web browser? Choose one of a dozen Content
Management Systems such as Mambo (see merlinpacific.net as an example).
Want a community-focused website that allows unlimited users to chat,
add content or post content? Choose a 'wiki' website. How about a
classified ads site? A photo/image website? An online store, or a blog,
or an online education website? All of these are free.
And the great thing is, you aren't stuck with a particular look and
feel for all of those 'websites in a box'. Most of them allow you to
change to a very different look simply by choosing another template.
Completely change the colour-scheme, layout and appearance of the
entire site in around 5 seconds. Like the template but feel it needs
amending? Then customise it! (You'll need to know a bit about website
programming for that though!).
To summarise, truly amazing websites are available for general-purpose
or even very specific uses for no cost and very little effort. You do
not need to design and build a website from scratch. Check what your
webhoster has on offer, and compare to other providers.
