First Client

21 October 2008

It's been so long before I've written anything here.  Sorry for those who have been coming back to this page.  There are so many things to do before actually getting any money from this website, I must admit.  It's hard when there are other things that you have to do other than concentrating on web design or web marketing.

While we were busy going into forums and discussions, someone wanted us to design a website for them.  It took us quite sometime to actually finish everything.  So, we would like to share one of our designs here.  It's a travel & tours site.  Feel free to comment or sign in the guestbook. Add Comments

Validate Your HTML and CSS

11 September 2008

I went to a web design forum to ask other people who are experts in web design to comment about this site.  I found out that there were so many errors in this site.  They told me to validate the HTML and also the CSS files.  I had more than 100 errors!

The place to validate your HTML and CSS are at the Markup Validation Service and CSS Validation Service.   This will make sure that your HTML and CSS are correct.

Valid HTML 4.01 Transitional              Valid CSS!

  Add Comments

Traffic to Your Site

9 September 2008

The change that I made to this site was very important.  In order for me to do online business, I need to make sure people come to my website and read it.  What's he point of writing something if no one wants to read it?  I need to make sure someone actually wants to buy something from my site.  So, if you want to start selling, you have to start making sure people come to buy, not just once, but again and again.  And also tell someone else about your site as well.  That is part of a marketing tool.

I'm still new at this so, just bare with me.  You can look at some of my advertisements on the right-hand side of this page. 

While doing some editing, a thought came to mind... "Ebook".  Very cool indeed.  I think I may come up with an Ebook of my own.  Sharing some of my experiences in order to design a basic web site and start making money. 

An Ebook from me to you.....COMING SOON!  Add Comments

A New Look

9 September 2008

After being quiet for quite some time (no postings), I'm finally back.  For those of you who are wondering what's happened to me, well, I've been trying to make this site more appealing.  The colors were so dull that even I don't want to come back to my site.  So, how do you like this site now?

The best thing that I like while trying to come up with a better looking site is that I only needed to change the 'looks' in my CSS files.  Saves so much time and effort.  For those of you who are wondering how I've been doing the editing, here's how I did it.  Since I started everything using Microsoft Frontpage, I just continued using it.  I changed the font size, font color, background color, line colors, and other small but important changes, then tested them using Frontpage.  After being satisfied with the results, I uploaded the CSS files.  That's it. Here's the result.  Of course I will change the site's color from time to time, but for now, I'm quite satisfied. 

If you have any comments regarding my web design....feel free to do so. Add Comments

Some References

11 August 2008

There are so many websites out there for you to learn just waiting to be opened.  There are also forums that you can go to if you have any problems.  Just type you question, and someone who is an expert in that area will answer your question quite fast.  Here are some of the forums that I went to: Site Point,  Web Designer Forum,Zimmertech.

For CSS sites, you can go to: echoecho, w3schools, csstutorial and many, many more. Add Comments

Tableless Layout

10 August 2008

From one web designer newbie to another, "Don't use tables for your layout, use CSS - Cascading Style Sheets!!".  Before you begin to design any web site, you have to decide what type of layout you want to start with, you can change them later, i.e. two columns, three columns, vertical navigation lists or horizontal navigation lists.  Once you have decided, go to the internet and look for the CSS that you need for your layout. Here is one example.

I learned things the hard way.  I started to use tables, they were giving me such a pain in order to change the layouts in the later stage.  It's difficult to change if you have other pages like it. So, some one recommended me to use  CSS instead.  For some idea about CSS, try and go to this site.You can change your layout style, font style, font color, background color, line colors, form layouts and so many more just by changing your .css file.  Add Comments

How it all began

27 July 2008

At first I thought this website was about internet business, so far, it turned out to be web design towards internet business.  And we are not even close to internet business yet.  So, like what the title of this article says, I just want to share with anyone who wants to know, how this idea of internet business began.

Once upon a time, not long ago, in a place which is so tiny on the map of the world, we decided to follow a friend to start a business of making bread.  Not just any bread, but 'Roti Arab' (Arabic Bread), not actually from the Arabs, but just a name.  We were quite desperate at the time to start a business, any business.  So, we were sucked into the business world without having any knowledge on accounting, marketing, advertising, sales...etc.  But, we managed to get a loan from the bank, get the equipments, hire some people to make the bread, start doing some marketing, did some banners and actually started selling.  We had to learn every thing at once.

All was well for about 7 months.  Then the price of flour went up.  We were not making enough bread and selling enough to pay for our workers.  We were in trouble.  The price of flour went up and up and up.  It was too much to cater, we had to stop producing the bread.  So, that was the end of one unforgettable experience.  We didn't have enough money to start any business.  We wrecked our brains to think of what to do next. 

Then came along an opportunity: internet business.  After a valuable seminar, we could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, there was still hope.  All this was new to me.  I didn't even know what hosting and domain was.  I had to learn everything...photoshop, html, css, php and other internet jargons.  Instead of going for our own website, I started with blogspot first, it was an interesting learning experience.

And so, we are where we are now, is after a lot of searching, trial and error, patience, prayers and other peoples prayers.  There is still a long way to go.  We haven't even started to sell anything yet!! Add Comments

Hurdles Along the Way

25 July 2008

There are so many hurdles along the way before being able to be where I am right now.  When I started to use Microsoft FrontPage, it was a matter of familiarizing the functions available in the software.  You can go to FrontPage 2003 tutorial to learn what this baby can do and many other sites. 

The next part is trying to put a background for my site.  Free templates is usually the best option if you are a newbie.  When I searched through the internet for free templates, I also found other sorts of templates, the ones using Adobe Photoshop are the ones that attracted me.  They were all so good looking.  Only then did I found out, it's not so cool if it doesn't suit your needs, and it's also difficult to edit them according to your needs.  So, I decided to just download them for future references.  Copy paste here and there to suit my requirements in the future.  For those who are very good with photoshop and also very creative may want to use this method to make your website.  For the rest of us, maybe a less challenging template can be used if you are just starting to get yourself to learn about web design.

Once the background is done, I needed a layout: one column, two columns, three columns, what should I put in these columns???  Well, we search around the internet and looked at other peoples website, then just followed them with some minor changes.  I made the banners my self, the simplest and nicest I can do at the moment.  I will change it later, when I have the time.  Now I just want to correct or enhance my site. 

Learning HTML is another thing,  being someone who has no knowledge about what HTML or CSS or PHP are, it is quite difficult, I must admit.  But, once I know what I needed to know, at least I can build and modify my sites myself.  I didn't buy any books and I didn't borrow any books either.  I just surfed the internet and learned from there.  I also found out that learning through video tutorials is much easier to understand.  I don't remember the site that I went to to learn the basics of HTML but you can find it from the available search engines.

After getting everything together, writing the contents, uploading to the server was a challenge.  One thing you must remember, make sure your index.htm file is in the public_html and not somewhere else, otherwise, you will not see your website when you type in the URL.  You have to test your forms, emails, contacts once your website is running.  I found out, making forms work, is not that easy.  But, alas, thank goodness for forums on the internet.  Just type what your problem is, and some stranger will help you.  Great way to help you along this journey.

Just found a great site Web Developers Journal to help you start from Hosting site to Promoting site.  Add Comments

Learning from Others

23 July 2008

To look at your own website on the internet is such an exciting feeling.  I did not do this on my own however.  I did my design in Microsoft FrontPage 2003, learning HTML and other design jargons along the way.  If you want to learn about HTML, CSS, PHP, etc, there is one site which offers good explanations and examples regarding these topics: W3Schools Online.  Actually, there are so many tutorials on the internet that can help you while you are building your website.  Another way that you can learn is by going to other websites, to to View, and go to Page Source.  You can look at how other people organize their websites.

After some trial and errors, searching the internet, I managed to upload my files on to the server with some difficulty.  There are however some minor setbacks regarding the forms that I made.  I went into forums regarding web design and asked around.  There's one site that I would recommend to go to if you have any problems regarding your website...which is SitePoint.  There are so many categories to select from and also learn from others.  You can get your answers quite fast actually. 

If you have trouble with your forms, which I did, you can go to Google, and then type "Form Generator", and out comes lists of sites which offers free codes and tips to handle your forms. Add Comments

What's Next?

23 July 2008

You should have some graphics background as well in order to make your website more 'yours'.  If you don't know anything about it, you can just get your pictures from the internet.  It's just that you cannot design things the way you want them to be.  You can use Photoshop, CorelDraw or other design tools, I used Adobe Photoshop.

It helps if you are creative as well.  I must admit, I am definitely not creative.  What I do is, I look at other peoples work and then modify it to suit my needs.  Add Comments

Starting Up

3 July 2008

Starting up an online business is not an easy task, I must admit.  Even though you hear people say that you can make a lot of money on the internet, it's true, but it's not as simple as it sounds.

First of all, if you want to tap the international market, you have to know English, or else you will only have the local market, which is not so much, especially if the locals are not internet savvy.  Next, you must have the desire to pursue this idea in the first place and commit to it.

After that, you have to ask yourself: "Do I have money to hire someone to startup my business?".  If you do, then go ahead, be my guest.  But if your answer is - you don't have the budget, then you are in for a whole new chapter.  If you don't have the basic knowledge of what web design is all about, then you are in for another adventure.

To actually begin from scratch is such a waste of time.  So, what you need to do is use what is provided for you from the internet: information.  I learnt most of the things I know about web design 98% is from the internet. Or, if you have the money or resources to get books to learn these things, then go on ahead. 

Another thing that I want to say is that we must learn from those who have succeeded.  Learn how to go about starting the business, maintaining it and continue to explore other possibilities.  There are so many ways for you to earn honest money from the internet that the only thing that is stopping you is probably yourself. Add Comments

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