All of us knowingly or unknowingly, use a standard decision making process in our day-to-day lives. The very first step of this process is to decide whether TO DO or NOT TO DO. If choice is TO DO, we think of various ways and means of attaining our objective/s, compare their pros & cons and take a final stand.

This aim of this write up is to make you aware of resources that are needed to achieve your TO DO objective. The TO DO objective is to conceptualize, build and publish your web site. The first step is to decide what you want from your web site. Do you want a site that your near and dear ones can visit from time to time (I assume you are far away from them.) or do you want a site that sells a product, service, brand or image? Whatever purpose of your web site, absolute essentials to have a site up and running are as below: -

The 5 Essentials: Spare Time - You must have lot of spare time at your disposal. So if you are a house maker whose kids have grown up, a worker who has just been shown pink slip or college student on vacation then time shouldn't be a problem for you. Those hard pressed for time can contract web page design work to a professional web master or use a Site Creation tool.

HTML Knowledge - HTML is NOT a programming language. Its basics can be mastered within a month and learning curve is not too steep. The fact that anyone can learn HTML and create Web pages is reason why Internet is so popular and has such varied content. Learn HTML tags and how to use them. Skip complex topics like frames, style sheets, CGI, JavaScript. Buy a good book on HTML. It will teach HTML and also give links to various online HTML resource sites.

HTML Page & Site Creation Tools - The main reason for using these tools is to speed up process of page / site creation. However, most of tools do not produce correct HTML and editing by hand is necessary. Your HTML book will provide reviews of these tools and links to their web sites. If you know HTML and plan to have 5-6 web pages in your site, a rudimentary editor like Netscape Composer will also suffice. For managing a site with huge number of pages you will need to use a Site Creation Tool.

STOP!!!!

Take a deep breath and read some practical tips for professional looking websites.

1. Select a colour scheme and stick to it.

If your company has a logo or preferred colours on its stationery that’s a good start. For those of you starting from scratch, choose two or three complementary colours and stick with them – don’t change colours on every page.

The most common colour schemes include:

- Red, yellow and white - Blue and white - Red, grey and white - Blue, orange and white - Yellow, grey and white.

If you’re not sure what colour scheme to choose, surf internet and find a website that you like. You can then model your colour scheme on what already exists.

2. Use templates.

Can’t find a website you really like? Another option is to choose a template. There are many templates or pre-set designs. These come as part of your web design software (such as FrontPage) or you can check out some websites that specialise in designing templates.

Visit:

www.web4business.com.au emplates1.htm www.newtemps.com www.website-templates-resale-rights.com www.123webtemplatesandmore.com

3. Provide an easy to use navigation system.

This is one of most important issues to consider when designing a website. You need to ensure your visitors can find what they are looking for easily. Most websites either display their navigation bar on left or at top. And since most people are used to this type of navigation, it’s best to stick with it.

It also helps to include your navigation bar at bottom of each page to save your visitors from having to scroll back to top.