How to Plan a Website

Even after learning many coding languages, the hardest part for many web developers seems to be the planning stage. Here is what I choose to follow just to make it just a little bit more simple before I begin a project.

Who
One problem that I see too often is that developers often tend to build websites based on what they like, based on the type of website you are making it is most likely going to be targeted do a certain group(s) of people. Do some research, fine out whats popular on whatever it may be you are doing for your website you want visitors that will often come back as well as refer new visitors to your website. Check out similar sites and see how they attract their audiences. Think as a visitor; What would you like change about the website? How can it improve?

Programming Languages
There are many different programming languages that you may want to use base on the purpose of your site. Let me give you a quick and simple run down on some of the most often used languages.

• HTML - HyperText Markup Language the authoring language used to create documents on the World Wide Web. HTML defines the structure and layout of a Web document by using a variety of tags and attributes.
  
• XHTML - Extensible Hypertext Markup Language
  a hybrid between HTML and XML specifically designed for Net device displays.
• CSS - Cascading Style Sheet used to format the layout of Web pages. They can be used to define text styles, table sizes, and other aspects of Web pages that previously could only be defined in a page's HTML.
• JavaScript - developed by Netscape to enable Web authors to design interactive sites. Although it shares many of the features and structures of the full Java language, it was developed independently. Javascript
  
  can interact with HTML source code, enabling Web authors to spice up their sites with dynamic content.
• PHP - Hypertext Preprocessor, an open source, server-side, HTML embedded scripting language used to create dynamic Web pages.

Where
Start thinking of what web host service you are going to choose. First off make sure it supports the languages you are using for your website. Try searching web host companies on your preferred browser and I would personally go for a company on the first page, now this is not to put down other companies because for all I know they may be running off the same servers, but the way I see it is more popular companies become and stay popular for a certain reason right?

Domain Name
I personally prefer .COM domain names simply off experience learned from a friend, both him and another individual had the same name and they both happened to be web developers now my friend would really try and market him self creating business cards, street ads, and more but they did not seem to do much of a difference for him at least. Both my friend and the other free lance web designer had the same domain name with an exception that my friend was a .NET and he was a .COM our theory is that someone not familiar with your website mite not have a good chance of remembering your full domain name so they may take a guess but one thing they usually remember from the website is the .COM. He recently changed his domain name and seems to be doing a lot better. All in all this may not make a huge difference but it does not hurt to consider it!

Things to Remember

• A site should be useful.

• A site should have a purpose.

• A site should operate quickly, pages should download fast.

• A site should be structured to allow visitors to navigate with ease.

• Graphics should be kept to a minimum to allow fast loading of your web pages.

• Use standard headers and footers for each of your web pages..

• Use the same background color throughout your site. (White is most common color)

• Use the same color for your text throughout your site. . (Black is most common color).

• Use a common font size and color for specialized text segments.

• Establish site wide consistency rules.

• Keep it simple.

Well I hope i did my part in helping some of you out there seeking ideas on starting a website, just remember you can do it with time, patience, and of course researching the web.