Website

Basic Concepts: Part 2

Getting your web site ‘live’ on the Web

With the nerd background details under our belts, we can now learn about the two steps to going live on the Web:

Rent some server space.

1. Registering your domain

There are many companies out there that allow you to register the domain name for your web site. Prices vary, as does the quality of service, but at the end of the day, they all handle the details of getting your domain name listed in the giant address book I spoke about earlier.

These days, you will find that many of the names you may be interested in registering are already taken. As I mentioned above, domain names have to be unique and many have been slurped up.

What is the difference between .com, .net, .org, etc.?

Practically speaking, there is really no difference these days. Search engines don’t discriminate between a .COM address and a .NET address. The only thing you might consider is that people tend to type in .COM automatically since it was the first publicly known domain extension. So when registering a domain name, I would go for the .COM first and if it was taken, I would then try for any of the others. (.net, .org, .tv, etc. …)

You probably guessed; a .COM address is not the same domain name of the same name with a different extension. So for example:

www.killersites.com is not the same place as www.killersites.net

As such, each of the addresses can be registered separately.

2. Renting server space to ‘host’ your web site

You need to rent space on a server so that it can serve your web site to the World Wide Web; this is often called ‘hosting’. Companies that provide this service are often called ‘host’ or hosting companies.

After you’ve registered your domain, all you need to do is contact a hosting company and tell them your domain name. They will be able to guide you through the process and you should be live on the web in no time – typically within a week or less.

- See more at: http://www.how-to-build-websites.com/basic-concepts/part2.php#sthash.KHunF4mE.dpuf

I believe that this is a necessary professional step, as apposed to using a free site such as wix, as it makes for a cleaner, more professional website address. It will also be more memorable rather than having to type out and remember a wix address, as the wix URLs contain part of your email as well.

This last section has confused me, because I know don't understand where you're meant to build your website. I assumed you built the website with the hosting service, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I don't understand how you would build your site on one website and then transfer it to another, but I shall find out. I also need to remember to test out my site on different moniters, as this can affect the websites loading speed, and it is important that my website loads quickly on all browsers.

After research and deliberation, I decided to use wix as my domain site. I knew how to build a site effectively with their layout to create a professional finish. They also had a 50% sale on domains which worked in my favour. I chose my domain name as clairegolby.com as its short and quicker to type than clairegolbymakeup. I had started building my professional website a few months ago, but as you can see from the screenshots below, it didn't look very professional, so I decided to start from scratch. Having now researched layouts and other professionals' websites, i know have a much better idea of how to present my website.

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I had started building my website on Wix earlier this year, but am now considering starting another website with a domain name for a more professional approach, seeing as according to Johnson, "a proffesional should buy her own custom domain name". Moreover I've found that searching for makeup artists I know on Google, that by typing their name followed by makeup artist, their website doesn't come up when its a Wix website. I think for internet prescence it is important that I buy a domain name website.

I think the KNB FX website is a really good example of a professionally laid-out prosthetics company website. Information is clearly presented in a clean layout with a concurrent colour theme. They clearly intend to have their showreel embedded, but for some reason it isn't there presently. They have their images grouped into seperate galleries as they have an abundance of varying prosthetic work. They also have images of their work included on their homepage, which I think is a good design idea. It immediately indicates a style and level of work to the viewer. Despite their reputation, they also have a resume available to download.

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Alice Kenneth 2015. Alice Kenneth. [online] Available from: http://www.alicekenneth.com [Accessed: November 5th 2015]

Hybrid Enterprises FX 2015. Hybrid Enterprises FX. [online] Available from: http://www.hybridfx.com/pages/company.htm [Accessed: November 5th 2015]

This recent AUB graduate's website is a very simplistic and effective layout. Everything is on the homepage, laid out in obvious and precise consecutive sections. The portfolio is not divided into sections of genre, but each image icon is a section and has several images within each one. There is a menu at the top which takes you directly to the section on the home page you want to go to, which is easier than taking you to another page as it doesn't have to load another page, so the transition is much faster. This also means you can very easily scroll to the next section. Her showreel is of about 4 different makeups and I would say that it could maybe be slightly more dramatic and feature more to make it more interesting so the viewer didn't feel the need to skip or fast forward.

The layout is simplistic and clean, the circular photos give it a unique twist.

I've noticed a lot of the other websites i've looked at have black backgrounds which I think does make for a more dramatic, cinematic look. The white background does look very clean and professional though.

Hybrid Enterprises' FX in comparison I find to be a really poorly designed website. It too, has everything laid out on one page but has no links to sections of the page, meaning you have to scroll through engless images and text to find the section you want, which I shouldn't imagine anyone in industry has the time or the inclination for. The only links on the site are to the company's social media pages which haven't been updated for two years, as you can see from my annotation. The actual content itself is also very messily arranged and has no fluency to it, despite the work itself being to an excellent standard.

Potential Domains:

Facebook 2015. Hybrid FX. [online] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/hybrid.fx [Accessed: November 5th 2015]

123reg 2015. 123 reg. [online] Available from: https://www.123-reg.co.uk/order/domain?domain=clairegolbymua&is=1 [Accessed: November 5th 2015]

Kelly Harris Makeup (2015). Kelly Harris Makeup. [online] Available from: http://kellyharrismakeup.com [Accessed: November 5th 2015]

Although I like the layout of this website and it is easy to navigate, it is let down by both the quality and size of the images. Some are slightly blurry, and ones that are not are very small, or from such a distance that the makeup cannot even be seen in the photo.

I also noticed on this website that there were not contact details on every page, unlike Kristyan Mallet's website: http://www.kristyanmallett.com. I think this is a feature which I will include for my website, as well as getting a domain name, as all the professional sites are done this way.

From the domain names i've seen, people tend to just use their own name, rather than adding in MUA or makeup.

My own name is available, and is not a common name, so I don't feel the need to add MUA or makeup effects to my domanin name.

123reg 2015. 123 reg. [online] Available from: https://www.123-reg.co.uk/order/domain?X-CSRF-Token=98f374aad86c668010fb501668b7638768497284&domain=clairegolby [Accessed: November 5th 2015]

Website Design and Construction

Registering your domain name

If you ever wondered what the heck registering a domain was all about … you probably figured it out by now! But just in case – registering a domain name gets you an official address for your web site on the World Wide Web. With this ‘official’ address, the rest of the web can find you.

Like your home address is unique in the real world, there also can’t be any duplicate addresses on the Internet, otherwise no one would know where to go! In other words, domain names are unique addresses on the web.

Why does registering a domain name cost money?

If you want to have your own unique address on the web, your own domain name, it will cost a few bucks for each year you want to ‘own’ the name. The cost of registering a domain name ranges from less than $10 USD to about $30 USD per year. You can register a domain from 1 to 10 years.

The reason for the cost is that the central ‘address book’ of all the world’s domain names needs to be updated – somebody’s got to pay for that! You may have noticed that I just snuck in a little extra piece of information: the giant ‘web address book’ of domains.

That leads us to our last bit of nerd information: when you type in a website’s domain name or click on a link that takes you to that domain name, your browser starts asking servers where that particular domain name is sitting (on the web) and the servers are then able to tell the browser where to go by referring to the giant address book I mentioned above.

- See more at: http://www.how-to-build-websites.com/basic-concepts/part1.php#sthash.UeTHtRy3.dpuf

how-to-build-websites, 2015. Basic Concepts: Part 1. [online] Available from: http://www.how-to-build-websites.com/basic-concepts/part1.php [Accessed: November 11th 2015]

how-to-build-websites, 2015. Basic Concepts: Part 1. [online] Available from: http://www.how-to-build-websites.com/basic-concepts/part2.php [Accessed: November 11th 2015]

Moving your website files onto the server

After you have your domain name registered and your hosting service in place, the last step is to upload the website onto the server. You can transfer your web site to your host’s server using an FTP program.

An FTP program is a type of software that is used to move files from one computer to another over the Internet. FTP is the acronym for: File Transfer Protocol; this just means that this is a ‘way’ of moving files.

There are several free FTP programs you can use to move your files and many HTML editors and web design programs like Dreamweaver have FTP capabilities built in.

One option you probably have to ‘FTP’ your files to the server is Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer 5 and up have an FTP program built right in. You can use it by typing in the FTP address of the server in the address bar preceded by the keyword: FTP. Here is an example:

FTP://207.35.15.69/yourwebsite/

- See more at: http://www.how-to-build-websites.com/basic-concepts/part3.php#sthash.hZmwwyz4.dpuf

how-to-build-websites, 2015. Basic Concepts: Part 1. [online] Available from: http://www.how-to-build-websites.com/basic-concepts/part3.php [Accessed: November 11th 2015]

knb fx group inc. (2015) KNB FX [online] Available from: http://www.knbefxgroup.com [Accessed: January 12th 2016]

Johnson, K. (2014) The Mercenary Makeup Artist: Breaking into the Business with Style.page 39 United States: Createspace

This time, I put a lot more thought into making my website professional, but also still including a little of me in it (hence the background choice). I included my contact details in the footer so that they appear on every page of my website, meaning that that the viewer doesn't have to go back to my contact page to find my details. I edited the menu panel to colour co-ordinate it to the rest of the website for a more congruous finish. As I will have my showreel to add, I decided not to add any individual videos or youtube clips as I did on my previous website. My showreel will encompass all the best video footage, and I therefore do not need to include individual videos. I laid out all my images in a grid, in a similar layout to the KNB FX website. I think this shows off a lot of my work at once, but you can also click on individual images for more detail. I also laid out the images in a certain order. For example, I included a lot of images from my SP project, so I included the main image and then the sculpts and moulds after the main image so the viewer can see the process behind the image. I also included my CV on my 'About Me" page which covers my details. I also added a link to an internet copy should the viewer want to print it out for whatever reason.

www.clairegolby.com