Whatever you do.. don;t use Front page. It likes to garble code.

DreamWeaver is good, but it is best to learn to write HTML code. Much easier to avoid mistakes and fix stuff if you write it from scratch.

If you take a course or are doing a website for someone who is paying you, they expect you to learn/know HTML code.

To start -
.   List of what you want on this website to contain (menu items = navigable pages)

.   Create a CSS (cascading style sheets) to maintain formatting for each page (not good when customer thinks he has navigated to a new site. All pages should look the same.

.   Keep each page simple and uncluttered (lots of white space) no fancy fonts. Different browsers will handle the information differently. Some don't like frames, others don't like layers, etc.

.   If you want you site taken seriously - Avoid eye candy. Fancy graphics and bells and whistles that contribute nothing to the message and meaning. Select a simple elegant graphic or create a logo for your site that shows in the same place on every navigable page.

.   Use language that makes sense to the average population - (check out Plain English writing style). Use language most used by similar websites. Research this. My bugbear is not using the term "discography" for "recordings2 or "songs." And using the terms "dates" or "calendar" when you mean "upcoming gigs or "performance diary" depending on the type of performer and audience you wish to attract.


Whew! All that remembered from HTML courses I took in 1999 and 2000. Hot damn. Memory still works for some things.