Your Own Internet Site

ROVIN’ AND RAVIN’ WITH MIKE

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Web-masters (and Mistresses) of the Universe

If you have just joined us, this is chapter three of what is becoming an epic about building your own web site. We began with a search for free web space, cheap web hosting, and easy ways to register a domain name in "Who Wants to Be a Web-master?" Then, in "Who Still Wants to Be a Web-master?" we found free programs for creating web pages and for sending them to that undeveloped space.

So, let's find out how to add images to the web pages, and, most importantly, how to add visitors. Remember that the movie Field of Dreams with its famous line, "If you build it, they will come," was not about web sites.

The images on a web page are called "digital," because like everything else on the Internet—music, text, noble thoughts, auctions, e-mail, everything—they are composed of sequences of digits, only two digits, in fact, zero and one. Don't panic, you don't have to know how many ones make the smile of the Mona Lisa so memorable. You just have to know how to get the pictures themselves.

You have three main sources of digital images: scanners, digital cameras, and the Internet. For a summary of information about digital imagery, which, like these current articles, is more valuable for the links that I provide than for anything I have to say, check my article, "Giving Your Computer Eyes."

Another source of images for your web pages is a disk of images, "clip art," which you can buy. But, there are so many free images available on the Internet that there really is not much reason to spend your money. There are two problems with images on the Internet. As with everything else, there is just too much to look for and to choose from. You can use search engines to search for images. At Altavista, for instance, you can choose whether you want to search web pages, images, or audio on a topic

The other problem involves copyright. The Internet is causing some upheavals in the traditional legal concepts of the ownership of intellectual property. Yes, the image of Garfield, the cartoon cat, is intellectual property, as is a piece of heavy metal music. I've already raved about this problem in my article, "The Great Online Musical Melon Piracy." If you use an image, make sure that you do so legitimately. One way is to search for "clip art" sites, with images that you can use, especially on non-commercial sites, for free. But, do notice that copyrighted material is protected even for non-commercial use. (If you steal my car to provide free transportation for your neighbors, you have still stolen my car.) Those reliable folks at About.com have a whole site devoted to web clip art, but again, make sure that you use it correctly.

A page with a lot of graphics takes more time to load into your browser, so it's a good idea not to use more graphics than you really need. For instance, let's say you need a map of Georgia, and just to make matters more interesting, let's say you want a map of the other Georgia. No problem. Graphic Maps is a great source for maps on the Internet.

Here you'll find some great maps of the European country with the great name.

There are two reasons that I am not including those maps here. One is copyright. The other is a matter of speed and space. The second map takes up 109 KB (KB=1000 bytes of information), that is, more than these three articles combined, and that would considerably slow down your loading this article into your browser. On the Internet, a picture is truly worth a thousand words.

Another way you can make your site more interesting is to use counters, guest books, and calendars. The search engines can help you find such things, but to get started with a single service that offers a wide variety of guest books, chat rooms, greeting cards and other free (advertising supported) features for your website, check out Bravenet. I have used their offerings on several websites, and I have to rave about them. I've never had any problems, and a couple of times when I've had comments or questions, their staff has been more helpful than the folks at some services for which I pay.

Now, what if you build a glorious site, but nobody comes? There are several options. One is to join a webring, an association of web-sites on similar topics, everything from Ukrainian Easter eggs to Vietnam veterans. If you surf the 'net for sites about topics that your site deals with, you probably have found such webrings. Once you join such a ring (and each one has its own rules and procedures), your site will take its place on a ring, through which surfers can move from site to site.

You can get the word out about your site through Usenet newsgroups or mailing lists. These are groups of people who have a sort of e-mail penpal service, to share information on a range of topics. Once you join or subscribe, you will get an unbelievable amount of e-mail on the topic. Again, the variety of topics is amazing--from sport utility vehicles to shamanism. You can include your URL in your e-mail to others on the list. Check out a list of such lists.

Many people find Internet sites through the search engines, such as Yahoo, Altavista, and Google, so do make sure your site gets included. The home page for most search engines provides information for submitting the URL for a site. Or, you can use I Need Hits or Simple Submit to submit to several search engines at a time.

Once you create a web site, it is not just "out there" on the Internet. It becomes a part of your life. Share your URL, your Internet address, with friends and family. Include it on your letterhead and in your Christmas cards. If you are featured in a church or club newsletter, make sure your URL is mentioned. The more you use it, the more uses you will find for it.

The other day, a friend who owns a pet shop was talking about creating a web site for her small business. As we chatted, one of us came up with the possibility that in the future, babies will at birth be issued not only a Social Security number but also a URL. Not quite yet, but, if you have stuck with me through these three articles, you know that you can find free space on the Internet. You can easily register your URL as a "dot-com" domain. You can also download a variety of free programs to create web pages and to upload (send) them to your site, and this time, we've looked at ways to add things to make those pages more interesting.

If you have stuck with me, we’ve roved far and wide, but I’ve tried not to rave too much, just to provide you some handy web-sites where you can learn much more than I know and accumulate some great software for free… which is appropriate for a free-net. Keep your feet dry, and your heart full of noble thoughts, and when you get your web-site up, please let me know.

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