Launching a new website is a process, which starts with an idea, goes through planning and research before you go to realization. How much time you dedicate to each of these steps varies from one project to another. I would like to get in details about the last step - building the web site.
Once you have established the genre - the topic of your web site and you have gathered the necessary information and resources, it's time to get the web site online. But
what is the easiest way to launch a new website? That's the question that I am going to answer in this article.
Today there are many content management systems (CMS), which you can use to build your web site. They all have some basic features that make them alike:
- web admin panel for managing content, menus, etc.;
- user management - users can register and post comments, articles, news;
- template system, which allows customization of the layout;
- a way to extend the functionality - usually by adding modules or addons.
These content management systems are the result of months, even years of work usually of more than one developer as many of them are community developed. Unless you have very specific needs, using one of the ready-for-use solutions is usually the best choice - it saves you time and money and allows you to create your web site in a matter of days rather than weeks or months.
My personal favorite is Joomla. I have dedicated an article to Joomla in FreeHostia's blog, read it to learn in details what it has to offer:
http://www.freehostia.com/blog/webhosti ... l-cms.html
Joomla has everything a good CMS needs and also provides you with the ability to expand its functionality by installing add-ons. You can also modify the appearance by installing new templates and fine-tunning them to best suit your website's genre.
So to answer the initial question - the easiest way to launch a new website is by using Joomla. At FreeHostia we have made it even easier for our hosting users by providing them with the option to install Joomla using the Elefante Installer (read my article about Elefante Installer). I have created a video that shows you how you can setup your web site with Joomla in less than 5 minutes, literally.
Watch the movie here.
To personalize the look of your website, you can use one of the
free Joomla templates available at FreeHostia's website.
There are two more videos, which you may find interesting. The first one shows you how to
download a free Joomla template. The second one shows you how to
install it
Some other interesting articles and videos:
Creating a web site – first steps
Choosing a domain name
Domain registration through CP_________________
Cheers,
Steve
Support Team Supervisor
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