Have you
ever felt amazed at how things changed over the last years? The Internet
has become as common as the telephone. E-mail makes people totally forget
about the existence of regular mail. Having a web site is now more important
than having a business card.
Actually,
many people now think that having one web site is not enough. Really,
would you present yourself the same way to your potential employers,
family members and former schoolmates? Of course not! On the first site
you would probably place your professional resume - and will refer to
it in an employment classified. On the second, you would place new pictures
of you and your fiancé - you may want to share them with your parents
in Minnesota and your sister in Paris. On the third, you will open a
picture gallery out of the old school pics - maybe, this will help you
find your old good friend whose trace you lost many years ago…
And so,
you have decided to make up your own website. High time! But do you
know enough HTML? Or do you want to create your site using a text editor?
In either case, you will end up spending days and days to have your
site look attractive and getting all things work. Not the best solution.
Or, maybe, you want to pay hundreds of dollars for these web designer
guys to do the job?
Well, here
is the solution. We will save your time and efforts, and what's even
more important, you can be personally involved in the Art of Web Design.
To create a professional-looking web site using Our Online Web Building
Tool, you don't need any special knowledge or experience. The wizard-like
program structure will guide you through the whole site-construction
process step by step. Now you become a web designer, a creator, an Artist!
You can juggle around with page layouts, colors, themes, add various
effect and much, much more, everything with a single mouse click!
Within a half hour you can have your site created and published on the
Internet!
So,
if you feel this is what you need, welcome on board!
Usually
a site constitutes of a series of pages, each devoted to a separate
topic, article or resource. The Web Building Tool offers you a set of
templates for all common pages:
- Splash
Screen:
the home page or index page that welcomes visitors and contains references
to all other pages.
- About:
the page to provide information about the purpose of the site, the
owner of the site, and any other relevant data.
- Resume:
if you seek employment via the Internet, this is the central page
containing a short account of your career and qualifications.
- Links:
the page where you list your links to related web sites or pages.
- Custom
Table Page:
a page with any data organized in table format.
- Site
Map.
If your site is becoming complex and hard to navigate, a site map
will become helpful to get around.
- Photo
Album:
a sequence of pages containing images. You may want to use it for
posting photos of yourself, your friends, your family, your art works,
postcards, etc. If you are a production or service company, use it
to advertise your products or services. One site may contain more
than one photo album.
- Your
Own HTML.
This tool contains a simple HTML editor allowing you to create web
pages based on your own HTML script. Recommended for advanced users.
- Humor:
a tool that helps you organize your jokes, funny pictures, humorous
stories and other fun topics.
- Survey
Form:
a quick tool for drawing up visitor questionnaires.
- Generic
Page:
a powerful tool to create pages with any layout, containing both text
and images.
- Genealogical
Tree:
a quick tool for creating a family tree. The output is a list of entries
each devoted to an ancestor or a family member.
- Calendar:
the page where you can list events with dates and comments.
- ICQ
Contact Center.
If you extensively use ICQ, you will find this form of messaging the
most convenient.
- Driving
Directions:
a powerful tool for visitors to get the driving directions to the
place in North America that you specify.
- Amazon.com
Web Store.
If you want to offer your visitor some books for sale, this is the
page for you. To use this feature, you need to sign up with the Amazon.com
associate program.
- Mobile
Pager.
A page from which site visitors can reach you on a cell phone or a
pager with Internet messaging support. To use this feature, you need
to be subscribed with Bell Atlantic Mobil or Sprint PCS.
Every time
your site is visited, the first page to open would always be the Welcome
Page, or Splash Screen in other terms. So, it would be a good idea to
begin your site with the Splash Screen.
If you
chose to follow this advice, select Splash Screen in the box provided.
Click Next to continue with the design of the page.
Splash
Screen is the home page that welcomes visitors and contains links to
all other pages.
To configure
Splash Screen, fill out the Splash Page form:
- Splash
Theme:
the main parameter that determines the look of your home page. Site
Studio offers several Splash Screen templates (themes). Choose one
- you can change it any time in the future. The current version of
Site Studio does not provide immediate preview, so it is recommended
to configure it after you configure all other parameters (see instructions
below in this section).
- Logo
image:
Splash Screen templates are designed to include a welcome image. You
can select a picture that is stored on your hard disk or has been
already uploaded to your gallery. To include a picture click the "Select
Image" button and follow the on-screen instructions.
- Page
Title:
This is the text that will show up on the welcome page in big letters.
This would usually be either the name of your site or a welcome sentence.
- Lock
Splash Settings:
By default, Splash Screen is not affected by the global color settings
for your site. Here, you can allow Site Studio to modify Splash Screen
properties by checking "No" radio button in the Lock Splash
Settings field.
As you
finish, click the Next button to save your settings. The View
tab (see Tabs for details) will open for preview.
How do you like your welcome page?
Okay, now
let us look back at the themes. Click the Edit tab and select
a different theme, then go to the bottom of the page and click Next.
Try other themes to choose the best one.
Important:
your site will be published only after you press the Publish link
on the menu bar, in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
The About
page is commonly used to provide the following blocks of information:
- The
purpose of the site;
- The
owner of the site (a person or a company);
- Any
other relevant data.
Enter your
text into the boxes provided. Paragraph headings are optional.
Site Studio
allows you to include a picture into the About page. This could
be a picture of yourself (for a personal site), your working team (for
a company), a logo or any other relevant image. To include a picture,
click the "Select Image" button. Then follow the on-screen instructions.
After you
add an image, its thumb view will become available in the form, as well
as a Remove Image button. Click it to remove selected image from
the About page.
After you
key in or copy/paste the data you want to show on your About page,
click the Next button to save your settings, and you will be
brought to the View tab (see Tabs for details).
This is
the central page for those who seek employment via the Internet. It
provides an easy-to-use wizard that allows you to effectively manipulate
the data you would like to include into your resume.
As the
first step, you will see seven boxes with suggested section headings,
each with an Add button on its right. Click the Add button
to enter data into the relevant section. A new form will appear. Fill
it out and press Next to return to the main Resume page. The
information you entered will show in the box; also, Edit and
Delete buttons will be added. Click Edit to change contents
of the box, and Delete to clear the contents. Follow this instruction
for every section you want to include into your resume.
Note: In the Experience section form, you will
have an in-built form for job duties. The instructions are exactly the
same as above.
Attention: Make sure you don’t add empty forms! They will
be included into your resume, too.
You can
preview your resume at any moment by clicking the View tab (see
more on Tabs). Your all changes will NOT be lost.
At the end, however, don’t forget to confirm the changes by pressing
the Next button!
Now that
you see your resume in a complete form, you may see how to make it more
visually appealing. Click Settings tab to change color, font
or style (see more on Tabs).
When you
have your web page in front of your eyes you may decide to change the
order of some paragraphs. It's simple and fast.
- Click
the Order Elements link to re-order your paragraphs. A new
window will appear.
- In the
box, click to highlight the name of the item you want to move;
- Use
the
and 
buttons to move the selected item up or down the
list;
- Click
the Next button to save changes and return to the Resume Edit
page.
Part of
expressing yourself through a web page is including links to your favorite
web sites. The links you choose to include on your page can communicate
your interests and hobbies. If your goal is a company site, think of
resources related to your field or industry. A carefully designed collection
of related links can make your site a good launching place and will
help you promote your site - and business.
- Header
Text:
The text that shows at the top of the Links page as a header.
It usually details the page title or serves as a header to the introductory
paragraph.
- Paragraph:
The introductory paragraph to the Links page.
- Columns
of Links to Display:
Links can be organized into multiple columns.
- Add
button is used to create a new Link category.
To keep
your links organized, SiteStudio places new entries into categories.
To add a category or links to your Links page:
- Click
the Add button. This will call another form.
- Enter
the name of the category;
- Click
Add (Add Link);
- Fill
in the fields (Site title and Site URL), than click Next to
continue;
- To add
link - click Add;
- To make
some changes - click Edit;
- To delete
link - click Remove;
- Click
Next when finished.
To edit
an existing category:
- Click
Edit button;
- Edit
the name of the category;
- Click
Add to include a new link;
- Click
Next to save changes.
To delete
an existing category, click Delete button. Warning: All
links contained in this category will be permanently deleted!
Custom
page table is a page with any data organized in a table format. To create
a table, fill out the form:
- Border:
enter a numerical value representing the width of grids in pixels.
To hide grids, leave the field empty or enter 0.
- Width:
Table width can be indicated in pixels or in percent of the page width.
To enter width in percent, put the "%" symbol after the numerical
value.
- Cell
Padding:
distance from text to border, both vertical and horizontal.
- Align:
aligns the table on the page.
- Resize:
Enter the number of rows and columns for your table and press Resize
button before clicking Next.
Note: If
you input an incompatible set of parameters, Site Studio will optimize
conflicts in these data.
This page
shows the structure of your site. It is generated automatically and
does not allow editing. However, you can configure its settings, just
like you it for other pages.
For a personal
site a photo gallery may become the central element with photos of yourself,
your friends, your family, your art works, postcards, etc. For a production
or service company, it may be used to advertise your products or services.
To create
a photo album, fill out the fields in the form as the first step:
- Title:
the text that shows at the top of the menu bar.
- Select
numbers of pictures per page:
Mind the size of your pictures. It is recommended that all your pictures
fit one screen. Follow the simple rule: the bigger the image size,
the fewer pictures per page.
- Enter
the number of columns:
Change this parameter depending on whether your images have a horizontal
or a vertical layout.
In the
next step, add images to the Photo Album:
- Click
Add. A new form will appear;
- Fill
in the picture title and the date in any format;
- Click
the Select Image button. You will be brought to the Upload
Images page. Follow on-screen instructions to add a new image.
- Add
details. This may be a description of the place or names of people
in the picture.
- Click
the Next button to proceed.
To change
or remove images use the buttons under the Image.
To add
more images to your album click Add and repeat the steps above.
This tool
contains a simple HTML editor allowing you to create web pages based
on your own HTML script. However, it is recommended that you create
your files in specialized html editors. To upload a file from your hard
drive, click the Upload File button at the bottom of the page.
When uploading
your own HTML page, try to avoid non-Latin characters, spaces, underlines,
commas, dots, hyphens, etc. It is recommended that your file name only
includes letters of Latin alphabet and numbers.
Fun page
template helps you organize your fun topics. To add an item, click the
Add button for the appropriate category and fill out the form
that appears.
To add
pictures to your Fun Page:
- Click
Add in the in the Add Funny Pictures box. A new form
will appear.
- Enter
the name of the picture.
- Click
the Select Image button. You will be brought to the Upload
Images page. Follow on-screen instructions to add the new image.
- Add
text. This may be any comment to the new image.
- Click
the Next button to proceed.
- Click
the View tab to see the page preview.
- Click
the Edit tab to continue editing the page.
To change
or remove images or texts, use the Edit and Delete buttons
on the left of the picture or text.
To add
more images to your album click Add and repeat the steps above.
To change
the order of the jokes, images or stories, click the Order Items
button in the appropriate form. A new form will appear. Follow on-screen
instructions to change the order of the items in the topic.
This template
will help you develop a custom online questionnaire. Use it to research
public opinion or to get feedback from your customers.
To generate
a questionnaire, fill out the form:
Page
Title:
Page title is the text that will show at the top of the menu bar. For
convenience, it duplicates the same field in the Settings tab.
In this field, you can change SiteStudio default name from "Survey"
to, say, "Questionnaire" or "Feedback".
Button
Text:
This is the text that will show up on the global site menu among other
page names. It may be the same as the Page Title, or you can give it
a different name.
E-mail
To:
Here, enter the address where you want the survey results e-mailed.
It can be the Webmaster’s (i.e. your) address as well as any other
address you specify.
Questions:
To add a question, click the Add button on the right. A new form
appears. Checking "Yes" in the Is The Answer Required
field marks the survey question with a red asterisk. The survey will
not be accepted from a visitor if one or more asterisked questions remain
unanswered. The Question Type determines the format of the suggested
answer. Carefully fill out this form and click the Next button
to proceed.
On Successful
Submission of the Form:
Here, enter the text you want the visitor to see after the form has
been accepted.
On Error
Submission of the Form:
Here, enter the text you want the visitor to see after the form has
been rejected or an error occurred.
Click the
Next button to generate the questionnaire.
Generic
Page template has been designed to enable fast and simple creation of
custom pages that do not fall into any other categories. You can choose
how to lay out your images and text depending on your tastes, needs
and circumstances.
- Marquee:
This is a scrolling area of text. To add a marquee, click Add
link. A marquee form will appear. Enter the text you want to scroll,
width and height in pixels, scrolling speed, horizontal page alignment
and vertical screen position, and the font style. Press the Submit
button to proceed.
- Number
of Columns:
Multiple columns for the whole page can be combined with individual
paragraph design.
- Choose
Title For this Page:
Page title is the text that will show at the top of the menu bar.
For convenience, it repeats the same field in the Settings
tab.
- Choose
Link Text: This text will show on other pages as a hyperlink to
this page.
- Edit
Paragraphs: You can add, delete and edit only individual paragraphs,
including headers, body texts, images and image titles. All elements
are optional!
To add
or edit paragraphs:
- Click
Add or Edit. A new form will appear.
- Select
paragraph layout by sliding you mouse over the buttons at the bottom
of the page and clicking one of them.
- Enter
Paragraph Header;
- Click
the Select Image button to add a picture;
- Enter
Paragraph Text;
- Click
Next to preview.
Your family
page includes two major blocks of information, one about the whole family,
and the other about its individual representatives.
To provide
general family information enter the following fields:
- Title:
It could be as generic as "My Family" or as specific as "The Simpsons
Family Tree".
- Header
Text:
give some introductory information about your family.
- Family
Portrait:
Click the Select Image button to add a picture from your computer.
To provide
information about individual family representatives:
- click
the Add button. A Family Member form will appear.
- Fill
out the form. (Note: The date format does not matter). It is
recommended to start your Family Tree with the ancestors.
Warning:
Clicking the Delete tab will remove the whole Family Tree Page,
not a family member page! To remove individual persons from the family
tree, click Next in the Family Member form to return to
the Family Tree form and click the Delete button on the
left of the person’s name.
On the
Family Tree central page you can see the general family genealogy
information.
To view
individual family member’s page, click this person’s name.
To return to the general family page, click Back to Family Tree
at the bottom.
The calendar
is nothing but a page listing events like birthdays, anniversaries,
etc.
- Date:
this field is insensitive to the format of the date.
- Headline:
what is the event about. E.g.: "Our fiftieth wedding anniversary".
- Text:
the optional comment you may want to add. E.g.: "Not celebrating".
- Type:
the color in which the record will appear:
- Usual
- green;
- Important
- blue;
- Alert
- red.
If you
extensively use ICQ, you will find this form of messaging the most convenient.
To add
the ICQ Contact Center page, fill out the fields:
- ICQ
Number:
your active ICQ number to which the messages will be directed. You
can copy it from your ICQ View/Change My Details window.
- Subject:
Every message directed to you by a visitor of your site will have
this subject included. A good name for the Subject would be something
like "Sent From My Site".
- Online
Indicator Type:
Your ICQ-message page contains an online indicator that shows your
current status (e.g. online or offline). Here, you can
choose how you want it to look. To preview, click the View
tab. To continue editing, click Edit tab.
- Status
Indicator Description:
The text that appears next to the online indicator. You can change
the default text to, for instance, "The Webmaster is". Some
indicator types include text like "My current status is:" For
these types, keep this field blank.
Press the
Next button to proceed.
This is
a powerful tool for visitors to get the driving directions to any address
in North America that you specify. For a personal site, this can be
your home or hangout. For a business site, show the location of your
restaurant, store (supermarket) or a service center.
To create
the page, enter the details of the destination address and press the
Next button to preview.
To change
data, click the Edit tab.
To create
your online bookstore, do the following steps:
1. Sign
up.
You need
to sign up to become an Amazon.com associate. Click here
to sign up or here
to find more about the associate program.
2.Fill
out the form
- Associates
ID:
After you subscribe with the associate program, you will be assigned
an associate ID. Enter it into this field.
- Create
Your Sales List:
enter the names, prices, and descriptions of the books you want to
sell. Then press Next to preview.
Configuring
mobile messaging with the Web Building Tool is as simple as entering
the phone or pager number, selecting service type and provider and clicking
the Next button.
Tabs
Look at
the tabs right under the toolbar menu. They supplement every page-designing
tool:
Edit
tab opens by default, suggesting that you should enter or change your
data before viewing it. Forms in the Edit tab vary greatly from
page to page.
View
tab allows you to view your changes. This option is always available
when you work on Edit or Settings tab. This means that after you introduce
any changes to your page data or settings, you can immediately view
them by clicking the View tab.
Settings
tab. Here you can customize all parameters for your page. For details
go to Standard Settings Tab.
Delete
tab permanently removes the page from your site.
Note:
You can switch between tabs to change any data or settings any time
during the page construction process or later.
Standard Settings Tab
Page Title
Page title
is the text that will show at the top of the menu bar. In this field,
you can change SiteStudio default name from "Fun Page" to, say, "Laugh
with us".
Button
Text
This is
the text that will show up on your site’s menu among other page
names. It may be the same as the Page Title, or you can give it a different
name. For example, if your Page Title is "Fun Page", you may want to
add some versatility by typing something like "Smile!"
File Name
Technically,
your site is nothing but an organized inter-linked group of html pages
(files). SiteStudio enables you to assign a specific name for every
page that you add to your site. It is recommended that your file name
only includes letters of Latin alphabet and numbers. Try to avoid non-Latin
characters, spaces, underlines, commas, dots, hyphens, etc.
Title,
Text, Heading
You can
select:
- Font
- use pull-down menu;
- Color
- click on Change color button, when the color scheme appears,
click on Selected color;
- Lettering
Style - simply click on letter symbol.
After you
change the settings click Next to see the result.
Rollover
effect
When you
move your mouse over some elements on a page, they may change their
color, shape and other properties. This is called Rollover Effect.
Background
Image
You can
place the contents of your page on an image. However, try to be discreet
with choosing the background. Avoid using photographs or bright decorations,
as they may hinder text readability.
Colors
SiteStudio
allows you to change the color palette for every site's page. Their
default HTML codes are in the boxes next to the parameter names. You
don’t need to know these codes. Instead, click the 
icon to call a Color Picker - a palette with colors available
- and select the color you like. The "Color" section allows you
to change background, text and links color. Just select the element
you wish to modify and click on the color you like.
Note:
If you decide to change background color, ensure that the text on
your page is clearly readable. There must be sufficient contrast between
the text and the background image. A background with too much contrast
competes with the text for reader's attention and makes it difficult
to read.
Secure
You can
make your page open to general public or closed (secure). Secure sites
or pages are often used by multinational companies to communicate closed
information to its representatives worldwide, where e-mailing is not
appropriate.
Choose
Yes if you want to restrict access to the page. The frame will
expand to include a drop-down list box where you can choose who is allowed
to view the page. To create an authorized user or user group, go to
Site Settings -> Edit Security Information (for comments
see Edit Security Information help
section).
Go to the
directory or folder on your computer where your picture is saved, select
the picture you want to add to your page, and click the Open button.
The location of the selected file appears in the "Upload Image" window.
Click the Upload button in the "Upload Image" window.
You can
select images from:
- Your
own computer;
- Gallery
of images that you have uploaded before (your gallery);
- SiteStudio
image library (not included in some versions).
To re-order
your pages do the following:
- Click
to highlight the name of the page that you want to move;
- Use
the
and 
buttons to move the selected item up or down
the list;
- Click
the Next button to save changes.
Click the
category you need help with:
Note:
When available, use the navigation buttons inside the browser window.
For some pages, your browser's Back and Forward buttons
will not work correctly. If a page fails to load, or does not reflect
last changes, click your browser's Reload or Refresh button
to update the page.
website category
To
select the website category, scroll the list of suggested topics in
the box in the right half of the page. Select the topic for your site
and click it. Then, click the Next button. You will be brought
to the Select Website Color and Style page.
Attention:
Once you begin to create your site you may not change the website category!!!
To change the category, you will have to start anew, which will delete
ALL PREVIOUSLY SAVED SITES.
website color &
Choosing
a correct layout is crucial for the success of your web site, as it
will determine the look of every page. Site Studio is equipped with
a number of pre-designed Overall Site Layouts. Go through
the list in the upper left box by mouse-clicking each item or using
cursor keys on your keyboard. Sample pages will be shown in the preview
window on the right. Stop on the one that will best suit the contents
of your site.
Then, select
a color scheme in the lower box. It will only affect the menu bar; colors
for every individual page are set at a later stage (see Standard Settings Tab).
You can
change your layout and color scheme any time in the future without losing
any information whatsoever, even when the construction of the site is
complete.
The checkbox allows you to apply selected layout and color scheme to all
pages on your site. It comes checked by default. If you uncheck it, the
layout and color settings will only affect the pages you create after
applying these changes; the pages you created before will remain unchanged.
Changing this option doesn’t affect your settings in any way, if
you are only beginning to create your site.
After you
select the layout and color settings, click Next to move on.
Global Settings
Web readers
often want or need to contact the person who created and maintains the
web site. Global Settings form requires you to enter basic information
that will help identifying the site and its author after it is published.
In the
Search Engine Keywords box enter the words or word combinations that
distinguish your site from all other sites on the Internet. They will
be helpful when somebody tries to find your site with a search engine.
Think of the words that would be most characteristic of your site.
In the
Search Engine Description box enter a short description of your site,
like an answer to the question: What is it about? If an Internet user
finds your site with a search engine, this description will show right
under the site name.
You can
enable visitors to perform text search on your site. This functionality
takes a form of a textbox added to the menu bar. A visitor will type
a word or a combination of words and they will be searched throughout
all texts on your site. If you want to include a search engine into
your site, click "yes" at the bottom of the form. Otherwise,
choose "no".
At this
point, you are done with general site settings. Click the Next
button to configure individual pages.
Website theme / effects
Add themes
and special effects! Make snowflakes fall down in the browser, add logos
that stay put as the user scrolls, and tons of other cool features,
all with easy point and click selection.
There are
several check boxes to indicate and select the theme (javascript effects)
that you can see on your web page. Use pull-down menu for selection.
Then, click Next to preview.
Falling
Things:
- Snow
- the snowflakes will fall on your screen;
- Snow
1 - just the same action but another type of snowflakes;
- Leaves
- the leaves will fall and fly on your screen;
- Angels
- the same actions but Angels (instead of leaves) will fall on your
screen.
Items.
Please use pull-down menu to select the number of snowflakes (leaves).
Theme 1.
Here you can include the "Top down curtain" effect. Try not to include
too many effects.
Cursor
pointer. Here you can select:
- Cursor
text. The name of the web page will trail the cursor.
- Colorful
tail. The colorful tail will follow the cursor.
Site
logo. Specify where you want to place the Logo image.
Logo duration.
Specify how long you want the Logo to show on the page after it is loaded.
Alt text.
Enter the tooltip text - a brief message that will pop up next to the
cursor when it stops over the Logo image.
Load
/ Save website
You can
save up to five different versions of your site. Make sure the names
you enter reflect changes between versions.
Attention:
Before retrieving a previously saved website, save your work! If you
don’t save your current project, you will lose it. SiteStudio can
work with only one site at a time.
Warning:
Starting over will delete ALL PREVIOUSLY SAVED SITES. To start
a completely new site, you need to register as a new user.
Note:
Saving your web site will not publish it. To publish your site, click
the publish link at the upper left-hand corner on the menu panel.
Start
Over
Scrap all
your pages with one click, and begin designing anew. Use this option
only if you are completely sure. There will be no way to get back your
current pages if you start over.
This option
allows you to delete all your web pages with ONE click and start to
design from the beginning. Warning: You will lose your current
site as well as ALL PREVIOUSLY SAVED SITES. Don’t use this
function if you are not strongly sure!
Edit
Security Info
You can
make your site open to general public or closed (secure). Secure sites
are often used by multinational companies to communicate current information
to its representatives worldwide, where e-mailing is not appropriate.
In this
section you need to specify the users or user groups authorized to access
your secure site. After you include them into the authorized user list,
communicate to them their passwords.
To secure
individual pages, go to Page Settings tab (see Page
Settings help section for details).
Here you
can see and inspect all the web pages your web site consists of.
- to preview
page content click View. You will be brought to the page’s
View tab.
- to change,
add or delete info - click Edit. You will be brought to the
page’s Edit tab.
- to delete
the page click Remove. The page will be permanently deleted.
- to change
the look and feel of the page, click Settings. You will be
brought to the Page Settings tab.
