Building a Site Part 1 - Doing it From Scratch

Whenever you’re going to start a new website you have a lot of options in front of you as to what you should to do build your site. Should you try to build it yourself from scratch? Should you hire it out? Or should you use a building program to make it a bit easier for doing it on your own? In the end, I don’t have a blanket answer for you. So over the next couple of days I want to address each of these topics so you can decide which might be the best route for you.

First, let’s talk about doing it from scratch.

Doing it Yourself

Simply put, if you know what you’re doing this is probably one of the best options for control. If you put it together, you know what to do to change it and make updates as you need to. On the other hand, if you don’t know much about HTML, PHP (for shopping carts and other platforms), or other basics about website building then this probably isn’t the best option for you.

Time

Another point to consider if you’re going to do the site completely on your own is that unless you’re really fast it could take longer to put it together on your own. This will depend on the person, but you could possible get it built faster going with one of the other methods.

Cost

Unless you already have the programs, you might have to invest a little bit to build your site from scratch. FrontPage really isn’t the best option, most designers make fun of it all the time. I’ll admit that I’ve never touched it, but that’s mainly because of all the negative things that I’ve heard about it. My personal favorite is DreamWeaver, but the price tag is a little high. Another option would be Nvu. I don’t think it’s as good as DreamWeaver, but the price is nice (its FREE!)

I know that this is in no way a comprehensive list of things to consider if you’re going to build the site on your own. My goal with this series is just to get you thinking about what would be the best option for YOU.  Until next time!

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