Sure…absolutely! If you have the time and skills it can be very satisfying to create your own website. You can also use a do-it-yourself solution that many web hosts offer. Or, you can use a content management system (CMS). All of these have their pros and cons. Read on if you are asking yourself “Should I Create My Own Website?”
Content Management Systems
Today’s most popular CMS is WordPress. First, it is relatively easy to use. In addition, there is a large community of developers creating themes and plugins to deliver more customized design and functionality. If you have some confidence in dealing with technical issues, design and copy, WordPress might be your ticket.
As soon as you step out of the realm of the immediate theme, things get more complicated. You will need to have some HTML and CSS skills at the very least, plus an understanding of how WordPress is built and handles certain functions. At times, you may have to delve into the MySQL database or modify PHP code. It is a great platform for many purposes. As a matter of fact, we created this website using WordPress with quite a bit of customization.
Hand Coding a Website
To create your own website from scratch means you will need at least HTML and CSS skills. If you do not have some experience with these, expect a steep learning curve and give yourself at least 6 months to feel somewhat comfortable. Even if you delve into a program like Dreamweaver, there will still be a learning curve, so don’t expect the software to be a perfect solution. In addition, JavaScript, AJAX and JQuery are often used in website development. And, for more specialized needs, there are also middle layer programming languages (e.g.; PHP, ASPX, Ruby on Rails, Pearl, Python, etc.).
Website Databases
Databases work with your middle layer programming language (mentioned previously) to display information on your website pages. Many websites rely on a database backbone to deliver content. An online store would likely have a database, as would a membership site. If you are hand coding your own website and you have a lot of content that is displayed on similar pages, a database is probably needed. Although a database can be set up pretty easily at a basic level, there are many details that go into high-quality database development. Do not underestimate this when making decisions on how a website and its database will be created.
Other Options
There are several new options coming on the market as I write this. One of them is geared to designers and claims to build the site for you with artificial intelligence based on your content. I have not yet used it, but I am intrigued by the promises I have seen. More to come on this in the future.
You can also use some great online resources to learn more about website development such as Lynda.com or First Site Guide.
We also offer our clients computer graphics training that will help you learn very specific skills so that you can build and maintain your site in the future.