Quick Guide

- Part One
- Part Two

Building a Nirvana Page

Preview: October 12, 1998 @ 4:45 PM
Part II: October 16, 1998 @ 11:00 AM

A special thanks to Greg Mosbacker from Captain America. Without his help this article would have not gotten as far as it has, thanks Greg!

After visiting sites for quite some time, you think that you could do a better job than some of the other pages. Or perhaps you just want to state to the world that you like Nirvana or that your interested in any other topic. Whatever the case may be, you must present your information in a way that appeals to a lot of people. This does not apply to all web pages, but it certainly applies to most.

If your starting out, HTML and building a web page is very difficult. It takes practice, time, and patience. Try to look around at other pages for ideas that might help you out. The first thing you must consider before building a web page is what your actually going to build it with. There are many HTML tools, such as Front Page or Note Pad, which is where you type in the complete HTML code.

When you decide what you will use to build your webpage, find a server to post your webpage on. Different servers have different ways of publishing your files. You might want to see if it is free and other conditions, also. Make sure you become aquianted with the way you publish your files into the directory. Space is also a vital part in the decision. If you want to make a big page, of course you will want as much space as possible.

Making graphics will take some time. Again, like HTML, it will take practice to learn to make them. There are many grahical programs like Adobe Photoshop. However before you make this banner or that, you must come up with a concept for your page. Since this is a Nirvana page you will be building here, that will be the topic.

Probably one of the first things you have in mind is to make a sucessful page. Of course, we all want that. But in reality, it does not come that easy. It takes work, and not all pages grow, if at all, at the same rate.   Some ideas would be to join a banner exchange, web ring, or add your site to a search engine or a big site. That will definitely get the word around.

If you make good content, okay graphics, and update regulary, you should attract visitors. For instance, if you put a peice of meat outside, ants will take it. If you do not add more meat, they will not come back. Adding a big piece of meat at one time will attract many visitors at one time. Becoming too prideful will destory the page, since you "don't need to update it [as often]."

If your going to make a page with sound files, make sure you have plenty of server space. Graphics are not an important part of this kind of page, but it sure helps. Make sure you have a variety of formats: wav., MIDI (although I'm not a big fan of it), Real Audio, and MP3. Include some essential tools such as Real Player and Win Amp that can be downloaded from your site, if a person does not have that.

If your going to make a picture page, make sure you have a lot of pictures ready before hand. Usually a picture gallery alone can not make a sucessful page if it is not met with the main page. Also there is a risk of copying. With over 70 million users, not everyone will be honest.

If your going to make a information page. Try to get as much original information as you can. Graphics are very important here since people will be wandering around your page, like the picture page. Updating this is very important; furthermore, this is probably the most "competitive" of the type of pages, since it competes with others. A general page will include all of this, but information is always important. If your afraid of having your site shut down, do not post sound files that exceeds 30 seconds.