Site History
When it all started from
Since 1998 I have been producing web sites They started off as personal web sites. With limited knowledge of computers and programs I had to work it ALL out on my own. I do not have any qualifications in IT, neither have I had any lessons in it. All my knowledge has come from my enthusiasm in computers as a whole, and my desire to use them more to their full potential. My enthusiasm for computers started in 1992 when we purchased an Amiga 600 Commodore, since then it has ever increased.
Why am I doing this?
I want to do a degree in Computer Science. After I finish my A-Levels Thanks to my decision in studying Physics this should help me in my application to a university. In the mean time I want to expand on my knowledge of computers, programs and web page design. So I decided the best way to do this and keep me interested in it I decided to start, run and maintain a web site.
What do I use?
When I started off I used Microsoft word 97 to build my web sites. Then I moved up to use Serif Pageplus & Frontpage Express. If you have just started to build your own web sites I suggest you use something like Serifpage Plus as it is pretty simple to use with its 'what-you-see-is-what-you-get' design. Though now I use Dreamweaver 4, which is quite expensive, so I don't suggest you buy it for personal sites unless you are going to do something like I have, for future experience for a job in computing.
What Sites have I done?
I've done several sites. My first ever site was called icedotcom and was a single page with animation's and a bit of writing on, which I think was pretty okay for a 13 year old! A few sites followed like that until I made a new site called Urbanshit unfortunately, after I added a web poll I found out that many people where wary of this site, and believed it was a 'hack' site or their computer would be infected with a virus. Since then I have done a few sites for unsigned bands. But presently I've decided to try and put all my efforts into one 'professional' looking site. The only problems I have encountered are the ability to find useful information/features to put on the site that people want.
What have I learned?
Well everything you see, everything I have ever done on this site and on any other computer I've worked out how to do myself, usually though trial and error. But to give you a hint for your personal site, the most resent thing I've worked out and tested is 'Picture-Splitting'. Have you ever gone to a site and it's taking ages to load? And your not sure if it's not working or just taking a long time? Well this is usually do to the sites graphics (jpeg., JPG. or gif.) usually they are pretty small files but large pictures can take a long time to load on a 56K modem. To not as much speed this load up but more let your visitors know it is loading is to split the graphics into blocks. My main design which I created though a pre-existing Metallica logo and adding/editing factors of my own I split into three sections. This means one area will load then the next and so on until the full picture is loaded. You must ensure though that you've aligned them correctly or viewers will just see a mess with pictures everywhere, and promptly leave. Also if you have a 'picture' page on your site use thumbnail pictures to view and THEN open up the larger file, this minimises the viewers load times! Making viewers happier.