How to Make Your Own Homepage for Free
- 1). Start with a social site such as MySpace.com, which lets you create a homepage quickly by answering a few questions and selecting options. Though your page must follow a predetermined format, it already has built-in tools for adding pictures, text, video and sound, and for communicating with visitors. (See Reference 1.)
Because social sites are geared to friendly interaction, they may lack professionalism and be inappropriate for business pages. Your creation may also be restricted for viewing only to site members which works if you are concerned about security and privacy but may be too limiting if you're trying to reach a broader demographic. - 2). Create a free blog, such as on Blogger.com, if you need more flexibility and want to reach a general audience. You can add features such as advertisements, surveys, pictures and video by dragging options from a graphical interface. If the built-in layouts aren't sufficient, you can choose from thousands of user-created templates.
About the only disadvantage of a blog homepage is that it must consist of entries separated into specific time periods (such as days or weeks). It may thus not work if you need a catalog or table. However, entries are easy to add and edit. The blog is also a commonly accepted format for both professional and leisure pages. (See Reference 2.) - 3). Consider a site such as Google Sites if you want to have the most control over your site's appearance. Though the default requires a header and sidebar, you can remove either or both so you have a blank page, or you can divide the page into multiple columns. You can then insert placeholders for images, ads, maps and text. If you need to control the layout of items in individual columns, insert a borderless table and insert your objects into different cells.
For further control, you can add HTML coding. You can choose from a constantly growing list of gadgets such as games, weather, news and traffic reports, whose functions are only limited by the imaginations of their creators. Finally, your home site can consist of several linked pages, each with different layouts. (See Reference 3.) - 4). Test your home page by viewing it through different browsers and different operating systems such as Macintosh or Windows. You may need to generalize the layout more to accommodate different users. You can also design your web page for a specific browser and system, but inform the viewer of that limitation in the header or footer of your page.
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