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REQUIREMENTS

At the simplest level, you require a domain name, a hosting service, content, and publishing capability.

Domain Name: Your domain name, yourstudio.com, is a unique URL (address) that will appear when typed into a browser or search engine. Your domain name is reserved through an online registry service. The largest and most reputable is Network Solutions (www.networksolutions.com), although many hosting services now offer rates far lower than that of Network Solutions. You can expect to pay anywhere between $3.95 and $25.

Beware of fly-by-night services that can disappear or suddenly become incomunicado. An experienced web designer can help steer you to a reputable service.

Hosting Service: Your hosting service rents space to you on their "servers", computers that store your web site and serve it up when the URL is requested. Competition in recent years has brought down monthly hosting rates, although the price will vary according to how much and what type of content you plan to display. Again beware of fly-by-night hosting companies that promise free or $3.95/month hosting. You could find your website covered with banner ads, or you might find it difficult to get the technical support you need.

To read about two highly recommended hosting services, click on these links.

or use HostRocket.Com

Content: The content is the information and graphics, photos etc that you want displayed on your website. It is also recommended that your print advertising materials (business cards, letterhead, invoices, brochures) are consistent designwise with your web presence.

Organization: Organize the categories of information you want your designer to create. Make a mockup if possible; it will save time and money. Typical studio websites contain the following pages: home, about, schedule, rates, contact. Extras can include gallery, links, FAQ, message board, student recognition page, health benefits, online purchase of membership or products.

Creation: Some hosting services have user friendly templates and publishing capability available to their hosting clients. Others offer downloads of programs used specifically for website creation. These programs format the content in a way that the browsers (Internet Explorer and others) can understand and display it. The language used is HTML, along with other more sophisticated languages for specific functions (java script, C+, perl, PhP etc) but software packages like the templates, Adobe's GoLive, Macromedia's Dreamweaver, and Microsoft Front Page (and some free html programs) do not require knowledge of these languages to make web pages.

Publishing capability: It is useful to have a web developer to advise you in making your choices, and to design a site for you if that is the direction you wish to go. The designer will work with you, make recommendations as to content organization, graphic design, and special features to meet your specific standards and business needs. The designer can also design the full package for your business--business stationary, brochures, signs, and the web site for a unified, integrated look and feel.

For more information about web design, contact Diane Rabinowitz.

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