Hints for the E-Beginner (page 1 of 2)

Unfortunately, in the Arab world websites are often used primarily for two things: chatting and forums. These are two of the Internet features which can be used wrongly if over used. The real benefits that Internet provides are not being taken full advantage of by people in the Arab world. The Web has brought with it an enormous amount of profit through advertising and promotion for some companies but its real benefits are the communication tools it provides, and which will benefit users in many ways, including enabling them to build their own website.

Before starting to build a website you must learn some basic terminology that is needed for constructing the website and review some information that you need, as a beginner, in the E-field.

First: a list of some important vocabulary:
1- Domain: this is the name that you type into the address bar to reach the desired web site. For example www.YAHOO.com

2- Server: Computer used to provide files or make programs available to other computers
3- FTP: Protocol used to transfer files between TCP/IP connected computers on the Internet.

4- Hosting: a service provided by some Arabic or foreign companies to 'host' or store your web site. The goal is to establish your own account with a web hosting service which can be accessible on the Internet for twenty four hours a day.

5- PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor Language - a programming language used for designing interactive websites.

6- HTML: Hypertext Markup Language - a programming language which includes set of codes (or tags) attached to text for designing non-interactive websites.

To start building your own website you have to learn how to use one of the website programming languages such as HTML or PHP. You can do this by searching the web for sites that give lessons and tutorials for these languages. For example www.w3scholes.com is one of the best sites that teaches the HTML language, and more over, it provides tests to show if you understood the concepts or not. It also includes many other features. Alternatively, if you don't want to learn these languages you can simply use some helpful web design programs such as MS FrontPage or Macromedia Dreamweaver to design your website.

Specialization

Many Arabic websites are not specialized in a specific field, and this is one of the most important reasons for web site failure. For example, there are thousands of Arabic websites that only contain chatting and repeated scripts and forums for everything. Specialization is what really makes a website unique, for example: there is studiolina.com which specializes in design using Photoshop, sauditech.com which specializes in computer solutions and IT-related topics and Tejari.com which specializes in B2B online auctions. There are many other examples of successful Arabic websites. However, for every person there is a specialized field in which he can be productive. To get started you have to identify your area of specialization, develop a business plan, and identify your competitive advantages before you can start building your website.

The First Step to Creating Your Website

After you have identified the area that you want to specialize in, and developed your business plan, start gathering all the information that you may need for your website such as pictures, clips, articles, etc.

The Second Step

Next it will be the time to choose the name for your website which is the Domain to allocate your place on the Web.