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Website Additions
Learn how to add graphics, add background music, add an Online Calendar, add a chat room and more.
Creating a Message Board (Forum)
Option 1 - Create your own message board
You could design and write your own message board software.
Option 2 - Buy, install, run, and maintain Message Board Software on your own server
You could buy message board(forum) software and then install and maintain it on your own server.
Option 3 - Use a Message Board Hosting service
You could use a Message Board Hosting service.
Free Site Search Engine
If you have a large Web site with lots of pages and a good mixture of material, creating a good navigation scheme for it can be very hard. How can you get your visitors to the information they want without lots of confusing labels, pictures and links? Site search engines provide this capability.
Here's a simple utility which can quickly create site specific search engine for you. This is a Windows program that you download and run on your home computer. It works with the local copy of your Web site and creates the additional HTML file which contains all necessary code and data to add search capabilities to your site.
You can also use this program as a free site map builder, since the created file can act like a site map with search capabilities. See below for more details.
You can run this free site search engine on any Web server (both Internet and Intranet) and even on your hard drive. The only requirement is the JavaScript enabled browser. You have full control over the appearance of the search results page. And you can specify which pages of your site need to be included in the search index.
Download Site Search Engine 1.12 [204 KB]
It's the single Windows EXE file that requires no installation and can be run from anywhere on your hard drive.
Here's how to create your site search engine quickly...
1) Select the initial directory that contains the copy of your Web site, choose the desired file extensions, and press the "Make List" button.
The program will place the list of found files into the "Input Files" box.
2) Review the file list and uncheck the files that shouldn't be included in the search index.
3) Choose the name of the output file (default is "ss.html"), select the type of links in the results page, and press the "Create" button. The output index file will be created in the directory you have selected in the first step.
Other features
Reducing the size of the output file
This site search engine is the most suitable for small and medium Web sites. (In fact, it can index up to 8400 pages.) If your site has hundreds of pages and the output index file is too big and takes too long time to load, you can reduce its size by ignoring some words...
- "Casual" - if checked, words appearing in the HTML file only once won't be included in the index. This can reduce the size of output file in half.
- "With digits" - if checked, words containing digits won't be included in the index file and will be ignored when searching your site.
- "Plurals" - if checked, the site search engine will consider plurals to be the same as singulars, and only one variation will be included in the index file.
- "Length under" - you can specify that short words (under 2-4 letters) won't be included in the index file and will be ignored when searching your site. The value 1 makes the site search engine include all words.
Creating the site map
You can also use this program as a free site map builder. If you select "Site Map" instead of "Search Engine", the program will create the plain HTML file (no JavaScript) containing links to all selected pages. You can consider this file as a basis for creating your site map.
Empty list
By default, if the search box is empty, the results page will contain links to all indexed pages. If you prefer the empty list of files in this case, check the box "Empty list."
Wildcards
You can use wildcards when searching:
- ? stands for any character.
- * stands for any number of characters (including no characters at all).
Non-English pages
Site search engine correctly indexes non-English HTML pages which use high ASCII codes (128...255) to represent national characters.
Notes for non-English pages:
- The "Plurals" check box works only with english words.
- You may need to add the correct
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=XXX">
tag to the HEAD section of ss.html manually.
Add Music to Your Website
You can spice up your web pages by adding background music or sound. All you do is upload / save the sound file to your web server and place the HTML code inside the <head> of your page to activate the sound file.
Many free web site providers give you very limited space for your files so once you upload your music, you may find that you're running out of room on your server.
If you need a good web host, HostMonster and HostGator is an excellent choice with outstanding prices. For $5-7 you get a TON of space and they are constantly adding more without raising their price.
Again, free web hosts don't generally offer enough space to upload a lot of music so keep that in mind.
How to embed an audio file
You can embed a music file into your page using the following HTML code:
<embed name="musicname" src="musicfile.wav" width="300" height="90" loop="false" autostart="false"> </embed>
How to preload a sound file
You can preload music files so that the music starts immediately after the user has clicked on the link. You can preload using the following technique:
<embed name="musicname" src="musicfile.wav" loop="false" autostart="false" hidden="true" mastersound>
How to link to a music file
You can also link to a music file using the <a href= tag. All you need to do is write something like this:
Listen to a sample of <a href="http://www.yoursite.com/music/musicfile.wav">Music Name </a>
Create a Chat Room
Before you install a chat room on your web server, you need to ensure that your web hosting company provides the right kind of platform. Almost all paid hosting plans provide what you need.
So all you would do is login to your hosting account, go to the area where the free applications are located, and instruct your host to install the script and create your chat room.
Your chat room will be up and running in no time.
Gone are the days where you have to download a script, configure, upload and launch. Hosting has come a long way and installing a chat script is no longer the headache it used to be.
Chat Room Setup
So let me back up a bit. All you need to setup a chat room is a domain name (yoursite.com) and a web host. Stay away from free hosting because you will not have the rights to install a chat room.
If you don't already have a domain and host, you can go to HostMonster or HostGator and sign up. Once your hosting account is active, just login to your account and go to the Applications tab located in the "Hosting" section.
Browse the scripts until you find the chat script you want. Click "Install" and your chat room script will be installed instantly.
Allow People to Download Files From Your Web Site
Perhaps you want people to be able to download programs and/or files from your web site to store on their PC. The best way to do this is to zip up the file to keep it from taking up as much room and then save the zipped file to your web server.
Windows users, you can do this easily by creating a new folder on your PC and placing the information you want zipped into that folder.
Next, right-click the folder and choose "Send to --> Compressed File" and this will zip the file up for you.
Now all you have to do is upload the zipped file to your site (in Binary mode) and it's ready for your audience to download.
Add Video to a Website
You can embed HTML video code into your web page using the <object> tag. To cater for browsers that don't support the <object> tag, you can nest the embed tag inside the <object> tag.
The parameters inside the param attributes allow you to customize your video.
Example Code:
Result:
Linking to a video file
The easiest way to include video on your website is to link to it. This is suitable if you don't want to actually embed the video within your HTML page. You can link to a video file using the <a> tag. All you need to do is write something like this:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I"target="_blank">Watch this video</a>
This results in:
Add a Calendar to Your Website
Add a calendar on your Web site can be a great way to keep supporters up-to-date on important events, meetings, and deadlines. But if the thought of building a calendar from scratch overwhelms you, take heart - nowadays, you don't need Web-building skills, or even funds, in order to add a calendar to your site. All you need is an Internet connection, a Web browser, and a bit of spare time.
Google Free Website Calendar
This is very easy to setup and it's pretty cool because you can use it to remind visitors about upcoming events on your site.
CoffeeCup Flash Calendar
CoffeeCup is the creator of one of the leading HTML editors online. They also have a series of Flash-based tools for your website that are very easy to use.
You can try their Flash calendar generator here.
Create a Newsletter
Do you have a system to collect prospect information and a method of communicating with these potential customers? If not, then you need one. If you do, how effective is your system in turning your prospects into customers?
If you do not have an email newsletter then you are missing out on a very effective medium for turning your prospects into customers and your customers into lifetime prospects.
Creating a small email newsletter for free
If you have a very small list (less than 100 subscribers) you can set things up without paying a dime. Here's what you'll need:
-
A form on your website to collect the prospects' names and email addresses.
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The FormMail.cgi script in your cgi-bin to covert the submitted information into a readable format.
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An email program such as Eudora or Outlook that allows you to create a mailing list or send blind carbon copy (BCC) emails. If you have a computer running Windows, you will most likely have a copy of the email client Outlook Express already on your computer. You can download a free copy of Eudora from http://www.eudora.com.
First, check to make sure your hosting company has provided you with FormMail.cgi. Almost all do. Use a program such as WS_FTP or Cute FTP to log in to your domain via file transfer protocol (FTP) and open up the folder called cgi-bin. Inside should be FormMail.cgi. If you cannot find the file, email your host to inquire or search for a copy online.
If it is there, then you can proceed to adding the form to your website that will collect the name and email address of each prospect. Open up your web page editor (such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage) and add the following HTML code in the location you want the form to be.
<form action="http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/FormMail.pl method="post"> <input type="hidden" value=address@yourdomain.com name="recipient"> <input type="hidden" value="Subject of Emails Sent to You" name="subject"> <input type="hidden" value="firstname,email" name="required"> <input type="hidden" value="http://www.yourdomain.com/redirectpage.html name="redirect"> <p align="left">First Name: <input type="text" size="12" name="firstname"> <br>Email Address: <input type="text" size="12" name="email"> <br> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe" name="Submit">
Note: Be sure to change yourdomain.com to your actual website address in the above code.
Now, save the page and upload it to your server via your FTP program.
Whenever someone visits your page and puts in their name and email and hits submit an email will be sent to you (or whatever address you put for the recipient value) with their details.
When you receive these emails, simply add this person to your list. You can keep your list using the mailing list feature of Outlook or Eudora email clients.
To send out your newsletter simply write it in your email client and select your list as the recipient. The exact method will vary slightly depending on which email program you are using. If you run into any problems check the help file.
In each email you send be sure to have a way for recipients to unsubscribe. You can simply put in the following text:
"To unsubscribe send an email to you@yourdomain.com with the word "Remove" in the subject."
You could also send subscribers to an unsubscribe form on your website if you wished. Do remember, however, you will have to manage all your unsubscribe requests by hand.
How to Create a Shopping Cart
If you want to sell goods from your web site, you may want to look into shopping cart software so you can process your orders.
These days you don't have to design your cart, you can just choose a web hosting company that has a built in shopping cart solution.
Built-in Shopping Cart With Hosting
If you choose HostMonster to host your website, their hosting plan comes with a shopping cart program that is already built into the hosting plan. There is very little setup involved and you do not have to learn how to program like you would if you designed a cart yourself.
Not only do you get this free shopping cart with your hosting plan, but they also provide a whopping unlimited web page space and a free "point and click" website builder for only $6.95 per month.
Free Hit Counters
You've been working really hard on your site and it looks great. You update it regularly, you have a guestbook, a bulletin board, great graphics and lots of fun links to all sorts of great sites. Now you're wondering if anyone has seen all the hard work you have done. How many people have visited your site and who are they?
One way you can keep track of how many are visiting your site is with a hit counter. This is a little box you usually put at the bottom of your Web page that has numbers on it. Every time someone visits your page the number changes thus telling you and everyone else who visits the page just how many people have been there. If you want to know more like who is visiting and how often then you can try something that helps you keep track of stats.
Below you'll find web sites that will allow you to install a web page counter absolutely free:
StatCounter - Lets you choose the font, background and style of your web page counter. It also gathers statistics and reports information about your visitors (referring web sites, browsers, etc.)
Counting4Free - Another free counter that reports on your visitors. There are lots of different styles to choose from.
Free-Counters.co.uk - You can even customize this counter to display your web site's name. There are tons of different display styles, and all counters come with great visitor stats.
Freelogs.com - A very basic hit counter. It keeps an accurate count because it tracks IP addresses so the same person is not counted twice in a row.