To create your Web site, you'll need to design the Web pages and "publish" them onto our servers.
In a way, making a Web site is like creating a business letter. With a business letter, you use word processing software such as Microsoft Word to create the document on your hard disk, then you "publish" it by sending it to a printer. A Web site is similar: you use Web design software to create the documents (Web pages) on your hard disk, then you "publish" them by sending them to our servers.
There are many programs you can use to create Web pages, just as there are many programs you can use to create business letters.
If you're unfamiliar with the process, you may want to choose a program from a large company that offers decent technical support to help you create your pages. The most popular of these programs (and one we recommend) is Macromedia Dreamweaver. Another widely-used program is Microsoft FrontPage. Both are available from any software retailer.
Dreamweaver and FrontPage are both full-featured programs that are fairly expensive, in the same way that Microsoft Word is a full-featured and fairly expensive word processor. However, if your time is valuable and you think you might need assistance using the software, you'll probably find that it saves money in the long run to buy one of these popular programs from a company that offers full support.
There are other programs you can use to create Web pages, of course. Many of the programs are less expensive, or even free. One popular free program that's similar to Dreamweaver is Nvu. Keep in mind, though, that if you use free programs, you won't have a company to fall back on if you have trouble (although there's plenty of free advice to be found on the Internet for these kinds of programs if you're willing to search).
One final thing we should mention is that like all Web hosting companies, we don't usually provide support to help you use your Web design software to create Web pages. Our role is to provide the service you use to publish your completed files — we do provide free support for that part of it, of course.
When you have finished designing your Web site files, you will need to publish them to our servers. Many Web design programs have a built-in system that does this for you, and we have detailed instructions explaining exactly how to publish your files from within Dreamweaver, FrontPage or Nvu.
If you use a different program, our more general instructions for publishing your files using FTP will explain the process.