Have you ever felt amazed at how things changed over the last
years? The Internet has become as common as the telephone.
E-mail makes people totally forget about the existence of regular
mail. Having a web site is now more important than having a
business card.
Actually, many people now think that having one web site is
not enough. Really, would you present yourself the same way
to your potential employers, family members and former schoolmates?
Of course not! On the first site you would probably place your
professional resume - and will refer to it in an employment
classified. On the second, you would place new pictures of
you and your fiancé - you may want to share them with your
parents in Minnesota and your sister in Paris. On the third,
you will open a picture gallery out of the old school pics
- maybe, this will help you find your old good friend whose
trace you lost many years ago…
And so, you have decided to make up your own website. High
time! But do you know enough HTML? Or do you want to create
your site using a text editor? In either case, you will end
up spending days and days to have your site look attractive
and getting all things work. Not the best solution. Or, maybe,
you want to pay hundreds of dollars for these web designer
guys to do the job?
Well, here is the solution. We will save your time and efforts,
and what's even more important, you can be personally involved
in the Art of Web Design. To create a professional-looking
web site using Our Online Web Building Tool, you don't need
any special knowledge or experience. The wizard-like program
structure will guide you through the whole site-construction
process step by step. Now you become a web designer, a creator,
an Artist! You can juggle around with page layouts, colors,
themes, add various effect and much, much more, everything
with a single mouse click! Within a half hour you can
have your site created and published on the Internet!
So, if you feel this is what you need, welcome on board!
Usually a site constitutes of a series of pages, each devoted
to a separate topic, article or resource. The Web Building
Tool offers you a set of templates for all common pages:
- Splash Screen:
the home page or index page that welcomes visitors and contains
references to all other pages.
- About:
the page to provide information about the purpose of the
site, the owner of the site, and any other relevant data.
- Resume:
if you seek employment via the Internet, this is the central
page containing a short account of your career and qualifications.
- Links:
the page where you list your links to related web sites or
pages.
- Custom Table Page:
a page with any data organized in table format.
- Site Map.
If your site is becoming complex and hard to navigate, a
site map will become helpful to get around.
- Photo Album:
a sequence of pages containing images. You may want to use
it for posting photos of yourself, your friends, your family,
your art works, postcards, etc. If you are a production
or service company, use it to advertise your products or
services. One site may contain more than one photo album.
- Your Own HTML.
This tool contains a simple HTML editor allowing you to create
web pages based on your own HTML script. Recommended for
advanced users.
- Humor:
a tool that helps you organize your jokes, funny pictures,
humorous stories and other fun topics.
- Survey Form:
a quick tool for drawing up visitor questionnaires.
- Generic Page:
a powerful tool to create pages with any layout, containing
both text and images.
- Genealogical Tree:
a quick tool for creating a family tree. The output is a
list of entries each devoted to an ancestor or a family
member.
- Calendar:
the page where you can list events with dates and comments.
- ICQ Contact Center.
If you extensively use ICQ, you will find this form of messaging
the most convenient.
- Driving Directions:
a powerful tool for visitors to get the driving directions
to the place in North America that you specify.
- Amazon.com Web Store.
If you want to offer your visitor some books for sale, this
is the page for you. To use this feature, you need to sign
up with the Amazon.com associate program.
- Mobile Pager.
A page from which site visitors can reach you on a cell phone
or a pager with Internet messaging support. To use this
feature, you need to be subscribed with Bell Atlantic Mobil
or Sprint PCS.
Every time your site is visited, the first page to open would
always be the Welcome Page, or Splash Screen in other terms.
So, it would be a good idea to begin your site with the Splash
Screen.
If you chose to follow this advice, select Splash Screen in
the box provided. Click Next to continue with the design
of the page.
Splash Screen is the home page that welcomes visitors and
contains links to all other pages.
To configure Splash Screen, fill out the Splash Page form:
- Splash Theme:
the main parameter that determines the look of your home
page. Site Studio offers several Splash Screen templates
(themes). Choose one - you can change it any time in the
future. The current version of Site Studio does not provide
immediate preview, so it is recommended to configure it
after you configure all other parameters (see instructions
below in this section).
- Logo image:
Splash Screen templates are designed to include a welcome
image. You can select a picture that is stored on your
hard disk or has been already uploaded to your gallery.
To include a picture click the "Select Image" button
and follow the on-screen instructions.
- Page Title:
This is the text that will show up on the welcome page in
big letters. This would usually be either the name of your
site or a welcome sentence.
- Lock Splash Settings:
By default, Splash Screen is not affected by the global color
settings for your site. Here, you can allow Site Studio
to modify Splash Screen properties by checking "No" radio
button in the Lock Splash Settings field.
As you finish, click the Next button to save your settings.
The View tab (see Tabs for details)
will open for preview. How do you like your welcome page?
Okay, now let us look back at the themes. Click the Edit tab
and select a different theme, then go to the bottom of the
page and click Next. Try other themes to choose the
best one.
Important: your site will be published only after you
press the Publish link on the menu bar, in the upper
left-hand corner of the screen.
The About page is commonly used to provide the following blocks
of information:
- The purpose of the site;
- The owner of the site (a person or a company);
- Any other relevant data.
Enter your text into the boxes provided. Paragraph headings
are optional.
Site Studio allows you to include a picture into the About page.
This could be a picture of yourself (for a personal site),
your working team (for a company), a logo or any other relevant
image. To include a picture, click the "Select Image" button.
Then follow the on-screen instructions.
After you add an image, its thumb view will become available
in the form, as well as a Remove Image button. Click
it to remove selected image from the About page.
After you key in or copy/paste the data you want to show on
your About page, click the Next button to save
your settings, and you will be brought to the View tab
(see Tabs for details).
This is the central page for those who seek employment via
the Internet. It provides an easy-to-use wizard that allows
you to effectively manipulate the data you would like to include
into your resume.
As the first step, you will see seven boxes with suggested
section headings, each with an Add button on its right.
Click the Add button to enter data into the relevant
section. A new form will appear. Fill it out and press Next to
return to the main Resume page. The information you entered
will show in the box; also, Edit and Delete buttons
will be added. Click Edit to change contents of the
box, and Delete to clear the contents. Follow this instruction
for every section you want to include into your resume.
Note: In the Experience section form,
you will have an in-built form for job duties. The instructions
are exactly the same as above.
Attention: Make sure you don’t add empty forms!
They will be included into your resume, too.
You can preview your resume at any moment by clicking the View tab
(see more on Tabs). Your all changes will
NOT be lost. At the end, however, don’t forget to confirm
the changes by pressing the Next button!
Now that you see your resume in a complete form, you may see
how to make it more visually appealing. Click Settings tab
to change color, font or style (see more on Tabs).
When you have your web page in front of your eyes you may
decide to change the order of some paragraphs. It's simple
and fast.
- Click the Order Elements link to re-order your paragraphs.
A new window will appear.
- In the box, click to highlight the name of the item you
want to move;
- Use the
and 
buttons to move the selected item up or down
the list;
- Click the Next button to save changes and return
to the Resume Edit page.
Part of expressing yourself through a web page is including
links to your favorite web sites. The links you choose to include
on your page can communicate your interests and hobbies. If
your goal is a company site, think of resources related to
your field or industry. A carefully designed collection of
related links can make your site a good launching place and
will help you promote your site - and business.
- Header Text:
The text that shows at the top of the Links page as
a header. It usually details the page title or serves as
a header to the introductory paragraph.
- Paragraph:
The introductory paragraph to the Links page.
- Columns of Links to Display:
Links can be organized into multiple columns.
- Add button is used to create a new Link category.
To keep your links organized, SiteStudio places new entries
into categories. To add a category or links to your Links page:
- Click the Add button. This will call another form.
- Enter the name of the category;
- Click Add (Add Link);
- Fill in the fields (Site title and Site URL), than click Next to
continue;
- To add link - click Add;
- To make some changes - click Edit;
- To delete link - click Remove;
- Click Next when finished.
To edit an existing category:
- Click Edit button;
- Edit the name of the category;
- Click Add to include a new link;
- Click Next to save changes.
To delete an existing category, click Delete button. Warning: All
links contained in this category will be permanently deleted!
Custom page table is a page with any data organized in a table
format. To create a table, fill out the form:
- Border:
enter a numerical value representing the width of grids in
pixels. To hide grids, leave the field empty or enter 0.
- Width:
Table width can be indicated in pixels or in percent of the
page width. To enter width in percent, put the "%" symbol
after the numerical value.
- Cell Padding:
distance from text to border, both vertical and horizontal.
- Align:
aligns the table on the page.
- Resize:
Enter the number of rows and columns for your table and press
Resize button before clicking Next.
Note: If you input an incompatible set of parameters, Site
Studio will optimize conflicts in these data.
This page shows the structure of your site. It is generated
automatically and does not allow editing. However, you can
configure its settings, just like you it for other pages.
For a personal site a photo gallery may become the central
element with photos of yourself, your friends, your family,
your art works, postcards, etc. For a production or service
company, it may be used to advertise your products or services.
To create a photo album, fill out the fields in the form as
the first step:
- Title:
the text that shows at the top of the menu bar.
- Select numbers of pictures per page:
Mind the size of your pictures. It is recommended that all
your pictures fit one screen. Follow the simple rule: the
bigger the image size, the fewer pictures per page.
- Enter the number of columns:
Change this parameter depending on whether your images have
a horizontal or a vertical layout.
In the next step, add images to the Photo Album:
- Click Add. A new form will appear;
- Fill in the picture title and the date in any format;
- Click the Select Image button. You will be brought
to the Upload Images page. Follow on-screen instructions
to add a new image.
- Add details. This may be a description of the place or
names of people in the picture.
- Click the Next button to proceed.
To change or remove images use the buttons under the Image.
To add more images to your album click Add and repeat
the steps above.
This tool contains a simple HTML editor allowing you to create
web pages based on your own HTML script. However, it is recommended
that you create your files in specialized html editors. To
upload a file from your hard drive, click the Upload File button
at the bottom of the page.
When uploading your own HTML page, try to avoid non-Latin
characters, spaces, underlines, commas, dots, hyphens, etc.
It is recommended that your file name only includes letters
of Latin alphabet and numbers.
Fun page template helps you organize your fun topics. To add
an item, click the Add button for the appropriate category
and fill out the form that appears.
To add pictures to your Fun Page:
- Click Add in the in the Add Funny Pictures box.
A new form will appear.
- Enter the name of the picture.
- Click the Select Image button. You will be brought
to the Upload Images page. Follow on-screen instructions
to add the new image.
- Add text. This may be any comment to the new image.
- Click the Next button to proceed.
- Click the View tab to see the page preview.
- Click the Edit tab to continue editing the page.
To change or remove images or texts, use the Edit and Delete buttons
on the left of the picture or text.
To add more images to your album click Add and repeat
the steps above.
To change the order of the jokes, images or stories, click
the Order Items button in the appropriate form. A new
form will appear. Follow on-screen instructions to change the
order of the items in the topic.
This template will help you develop a custom online questionnaire.
Use it to research public opinion or to get feedback from your
customers.
To generate a questionnaire, fill out the form:
Page Title:
Page title is the text that will show at the top of the menu
bar. For convenience, it duplicates the same field in the Settings tab.
In this field, you can change SiteStudio default name from "Survey" to,
say, "Questionnaire" or "Feedback".
Button Text:
This is the text that will show up on the global site menu
among other page names. It may be the same as the Page Title,
or you can give it a different name.
E-mail To:
Here, enter the address where you want the survey results e-mailed.
It can be the Webmaster’s (i.e. your) address as well
as any other address you specify.
Questions:
To add a question, click the Add button on the right.
A new form appears. Checking "Yes" in the Is The
Answer Required field marks the survey question with a
red asterisk. The survey will not be accepted from a visitor
if one or more asterisked questions remain unanswered. The Question
Type determines the format of the suggested answer. Carefully
fill out this form and click the Next button to proceed.
On Successful Submission of the Form:
Here, enter the text you want the visitor to see after the
form has been accepted.
On Error Submission of the Form:
Here, enter the text you want the visitor to see after the
form has been rejected or an error occurred.
Click the Next button to generate the questionnaire.
Generic Page template has been designed to enable fast and
simple creation of custom pages that do not fall into any other
categories. You can choose how to lay out your images and text
depending on your tastes, needs and circumstances.
- Marquee:
This is a scrolling area of text. To add a marquee, click Add link.
A marquee form will appear. Enter the text you want to scroll,
width and height in pixels, scrolling speed, horizontal page
alignment and vertical screen position, and the font style.
Press the Submit button to proceed.
- Number of Columns:
Multiple columns for the whole page can be combined with
individual paragraph design.
- Choose Title For this Page:
Page title is the text that will show at the top of the menu
bar. For convenience, it repeats the same field in the Settings tab.
- Choose Link Text: This text will show on other pages
as a hyperlink to this page.
- Edit Paragraphs: You can add, delete and edit only individual
paragraphs, including headers, body texts, images and
image titles. All elements are optional!
To add or edit paragraphs:
- Click Add or Edit. A new form will appear.
- Select paragraph layout by sliding you mouse over the buttons
at the bottom of the page and clicking one of them.
- Enter Paragraph Header;
- Click the Select Image button to add a picture;
- Enter Paragraph Text;
- Click Next to preview.
Your family page includes two major blocks of information,
one about the whole family, and the other about its individual
representatives.
To provide general family information enter the following
fields:
- Title:
It could be as generic as "My Family" or as specific as "The
Simpsons Family Tree".
- Header Text:
give some introductory information about your family.
- Family Portrait:
Click the Select Image button to add a picture from
your computer.
To provide information about individual family representatives:
- click the Add button. A Family Member form
will appear.
- Fill out the form. (Note: The date format does not matter).
It is recommended to start your Family Tree with the ancestors.
Warning: Clicking the Delete tab will remove
the whole Family Tree Page, not a family member page! To remove
individual persons from the family tree, click Next in
the Family Member form to return to the Family Tree form
and click the Delete button on the left of the person’s
name.
On the Family Tree central page you can see the general
family genealogy information.
To view individual family member’s page, click this person’s
name. To return to the general family page, click Back to
Family Tree at the bottom.
The calendar is nothing but a page listing events like birthdays,
anniversaries, etc.
- Date:
this field is insensitive to the format of the date.
- Headline:
what is the event about. E.g.: "Our fiftieth wedding anniversary".
- Text:
the optional comment you may want to add. E.g.: "Not celebrating".
- Type:
the color in which the record will appear:
- Usual - green;
- Important - blue;
- Alert - red.
If you extensively use ICQ, you will find this form of messaging
the most convenient.
To add the ICQ Contact Center page, fill out the fields:
- ICQ Number:
your active ICQ number to which the messages will be directed.
You can copy it from your ICQ View/Change My Details window.
- Subject:
Every message directed to you by a visitor of your site will
have this subject included. A good name for the Subject
would be something like "Sent From My Site".
- Online Indicator Type:
Your ICQ-message page contains an online indicator that shows
your current status (e.g. online or offline).
Here, you can choose how you want it to look. To preview,
click the View tab. To continue editing, click Edit tab.
- Status Indicator Description:
The text that appears next to the online indicator. You can
change the default text to, for instance, "The Webmaster
is". Some indicator types include text like "My
current status is:" For these types, keep this field
blank.
Press the Next button to proceed.
This is a powerful tool for visitors to get the driving directions
to any address in North America that you specify. For a personal
site, this can be your home or hangout. For a business site,
show the location of your restaurant, store (supermarket) or
a service center.
To create the page, enter the details of the destination address
and press the Next button to preview.
To change data, click the Edit tab.
To create your online bookstore, do the following steps:
1. Sign up.
You need to sign up to become an Amazon.com associate. Click here to
sign up or here to
find more about the associate program.
2.Fill out the form
- Associates ID:
After you subscribe with the associate program, you will
be assigned an associate ID. Enter it into this field.
- Create Your Sales List:
enter the names, prices, and descriptions of the books you
want to sell. Then press Next to preview.
Configuring mobile messaging with the Web Building Tool is
as simple as entering the phone or pager number, selecting
service type and provider and clicking the Next button.
Tabs
Look at the tabs right under the toolbar menu. They supplement
every page-designing tool:
Edit tab opens by default, suggesting that you should
enter or change your data before viewing it. Forms in the Edit tab
vary greatly from page to page.
View tab allows you to view your changes. This option
is always available when you work on Edit or Settings tab.
This means that after you introduce any changes to your page
data or settings, you can immediately view them by clicking
the View tab.
Settings tab. Here you can customize all parameters
for your page. For details go to Standard
Settings Tab.
Delete tab permanently removes the page from your site.
Note: You can switch between tabs to change any data
or settings any time during the page construction process or
later.
Standard
Settings Tab
Page Title
Page title is the text that will show at the top of the menu
bar. In this field, you can change SiteStudio default name
from "Fun Page" to, say, "Laugh with us".
Button Text
This is the text that will show up on your site’s menu
among other page names. It may be the same as the Page Title,
or you can give it a different name. For example, if your Page
Title is "Fun Page", you may want to add some versatility by
typing something like "Smile!"
File Name
Technically, your site is nothing but an organized inter-linked
group of html pages (files). SiteStudio enables you to assign
a specific name for every page that you add to your site. It
is recommended that your file name only includes letters of
Latin alphabet and numbers. Try to avoid non-Latin characters,
spaces, underlines, commas, dots, hyphens, etc.
Title, Text, Heading
You can select:
- Font - use pull-down menu;
- Color - click on Change color button, when
the color scheme appears, click on Selected color;
- Lettering Style - simply click on letter symbol.
After you change the settings click Next to see the
result.
Rollover effect
When you move your mouse over some elements on a page, they
may change their color, shape and other properties. This is
called Rollover Effect.
Background Image
You can place the contents of your page on an image. However,
try to be discreet with choosing the background. Avoid using
photographs or bright decorations, as they may hinder text
readability.
Colors
SiteStudio allows you to change the color palette for every
site's page. Their default HTML codes are in the boxes next
to the parameter names. You don’t need to know these codes.
Instead, click the 
icon to call a Color Picker - a palette with colors
available - and select the color you like. The "Color" section
allows you to change background, text and links color. Just
select the element you wish to modify and click on the color
you like.
Note: If you decide to change background color, ensure
that the text on your page is clearly readable. There must
be sufficient contrast between the text and the background
image. A background with too much contrast competes with the
text for reader's attention and makes it difficult to read.
Secure
You can make your page open to general public or closed (secure).
Secure sites or pages are often used by multinational companies
to communicate closed information to its representatives worldwide,
where e-mailing is not appropriate.
Choose Yes if you want to restrict access to the page.
The frame will expand to include a drop-down list box where
you can choose who is allowed to view the page. To create an
authorized user or user group, go to Site Settings -> Edit
Security Information (for comments see Edit
Security Information help section).
Go to the directory or folder on your computer where your
picture is saved, select the picture you want to add to your
page, and click the Open button. The location of the selected
file appears in the "Upload Image" window. Click the Upload
button in the "Upload Image" window.
You can select images from:
- Your own computer;
- Gallery of images that you have uploaded before (your gallery);
- SiteStudio image library (not included in some versions).
To re-order your pages do the following:
- Click to highlight the name of the page that you want to
move;
- Use the
and 
buttons to move the selected item up or down the
list;
- Click the Next button to save changes.
Click the category you need help with:
Note: When available, use the navigation buttons inside
the browser window. For some pages, your browser's Back and Forward buttons
will not work correctly. If a page fails to load, or does not
reflect last changes, click your browser's Reload or Refresh button
to update the page.
website
category
To select the website
category, scroll the list of suggested topics in the box in
the right half of the page. Select the topic for your site
and click it. Then, click the Next button. You will
be brought to the Select Website Color and Style page.
Attention: Once you begin to create your site you may
not change the website category!!! To change the category,
you will have to start anew, which will delete ALL PREVIOUSLY
SAVED SITES.
website
color &
Choosing a correct layout is crucial for the success of your
web site, as it will determine the look of every page. Site
Studio is equipped with a number of pre-designed Overall
Site Layouts. Go through the list in the upper left
box by mouse-clicking each item or using cursor keys on your
keyboard. Sample pages will be shown in the preview window
on the right. Stop on the one that will best suit the contents
of your site.
Then, select a color scheme in the lower box. It will only
affect the menu bar; colors for every individual page are set
at a later stage (see Standard Settings Tab).
You can change your layout and color scheme any time in the
future without losing any information whatsoever, even when
the construction of the site is complete.
The checkbox allows you to apply selected
layout and color scheme to all pages on your site. It comes checked
by default. If you uncheck it, the layout and color settings
will only affect the pages you create after applying these changes;
the pages you created before will remain unchanged. Changing
this option doesn’t affect your settings in any way, if
you are only beginning to create your site.
After you select the layout and color settings, click Next to
move on.
Global Settings
Web readers often want or need to contact the person who created
and maintains the web site. Global Settings form requires you
to enter basic information that will help identifying the site
and its author after it is published.
In the Search Engine Keywords box enter the words or word
combinations that distinguish your site from all other sites
on the Internet. They will be helpful when somebody tries to
find your site with a search engine. Think of the words that
would be most characteristic of your site.
In the Search Engine Description box enter a short description
of your site, like an answer to the question: What is it about?
If an Internet user finds your site with a search engine, this
description will show right under the site name.
You can enable visitors to perform text search on your site.
This functionality takes a form of a textbox added to the menu
bar. A visitor will type a word or a combination of words and
they will be searched throughout all texts on your site. If
you want to include a search engine into your site, click "yes" at
the bottom of the form. Otherwise, choose "no".
At this point, you are done with general site settings. Click
the Next button to configure individual pages.
Website theme / effects
Add themes and special effects! Make snowflakes fall down
in the browser, add logos that stay put as the user scrolls,
and tons of other cool features, all with easy point and click
selection.
There are several check boxes to indicate and select the theme
(javascript effects) that you can see on your web page. Use
pull-down menu for selection. Then, click Next to preview.
Falling Things:
- Snow - the snowflakes will fall on your screen;
- Snow 1 - just the same action but another type of
snowflakes;
- Leaves - the leaves will fall and fly on your screen;
- Angels - the same actions but Angels (instead of
leaves) will fall on your screen.
Items. Please use pull-down menu to select the number
of snowflakes (leaves).
Theme 1. Here you can include the "Top down curtain" effect.
Try not to include too many effects.
Cursor pointer. Here you can select:
- Cursor text. The name of the web page will trail the cursor.
- Colorful tail. The colorful tail will follow the cursor.
Site logo. Specify where you want to place the Logo
image.
Logo duration. Specify how long you want the Logo to show
on the page after it is loaded.
Alt text. Enter the tooltip text - a brief message that
will pop up next to the cursor when it stops over the Logo image.
Load
/ Save website
You can save up to five different versions of your site. Make
sure the names you enter reflect changes between versions.
Attention: Before retrieving a previously saved website,
save your work! If you don’t save your current project,
you will lose it. SiteStudio can work with only one site at
a time.
Warning: Starting over will delete ALL PREVIOUSLY
SAVED SITES. To start a completely new site, you need
to register as a new user.
Note: Saving your web site will not publish it. To
publish your site, click the publish link at the upper left-hand
corner on the menu panel.
Start
Over
Scrap all your pages with one click, and begin designing anew.
Use this option only if you are completely sure. There will
be no way to get back your current pages if you start over.
This option allows you to delete all your web pages with ONE
click and start to design from the beginning. Warning: You
will lose your current site as well as ALL PREVIOUSLY SAVED
SITES. Don’t use this function if you are not strongly
sure!
Edit
Security Info
You can make your site open to general public or closed (secure).
Secure sites are often used by multinational companies to communicate
current information to its representatives worldwide, where
e-mailing is not appropriate.
In this section you need to specify the users or user groups
authorized to access your secure site. After you include them
into the authorized user list, communicate to them their passwords.
To secure individual pages, go to Page Settings tab (see Page
Settings help section for details).
Here you can see and inspect all the web pages your web site
consists of.
- to preview page content click View. You will be
brought to the page’s View tab.
- to change, add or delete info - click Edit. You
will be brought to the page’s Edit tab.
- to delete the page click Remove. The page will be
permanently deleted.
- to change the look and feel of the page, click Settings.
You will be brought to the Page Settings tab.
