HOW I CREATED MY WEBSITE

To begin creating a website, I needed a program to build my website on. There was a choice of three programs which enable the consumer to build a sucessful website for their small business. However, I encountered specific problems when using each of this websites.

The choices were:

Weebly - "Create a free website or blog in minutes by using a simple drag and drop interface. No ads. One of Time's 50 best websites of the year."

The disadvantages of using this site were:

- Text could not be easily moved
- Text boxes could not be created
- The set templates were too fancy
- The whole site was difficult to manoeuvre and understand

Microsoft Office Live - "Microsoft office live small business get a free website and more. It's fast and easy."

There were no strong disadvantages to this program, although there is no text wrap tool.

Google Sites - "Thinking of creating a website? Google Sites is a free and easy way to create and share webpages. ... New! Create a site from dozens of pre-built templates ..."

The disadvantages of using this site were:

- No text wrap
- Text could not be easily moved
- Text boxes could not be created
- The set templates were extremely basic and were difficult to edit
- The whole site was difficult to manoeuvre and understand

The website which I decided to use was microsoft Office Live as it had all the professional features I needed to create a newspaper based web page.
Firstly, I began by choosing my template and layout, as Microsoft provides a series of pre-made layouts for its users.

This is a screen shot of the pre-made layouts on Microsoft Office Live


After choosing my template, I began to insert one element after another just like the newspaper creation process, just to see how everything looked on the page.
As I believe everything to look visually pleasing in order to ensure the reader's interest, I chose to use my current html skills and adopt them into the webpage.
From previous experience in web design and photography, I used html codes such as scrolling text and hyperlinked images; I used scrolling text to broadcast the latest news (just like Harrogate Advertiser does) and used hyperlinks and navigation features to enable an easy and accessible web page experience.

I also inserted a search engine and a weather section, in order to inform the reader about local weather etc. The search engine is also evident on the Harrogate Advertiser's webpage, helping readers to search for what they desire.

I inserted the same masthead which I use for my newspaper into the webpage, however, I also added a pre-made background to support the greenery of Harrogate. Although no images can be seen in any of the webpage titles currently, I felt that I should challenge the conventions in order to present a visual display. Soon after, I started to insert all of my articles and images to support the newspaper. I also inserted a 'What's on' in Harrogate section and also a section where reader's have the chance to ask the editor direct questions.