Create Your Own Christian Website!
by David J. Stewart
"Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. A fool hath no delight in understanding..." -Proverb 18:1,2
Christian friend, have you ever thought about creating your own website? The Devil's crowd has an overwhelming surplus of website's promoting every form of godless filth and wickedness imaginable. I beseech you in the name of Christ to consider joining us on the firing line as we fight the good fight of faith for the Lord Jesus Christ.
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You can do it yourself.
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I'll help you if you're going to promote the simple Gospel of Jesus Christ and glorify God with your website. You must promote only the King James Bible. You must be in agreement with this doctrinal statement. I won't knowingly help anyone promote heresy. I can help you via e-mail if you get stuck. I CAN'T help you much if your not using Microsoft FrontPage. I cannot guarantee any help as I receive hundreds of e-mails per week, but I will certainly do my best to help you if you'll be patient with me to return your e-mail. I want to help people make Christian websites to fight the wickedness of our day and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a GREAT NEED for Christians to write articles on many untouched subjects. Unfortunately, some of the best books of deceased godly men are being horded for the sake of making money by selling them. The world is going to Hell and the average Christian is only thinking about making more money. God help this greedy generation! There are many professed "Christian" imposters who need to be exposed. If you don't do it, then who will?
You'd be surprise at how easy and inexpensive it is to design and publish your own site.
All you need is "Microsoft FrontPage" (It sells for under $200). FrontPage even has the built in FTP feature which enables you to upload your files directly to your sites URL (your internet address). If you have "Microsoft Office Professional", "FrontPage" may be included with it (depending on the version). It will be a bit frustrating at first until you learn how to work the program; however, the program will allow you to create a very nice website fairly quickly. "FrontPage" is designed specifically for creating websites. You can learn how to use Front Page by reading the "help" articles included with the program. Also, there are many articles online. You do NOT need to know HTML to use "FrontPage", but a very basic knowledge of HTML would be a plus.
Learn more on how to use FrontPage HERE
If you'd like to learn HTML, click HERE--25 page HTML basics. You really don't need to learn all this, but it wouldn't hurt to learn as much about the basics as you can (let's you be more creative in designing). You'll learn as you go.
To learn how web pages work, click HERE
Yes, you can create and upload a website using just "notepad"; however, this is the very hard way of doing it.
Go buy a web design program! I recommend "Microsoft FrontPage." I used FrontPage 4.0 (an older version) and then upgraded to version 5.0 FrontPage 5.0 is basically the same as version 4.0 with a few added goodies. Either version is fine to use. I haven't upgraded to version 6 because I'm happy with version 5.0, it does what I need.
There are tons of free resources available online to help you create your own
website--use them! Here is a GREAT site to get you started:
If
you would like a FREE Website, you'll like this:
Netfirms - I believe you can have MIDI audio, but no mp3's or WAV files for the FREE hosting. If you don't mind paying $60 a year, you can have mp3 and WAV sound. Also for the small amount of money you eliminate those pesky banner ads. It really is a nice deal for $60. In fact, it's the best deal I've found.)
Building a website couldn't be easier nowadays.
Once you get your basic website going, here are some
sites to really enhance everything:
FREE
graphics for your web
After you've mastered the
basics, you'll love the FREE goodies at the site below:
Dynamic
Drive
Adding
Sound (MIDI's are best to use because they are small
files and play quickly. MP3's are the best
sound quality but can take 10-15 seconds to load. Note: mp3's will only
work if you purchase a premium package for about $60-80 a year. Freebie
offers won't allow you to upload any files larger than 3 MB...most mp3's
are around 4-5 MB.) A MIDI file is around 20-50KB. The
song you are now hearing is a MIDI file, which most of the songs on this website
are. To add sounds with FrontPage, simple right mouse-click
on the webpage you're working on, and select "Page Properties." Then look
for "Background Sound" and browse for the sound file you want to use.
Click ok. It's that simple. Please note that MP3 sounds don't
appear, as this is a problem with FrontPage. You can type the MP3
file location in manually, or copy/paste the file from your folder list to the
left (in the FrontPage program).
Also, here's a nifty list of FrontPage keyboard shortcuts, some of which I use often. SHIFT + ENTER is a favorite of mine in FrontPage, as it allows me to go to the next line without having a space between the lines.
You can build a basic website in as little as an hour. Of course, it takes time to build a larger website. What takes the MOST time is deciding what to build, as website building is an art. The hardest part about anything is taking the first baby steps to get going, then it gets easier as you go. Building a website is fun, challenging, and a great feeling if it's done in Jesus' name to help reach others with the Gospel. You don't need all the latest and greatest tools and technologies to build a website. In fact, I prefer keeping it simple. That is, you don't need Flash Presentations and a degree in HTML coding to build a website. I have neither and look what I've built for the Lord. If you want to make a website, just start somewhere, and then ask questions as you go. There's several forums online that you can join to ask questions about web building. I won't sugarcoat it too much though, you're going to have to work at it and have an interest enough to be patient. I was determined, and stuck with it, and learned as I built. The nice thing is that you can start with a homepage, and then build from there, a little at a time. Rome wasn't built in a day.
Why not glorify Jesus Christ with your own
website? Start with the Gospel of John and a couple of articles.
You can publish the whole New Testament with less than 1 MB of space!
You can get many ideas from my website, and from hundreds of
others. There's nothing worse than a webpage that's hard to read, or
annoyingly bright, with weird colors and lots of advertisements. I hate
pop-up messages and don't recommend them.
Feel free to
use anything on My website, including your
web-servant's writings.
I'll give you some really great tips on Using FrontPage
You don't need any templates. I don't like them and never use them. They are confusing indeed. Here are some instructions to make a new web. I'm using the 2003 version:
- In FrontPage, go up to "File" and then select "New."
- In the right menu on your screen, select "One page Web site"
- Under the "General" tab, select "One page Web site."
- Your new website is now created. You need to go to the location where it was stored, which is likely at... C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Webs\myweb2
- You want to rename your new website from "myweb2" (or "myweb1") to whatever you'd like to call it. I renamed mine "JIS". It's just easier to recognize by renaming it, and I think a good idea. Also, one thing that I do, but you don't have to, is to relocate the new website folder directly into the C: directory. I just don't like my web buried in a bunch of subfolders. To move your web, simply copy the folder and paste it into the C: directory.
- That's it, you've got a new web.
Expanding your web...
- Your new website should be opened in FrontPage. On the left of the screen you should see a "Folder List." You can place your mouse over the wall separating the two screens and slightly drag the wall to the right, so you can see the files in your folder list. If you don't see the folder list, go up to "View" and click on "Folder List."
- In your folder list you will see a page called "Index." This is, and always be, your main webpage. NEVER name this anything else. The search engines recognize your "index" page as your home page. Also, you only want ONE "index" page. You can name other files anything you want.
- To expand your website, the sky's the limit. You can create additional webpages simply by going up to "File," and then selecting "New." This time, select "Blank Page." A blank page will appear and you can design it any way your heart desires. Then simply save it into the C:/yourwebsitename directory. Once you save the first time, FrontPage will remember this location.
- Over time you're going to have many files, and I wouldn't recommend saving them all into your root directory. You want to create some new folders. Your root directory in simply your websites main folder, i.e., the C: yourwebsitename folder. Your index file is in the main root folder. In the folder list to your left, you'll see two folders. One is called "private" which you never need to touch. It is used by FrontPage, so just ignore it. The other folder is "Images" which is empty for now, but this is where you should store all your photos. You don't have to put your pictures here, but trust me, being organized from the start will save you a lot of frustration later on. I say... A place for everything, and everything in it's place. I would recommend creating several folders in your root directory other than just the "Images" folder. To do this, simply right-mouse-click on the main folder at the top of your Folder List to the left. Select "New," then "Folder. This is where you'll store things.
Also, don't make the same mistake I did years ago by naming everything real long. For example: When I started my web, I named a folder "Books_Tracks_and_Preaching." Big mistake. The problem is that when you go to copy/paste the internet link in any e-mail to someone, the link is cut into half and often won't work. I cannot rename the folder now, because all my articles in the search engines will show up dead. So I am stuck with my mistake. Uggh! I recently created a new folder, for all additional books, sermons, and preaching... I simply named the file... BTP. That is so much simpler. SO KEEP IT SHORT! I would name a soulwinning file just "soul." Or an Evils In America page, "eia." You get the idea.
Another bit of advice, name files and photos in lowercase lettering, as some files, like photos, may not show up if they're in UPPERCASE, Now, it's ok to name Folders in upper or lowercase, but not the files stored in the folders. I learned this all the hard way.
If you right-mouse-click on the page you're working on, a menu will appear. Select "Page Properties." You'll see "Background sounds." This is where you add sound, as you mentioned you are able to do. However, here's what you don't know, and I learned the hard way. MP3 sounds won't appear here. It's a bug in FrontPage. To add Mp3 sounds, you need to find the sound file located in your folder list, copy/paste it into the "Background sounds" box. I store all my sounds in a folder I created called "sounds." I have another folder called "videos."
NEVER rename a folder or file once it's been stored into the search engines, or else people will find a dead webpage. I never rename or delete webpages once their stored in the search engines. Another reason for this is because many people link to my webpages, and I don't want their links to refer to a dead page. I never rename anything, so I try to get it right from the start, because I can't change it later.
Content content, content. Your website will not be popular unless you have a lot to offer. It's just like a store. If you want more customers, you've got to give them what they want. You are welcome to use anything from my web to speed along your website. Please keep in mind that I only had a couple thousand visitors my first year. My second year I only had 64,000. My third 117,000. and so forth. It takes time to get your web popular. Please don't fall for the gimmicks, like allowing Google to advertise on your web in exchange for a hot spot on their web. They promote Catholicism, false doctrine, a prosperity gospel, and all sorts of ecumenical garbage. I've built my site from the ground up, no gimmicks. Although I do have my site listed in the Fundamental 500, and I think this is certainly appropriate. You should do that. Theres the Baptist 1000, and some others. Also, I hate popups, as I feel like taken advantage of when I go to someone's web and they bombard me with popups. My site is plain and simple. No popups. No credit card ads. I will never use my ministry to make a penny. No Google garbage. I think it's unethical for Christians to be willing to promote heresy for the sake of getting higher ratings.
These are just a few helpful suggestions. You'll be using your Folder List quite often, and it is a big help. Here you can see all your folders and files at a glance.
I create all my hyperlinks from scratch. Simply type your phrase, highlight it, and then choose your "Hyperlink." Also, here's a big tip... you cannot copy/paste into the hyperlink bar using copy/paste; BUT, you can using CTRL + C (to copy), and CTRL + V (to paste).
And here's another awesome tip. You'll get frustrated at times because there's too much of a gap between lines. The solution is to simply press, SHIFT + ENTER
There are other keyboard shortcuts online, and some FrontPage forums where you can get tones of helpful information.
Well, this ought to be enough information to make you dangerous...lol.
Kindest regards,
Dave
