If you’re not familiar with the field, the safest approach is to enlist the help of a specialist or a company that creates websites. Still, the very first step is to purchase a domain whose name fits the character of the site. Whether it will be personal or business-oriented.
You’ll also run into several terms that some people (not always correctly) use interchangeably: portal, web service, and website.
- A portal is the broadest in scope or devoted to a specific subject area.
- A web service can encompass many separate websites.
- A website is the most common term; it’s often used for all of the above, but it can just as easily be a simple, static information page with no content updates.
Next Steps
Regardless of whether you’re building a portal, wortal, or simple website, the administrator must be able to update content and even change the layout or interface. That’s where a CMS (Content-Management System) comes in. The site designer must choose which CMS to use; several popular, user-friendly options include:
- WordPress – the most popular and beginner-friendly; once you get accustomed to it you can quickly build a site yourself using its ready-made templates.
- Joomla – favored by many businesses for its flexibility.
- Drupal – recommended for feature-rich or academic content–heavy sites.
- ModX – next in popularity among major CMSs.
- ExpressionEngine – often cited in fifth place.
Other noteworthy systems are TextPattern, Contao, DotNetNuke, Umbraco, and Concrete5.
Free templates are available both across the internet and inside these CMSs. Nonetheless, hiring a professional web-development firm is worthwhile: they can fully customize the site for your needs and provide stronger protection against intruders.
Finally, your site must reside on a specific server. Large organizations, especially IT companies or online stores, maintain their own servers. For portals with modest amounts of content and infrequent updates, it’s usually better to use a reputable company that offers hosting services.
