HOW TO CREATE FREE WEBSITES
TRIPOD: DETAILED INFO.

Courtesy of Madeleine Xavier

Email: madeleine@mxservices.net

Website: www.mxservices.net

My suggestion is to use Tripod's free website hosting and Site Builder because it has the best offering of storage space, design ease and flexibility and extra goodies (graphics, animation, etc.)

Tripod: Key Tips

n      Before you start, think through the purpose of your site and create all of the content…that is the copy and graphics or photos that you want to use in it.

n      At the registration page, determine your member name carefully. Once you type something into this field, your URL will be: yourmembername.tripod.com. And, it is most difficult to undo this; in fact, you’ll have to delete the entire site and start over.

n      If once you select the Site Builder page it doesn’t show, you may have to go into your Web browser Tools/Preferences/Advanced and clear the cache history and make sure Cookies are being accepted. I’ll explain this further in the section, titled If the Site Builder Doesn't Work.

n      After you make your edits to each page, don’t forget to Preview the page…and then to Publish. If you don’t publish, the page won’t show when you enter your new site address.

Tripod: Step-by-Step

1.      Go to: www.tripod.com

2.      Sign-Up for the Service by clicking on the "Sign-Up for a HomePage" button.

3.      Registration Page: enter your "Member Name" carefully. It will be used in your URL: membername.tripod.com. After you're done entering your information, click on the "Submit" button below.

4.      Site Builder: after registering, you should be automatically sent to the Site Builder. If not, click the "Build" tab and select "Site Builder"; then, enter your member name and password and "login".

NOTE: If the Site Builder doesn’t show, you may have to go into your Web browser Tools/Preferences/Advanced functions and clear the cache history and make sure Cookies are being accepted. See the section, titled If the Site Builder Doesn't Work

5.      Creating a New Web Site: at the first page of the Site Builder, choose a name and the types of pages for your first website….for example, Personal Site.

6.      Site Name and Pages: enter a name for the site and the types of pages you want to include. The site name will appear at the top of all your pages.

For example, I selected:

Site Name: Madeleine Xavier

Types of Pages: About Me, My Resume, Contact Me

7.      Site Design: preview several designs at the left and click on "Use this design" after you see one that you like most. You can change the design later.

8.      Content: you’ll then be directed to your home page, where you can start editing.

n      The Add Link function will allow you to set-up a block of text that will link to another URL/website, to an email address or to another page in your site.

n      The Add Picture function will not only let you insert a photo or graphic (from Tripod or downloaded from your computer, but it will allow you to make the picture into a link as well.

n      Web Gems are also great to use to add FREE Guestbooks, Forms that are automatically sent to your email, and other goodies. FYI, a few Web Gems, like the counter, aren’t working right now, but alternatives are provided.

n      You can even select the "Build Your Own WebGem" to enter pre-set code for counters, bulletin boards provided by other services. A list with some suggested sites and instructions on how to use this is provided in my email to you.

9.      Publishing: after you’ve made all your edits to the home page or any other particular page, be sure to "Preview" the page first to make sure it looks like you want it to. Then, don’t forget to click on the "Publish" button for each page. Unless you do this, the page will not show.

10. Additional Pages: repeat steps 7-8 for each page of your site.

11. Additional Websites: you can also repeat steps 3-8 to create multiple websites. Tripod allows this.

Tripod: If the Site Builder Doesn't Work

Tripod's Site Builder requires you to set your Preferences so that the Cache History is cleared and Cookies are accepted. To do this, follow these instructions.

Internet Explorer:

1.      Open the "Edit Menu" above and select "Preferences".

2.      Click on "Advanced" in the left section and then click on the "Clear History" and "Empty Now" buttons.

3.      Click on "Cookies" in the left section and make sure "never accept" is NOT selected.

Navigator:

1.      Open the "Edit Menu" above and select "Preferences".

2.      Click on "Advanced" in the left section and select "Accept Cookies".

3.      Click on "Cache" in the left section and then click on the "Clear Cache Now" button.

Tripod: Changing How Ads Display

All of the free website hosting services make you display some kind of ad for them. However, most services allow you to change the way that the obligatory ads appear with or on your web pages.

On Tripod:

1.      Select "My Account" tab

2.      Under the "Advertising" section, select "Change ad type" and choose "Pop-Up Ads".

3.      Click the "Update" button.

Tripod: Creating Custom Tools (Guestbooks, counters...)

Unlike other programs, Tripod's "Web Gems" function makes it really easy for you to insert custom tools like guestbooks and counters into your pages. It will require, however, for you to insert script provided by either Tripod or other services...many which are free.

Here's how:

1.      Go to the Tripod Site Builder and select the website and page where you want to insert the tool.

2.      On your web page, select the "Create WebGem" and and decide where you want to insert the tool on your page. Click "Add it here".

3.      After you click "Add it here", select "Build Your Own Web Gem". You should then see a form where you can insert HTML code.

4.      Go to the site, providing the tool (see below). Register here and select your tool. The service will then provide you the HTML code via either email or directly online.

5.      Copy the code and paste it into the Tripod Web Gem form. Click "done".

Hope this helps.

If you need more help, please contact me at:

madeleine@mxservices.net

www.mxservices.net

Services:

Website design and consulting: personal and business

Content writing and editing

Project Management

Other marketing communications services