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1. Bravenet offer all sorts of free widgets and website add-ons, so if you have a Bravenet Account, you may log in
HERE and skip to
step 4. If you do not have a Bravenet account, and you want a free
website CLICK
HERE, and under "Free & Pro Web Hosting" choose the big green "Get
Hosting" button. On the next page, in the "FREE" box, choose "SIGN UP NOW". You will be instructed to fill out your personal
information to join. You will need to use a valid email to verify your account. After you fill in the personal info, check the agree to terms of
service box and click the "join bravenet" button. You may get a full page ad on the next page, if so scroll down and click the "Proceed To
Member's Area" button. You will see that your account has not yet been validated. 2. Go to the email that you used to join Bravenet and find the email letter from Bravenet. Click on the long validation link and a Bravenet page will open. I would recommend you uncheck all the boxes to prevent Bravent from sending you unsolicited email (unless you are interested in the information). Click the "Continue to Member's Area" button. 3. In the "Free Web Hosting" box, click the "Get Free Hosting" button. Then click on "Build a new website". Unless you have your own purchased domain name, now click on "Use a subdomain". You will then choose your website's address. It will be the text before .bravehost.com. Most of the great names are taken, so you may have to choose several until you find one that is accepted. Once you choose a unique domain name, you will be taken to the "Website Manager Page". 4. There are several ways to build your new website. If you want a fairly easy step by step method of website building, choose the "website wizards" and follow the instructions. However, I will show you the easiest way to build a website that is easy to edit! Click on "text / visual editor", then right click on the text in the left column "index.html" and in the drop-down box, choose "edit file in text editor". (You may have to click ok if asked if you really want to edit page). 5. There is a website that offers free web page templates that are easy to use on Bravenet. Click on http://free-templates.org (it will open in a new window, so you will not lose your Bravenet page. For the beginner, choose a template in the left column #1 through #12 as they require no downloads. You may change the colors, so just choose one that has a layout you can live with. On the page with the template you like, you will see a scrolling box that has <html> at the top. Hold your left mouse button just to the left of the <html> and drag down and to the right untill you highlight the entire script. It will end with </html>. Now right click within the highlighted area and choose "copy". 6. Now go back to your Bravenet page and hold your left mouse button down starting at the top left at <html> as before. Drag down and to the right until ALL the text on the page is highlighted. Right click within the highlighted area and choose "paste". Then at the very top left click the icon 2nd from the left that looks like a floppy disk. This will save what you have just done. Also click "ok" if prompted "are you sure"., and "ok" your file was saved. Do not be scared of the last steps and dealing with the crazy looking code, from now on, you will not need to mess with any html code until you feel you are ready. Now along the top list of tabs. click the "visual editor" tab and click "ok" in the prompt. You should now see a visual representation of the template, if not, repeat steps 5 and 6. Now you have it! 7. You may now edit your page in the visual editor at any time just by replacing the text on your template. The "index.html" is the page your visitors will land on when they enter the address of your website in their browser. It is your "Home" page and you cannot change the name of "index.html" or your visitors will not be able to find it. You may call any other page whatever you want. 8. To insert an image onto your page, you have two options: Click on the page where you want the photo, then... If the file is on the internet somewhere, click on the "Insert Image" icon on the top toolbar. You can then type in the address of the image in the popup box. PLEASE DO NOT LINK TO IMAGES ON OTHER PEOPLES' SITES WITHOUT PERMISSION! To inset an image that is on your computer, you need to "upload" it first. To do this, save your work, then click on the "file manager" tab and click the "upload file(s)" link and browse your computer to find the image(s), then click the "upload file(s)" button. Then click your back button to get back tour visual editor. (or click the pencil / paper icon under "edit" across from the desired page you want to edit. It may by default go to "text editor", and you will have to click the "visual editor" tab.) You will now see your image name in the left column. To insert the photo, click on your page where you want the image to appear, then right click on the desired image file in the left column, and choose "Insert Into Webpage". 9. To add new pages to your site, click the top left icon. When you hover over it, you will see text, "Create a new file". You will see a script prompt box that you will enter the name of your new page. You may call it anything, however it MUST end in .html and I recommend having NO spaces between words. 10. To create a link from one page to another, type the text you want to link FROM, then highlight it and click the "Create link" icon on the top left toolbar. Type in the destination link. If the page is within your site you only need the page name without the http://. If you are linking to a page outside your site you need the entire address including the http://. 11. Do not be afraid to experiment with the other tools on the toolbar. A table is a most valuable tool to insert into your page. It makes inserting images and text blocks a lot easier! Also the "embed web tool" on the top toolbar is free access to the many cool free website add-ons at Bravenet! SAVE YOUR WORK!!! HELPFUL HINT! Inserting ads, scripts, and html code: First in your "visual editor" find the location you want your code or script to be on the page and type xxxxx. This is so you can find it when you go into "text editor". In text editor, you will see the html code. Look for the xxxxx and replace that with your advertising code. Save your work, then switch back to visual editor and you should see your results. |
