As simple as this question sounds, this answer to it is not as simple as some people might think. Let's take a moment and look into what makes a website.

Basic definition: a website is a collection of files and folders (text, images, videos, etc... ) located on a computer remotely accessible via the internet (also called server or web server).

Imagine a letter stored on your computer, let's imagine an invitation to your birthday. Whenever you want to read that invitation, you open the folder in which it is located, and then you click on the letter, at this point it opens on your computer screen in your favorite word editing software, which allows you not only to read it but to make modifications to it. Only you can see this letter because it is on your computer and no one else has access to it; so unless your friends are sitting next to you in front of the computer screen, chances are it'll be a pretty lonely birthday.

Now let's make a parallel with a website.

Imagine that the invitation letter mentioned above is now a page of a website with the same information. And because it is located on a remote computer (server), it is now accessible by anyone who connects to that remote computer using the internet. In order to avoid compatibility problems, it is converted to a format called HTML. This HTML letter is now accessible using a web browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla, or Safari (or other). From anywhere in the world there is an internet connection.

Now if you have more than one page to your invitation letter, for example: on one page you describe the event (your birthday), on another the location, and on a third one you tell people how to respond to you invitation so that you can keep track of who's coming and who's not. All you need to achieve that is to create a "link" from one page of the letter (web page) to the next. Now you have a 3 page website: page 1(letter 1): main invitation to the birthday with description of the festivities; page 2(letter 2): location of the invitation, and page3 (letter 3): your contact information so that people can confirm that they will attend.

Conclusion: a website is really an ensemble of letters (pages) related to each others by links.

This describes in layman's terms the concept of a website, which is the core of understanding how to arrange a web page, and also how to make it easy for the visitors (readers) to navigate. There are several ways to create the underlying HTML code that makes a website.

Although the visual result might be close to a typed letter, the inner works of a website are far more complex than typing a letter in a word processing software.

Unless you are going to use a free "do it yourself" product (which probably won't look the way you want), your best choice is to hire a professional web design company with a solid experience and valid references.

By: Nicolas Santini
www.bocaseo.com

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