Thread: Novice needing basic help already!

I never have had a website of my own and have just started reading the tutorials of BlueVoda. I began making a rough draft, so-to-speak, of a personal website I'd like. However, I'm the kind of person that needs 1-on-1 help (step by step instructions) for everything, and am already confused on a few things. I've watched the basic tutorials, which have really inspired me that I can make my own site! Some of my questions are technical, and some are general theory based. Please could someone answer my questions? Please answer as thoroughly if possible, to head off any additional questions I would have. Thanks for your help and patience!

#1 I wanted to make a vertical navigation bar and learned that the rollover graphic can change. After watching the tutorial I thought this implementation would be simple. I chose a green oval for the normal-state menu-option, and then a green rectangle for the rollover-state. I also then hyperlinked this menu-option to any-ol'-site just to test it. I then wanted to preview this change, but when I put the cursor over the menu-option, nothing changed. Why? What am I missing?

#2 What exactly does it mean to "publish" my site? This means I begin paying ($) for an address? (www.whatever.com)? Can I ever un-publish, incase I want to take down the site? Can I modify my site after it's published, and how easily is this done?

#3 How do meta tags work? I think my site should come up in a google search when someone searches for "x" "y" or "z" -- does this mean the _order_ in which I give meta tags is important? Is "metallica fan" the same meta tag as "fan metallica" ?

#4 I chose a blue template background, then made simple pink text "My Life" on top of this background. The letters were not highlighted. I then previewed my site and unlike what I thought it should be, the pink letters seemed to be highlighted in white, which is not what I want. As in my question #1, what am I doing wrong? Am I supposed to hit an "enter" button or something to make these changes appear on my preview?

#5 I haven't decided whether or not I want to blog on my site -- is blogging possible, or is my option only to make a new subpage (or update an old subpage) everytime I have something to say?

I'm sure I'll have more questions once these are answered, but hopefully I'll eventually figure it out!

Originally Posted by BlueAngel

I never have had a website of my own and have just started reading the tutorials of BlueVoda. I began making a rough draft, so-to-speak, of a personal website I'd like. However, I'm the kind of person that needs 1-on-1 help (step by step instructions) for everything, and am already confused on a few things. I've watched the basic tutorials, which have really inspired me that I can make my own site! Some of my questions are technical, and some are general theory based. Please could someone answer my questions? Please answer as thoroughly if possible, to head off any additional questions I would have. Thanks for your help and patience!

#1 I wanted to make a vertical navigation bar and learned that the rollover graphic can change. After watching the tutorial I thought this implementation would be simple. I chose a green oval for the normal-state menu-option, and then a green rectangle for the rollover-state. I also then hyperlinked this menu-option to any-ol'-site just to test it. I then wanted to preview this change, but when I put the cursor over the menu-option, nothing changed. Why? What am I missing? This feature doesn't work when you just preview your page, you have to publish the page. If you are using the navigation bars it will work fine once you have published.

#2 What exactly does it mean to "publish" my site? This means I begin paying ($) for an address? (www.whatever.com)? Can I ever un-publish, incase I want to take down the site? Can I modify my site after it's published, and how easily is this done? Have you got a website address, and do you have a hosting account with Vodahost? You need both before you can publish your first web page.

#3 How do meta tags work? I think my site should come up in a google search when someone searches for "x" "y" or "z" -- does this mean the _order_ in which I give meta tags is important? Is "metallica fan" the same meta tag as "fan metallica" ? Although to a beginner (and I was there too once!) getting listing on Google would appear to be simple, it is actually quite difficult. There are many threads on this forum which discuss this - do a search on the word Google! Google doesn't actually use meta tags, but other search engines do. It is best to fill them in with all versions of phrases that are key to your site. Believe me, you want your site to be found, so anything you can do will help.

#4 I chose a blue template background, then made simple pink text "My Life" on top of this background. The letters were not highlighted. I then previewed my site and unlike what I thought it should be, the pink letters seemed to be highlighted in white, which is not what I want. As in my question #1, what am I doing wrong? Am I supposed to hit an "enter" button or something to make these changes appear on my preview?
Not sure what you mean by this! However, the preview is there so you can see what your site will look like on the web. be careful with the colours you choose as people will want to easily read what you have to say.

#5 I haven't decided whether or not I want to blog on my site -- is blogging possible, or is my option only to make a new subpage (or update an old subpage) everytime I have something to say? If you have a Vodahost account it comes with Wordpress which you can install from the cpanel - see separate thread on Wordpress for instructions. If you want to see an example of a blog on a blue voda site with wordpress visit http://www.mybeardeddragons.co.uk/blog

I'm sure I'll have more questions once these are answered, but hopefully I'll eventually figure it out!

Hope at least some of the above is helpful. Take it nice and slow, and you'll get there!

#1 This feature doesn't work when you just preview your page, you have to publish the page. If you are using the navigation bars it will work fine once you have published.

Ok, thanks! I'll just have to believe that the rollovers will work when I publish.

#2 Have you got a website address, and do you have a hosting account with Vodahost? You need both before you can publish your first web page.

No, I don't have either yet. I wanted to see if a BlueVoda webpage was worth it before I actually paid for an address. Is it possible to un-publish a website?

#3 Although to a beginner (and I was there too once!) getting listing on Google would appear to be simple, it is actually quite difficult. There are many threads on this forum which discuss this - do a search on the word Google! Google doesn't actually use meta tags, but other search engines do. It is best to fill them in with all versions of phrases that are key to your site. Believe me, you want your site to be found, so anything you can do will help.

Ok, I will look further into meta tags and being found when searched for later, if I ever get to the point where I have a decent webpage.

#4 Not sure what you mean by this! However, the preview is there so you can see what your site will look like on the web. be careful with the colours you choose as people will want to easily read what you have to say.

Yes, I always close the previewing window after previewing my webpage (to reset what the preview should look like). What I mean is I have set the background to what I want (blue). Then I typed "My Life" in a large, pink font. These letters are black-outlined filled in with pink. Just outside of the black outline is the blue background -- this is the look I want (normal). However, when I preview this "My Life" page I see black outlined letters filled in with pink, but just outside of the black outline is white! -- which seems to form a rectangle around the letters -- it looks like "My Life" is pink letters highlighted in white. Why is this the case?

#5 If you have a Vodahost account it comes with Wordpress which you can install from the cpanel - see separate thread on Wordpress for instructions. If you want to see an example of a blog on a blue voda site with wordpress visit http://www.mybeardeddragons.co.uk/blog

Ok, I will look into blogging again, whenever I get a decent looking website, thanks!

Trish gave you some good answers, but maybe I can reiterate:

1. The "Preview" function in Blue Voda is a simplified version of what will be presented when finally published, and is a great means to spot details that might otherwise go unnoticed. It is not, however the finalized version. (And you don't need to close your browser after each look, simply "refresh" it to see your latest version!)

2. When you have neared completion of a website using Blue Voda, start looking into choosing a domain name, and then logon to VodaHost to set up your account: actually publishing a website created in BV requires a VodaHost account, and when you sign up, you can choose the option to have a FREE domain name as well (two birds with one stone).

3. You can always pull your "published" website offline, but can only get a refund for your account within the first 30 days of establishing it.....and that is something I have seen only once since I've been here, and then only due to issues beyond the scope of satisfaction or usability....(re: Iraq)

4. By the time you get your website up, you will be very familiar with the awesome Forums available with the information and technical resources to make your fine-tuning of Search Engine Optimization a breeze....

Better?

Thanks for all your help, but my concern about the font being different ("highlighted") when I preview my page hasn't been answered. What good is the preview if everything is "sorta" like it's gonna be? Has anyone noticed these/other differences between the preview and the real thing? If so, please let me know of them. I don't want to go through all the work of making a website if I can't get a simple font issue to be resolved. Thanks!

Sorry, but I didn't adress that point as I don't really understand what you are getting at - I have never seen this before. My preview always shows the colours/fonts that I have used on the page set up.

I suggest you open a new thread on this specific point.

Make sure you are using fonts supported by Blue Voda.

You are using some terms that don't quite let us understand your problems.

#1. Menubar mouseover and rollover mouse over SHOULD also work in preview. The only feature of BV that will not work in preview mode, are links betwenn page, and some link types (even to existing URLs). This depends on how BV was degisned and created. But mouseover effects should work ok, if you have properly set the menubar buttons original image and mouseover image.

#4. You must have accidentaly added background color to your text. You need to reset the text background (highlight the text and click on Reset background. The text background tool is beside the text color tool.). It some times doesn't work, and you will need to delete your pink text and biuld it from scratch.

If you are not previewing the page, but you have saved the html and uploaded it in another server, the mouseover effects will not work. This is done purposely, so BV will not perfectly function on servers other than VodaHost's.

Ah ha - just checked again, and the mouseover effect did show on preview. There was a time lag for all the features to display!