To create your own website, you don’t necessarily need to be a computer whiz or someone who has a lot of Internet experience. In fact, these days, many people are creating their own websites and they are not computer experts by any means, yet they are still able to do so. In part, the huge number of people creating their own websites has led to the simplification of this procedure. There are various reasons to create your own website: It can either be to promote a business or to show off to your family and friends. With just a small budget and some work, you could have your site established in just a few days.

First, though, you’ve got to pick a domain name; your domain name is your website’s address. You’re free to pick whatever you desire, yet you’re advised to keep it simple so people can actually find it!

Next, purchase your domain name and settle on a host for your site. Often, you can purchase hosting services from the same company as you register your domain name with. Two widely used companies are Lunarpages.com and GoDaddy.com. To create your own website, check if the domain name you want is still available. If it’s not, then alter it subtly by including a number or an initial. You have the choice of .org, .com, .tv and .net suffixes, to name a few. You can then pick your website and hosting options once you’ve settled on an appropriate domain name.

To create your own website, you might have to learn about HTML. Knowing about HTML is useful if you decide you want to edit the site or even make a whole new one at some point. After you’ve learned about HTML, all you require is a basic editing program such as TextEdit or Notepad. Remember that you’re able to open your site in a browser as you’re working on it; this allows you to preview it and check on your progress.

The next step involves uploading your files to create your own website. After you’ve made HTML documents, you have to upload them onto your website. To do this, you’ll require an FTP client program. After you’ve installed this program, you will rely on it to connect to the FTP server for your website, which demands both typing the FTP address as well as inputting a password that was established through the host. After you’ve been connected, just follow the instructions to upload your files. Many FTP clients allow you to simply drag and drop the files you want to upload.

The last step in how to create your own website is to see if your site’s actually online. Open a browser and enter your URL. When you press the “enter” key, the browser ought to bring you to your new website! When you are on your new website, check to determine if all of the images are showing up correctly along with links as well as buttons that function properly. If you see that everything works fine, you are done and have succeeded.

Open source software (OSS) is available in source code form. The source code and copyright of the OSS are provided under the software license, which allows their users to study, modify, improve, customize and distribute those software and applications. Till 1998, ‘open source software’ was known as ‘free software’, and it was renamed to dispel the ambiguity associated with the name ‘free software’.

Needless to say, open source domain in the IT industry is a treasure trove of web applications and software. Magento, Joomla, osCommerce, Typo3, Drupal, SugarCRM, WordPress, etc. are some open source ecommerce web applications, while Linux, Apache Server, Thunderbird, Mozilla Firefox, TurboCash, and Open Office, besides Pain.net, Audacity, etc. are open source software and programs that are available free of cost.

Open source ecommerce web applications are well-suited to meet all the desired business needs and operational requirements. Customization of different business needs and their implementation are possible at low spending. On the other hand, Linux is an operating system available free of cost as the Apache Server, which works on Unix Systems added to Netware, Windows and other platforms and runs as an HTTP server. All these open source software and applications are obtainable without giving a penny. Most interestingly, they have all those functionalities that programmers and computer users look for.

Computer users and programmers are aware of the benefits that they can derive from using these open source software and web applications. For example, Linux is used as operating system while Apache Server for running HTTP server; Thunderbird used for email purposes; Mozilla Firefox as Internet browser; TurboCash for handling business accounting needs; Open Office for handling word processing, spreadsheet, slideshow and database needs; Paint.net for working with photos; Audacity for editing video and sound; and ecommerce open source web applications are used for customizing and implementing desired business needs and operational requirements.

The benefits of using open source software and web applications are better understood if the benefits of some ecommerce OSS and web applications are discussed.

Magento: This ecommerce shopping cart solution is used to create user-friendly features for websites. Magento has several versions. Among those versions, Community, Professional and Enterprise versions are popular among programmers. With using Magento OSS, programmers can create websites with multi store facilities that can be managed from one location in admin panel, with SEO friendly features, and with integrating major payment gateways. In addition to them, programmers can integrate third-party tools in accordance with API (Application Programming Interface).

Joomla: Joomla is a PHP-based (Server-side programming language used for creating dynamic web pages and services) Content Management System used for creating websites with complex web applications. This open source software and web application helps to manage site navigation and Meta contents, edit HTML, besides helping to create centralized CMS with different assigned users.

Drupal: Drupal is a content management system used for building dynamic websites with a wide array of features. From developing personal portals to developing enterprise websites, this open source software and web application is one of the most sought-after applications for programmers, web publishers, web developers, and also for SEO experts. This has become popular because of its flexible architecture. There are hordes of advantages available with Drupal CMS; for example, facility to categorize content through taxonomy system, facility to clean URL through apache ‘mod_rewrite’, and its use of top-notch CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) and JavaScript ensures speedier websites, among others.

WordPress: WordPress is an OSS script that is extensively used for building nice-looking websites and is perfect for creating blogs. Backed by PHP and MySQL, WordPress is customizable with hundreds of easy-to-tweak themes and plug-ins. For its user-friendly features and optimum flexibility, it is quite popular among common users and expert programmers.

Irrespective of which kind of software you may need, chances are out there you can avail of some free, open source software and applications that will easily fulfill your needs. With devoting a bit of time for searching and downloading such software, you will be well on your way with having lost ‘not-a-single-penny’.

Joy Kumar Das wields genuine command over the subjects like tours and travels, scientific discoveries, software development and website design and development industry, online marketing industry. and business promotion and advertisement management, among others. His writings express his thoughts which emanate from thorough analysis. This article is an outcome of his elaborate research.