Preliminary Website

School Website Research: Conventions

School Website Brief

I will create a website for Cherry Tree Secondary. The school has been taken over and wants a new outlook. The design of my website will have a modern stylish look to it and have the littlest amount of information possible so that it is easy to find and read. By carrying out the survey I have decided to use the school colours so that it is recognizable. I will use a conventional layout using a master head with the school name and image. Also I will incorporate images and videos of the school and activities that the school does. I will have a main menu linking to other pages of relevance to the school such as, subjects. The website will also use badges at the bottom of the page which represent the school. Other useful information will be used on the main page to help users such as the time and a calendar.

Research into domain name and hosting

Before I started making my website it was important to research about the domain name of a website and website hosting.

What is website hosting?
A web host is needed to host a website as web hosting allows individuals and organisations to access their website on the world wide web, it is a type of Internet hosting service.  The company normally charges you to use their server to host a website so others can access it.  As my website is campaigning against domestic violence and is a charity website researching for the cheapest hosting server is important so funds for the charity will increase rather than spending the profit on hosting the website.  Some web hosts are free but when they are free not everything is offered to make your website the best.  The more money that is paid for the website the better the website is because it will have more features.

I would go for a medium amount to spend on my website rather than a free one because they don't have many functions to offer and wouldn't benefit the website just like having a really expensive host wouldn't benefit the charity.  The web host server that appealed to me was www.justhost.com which offers web hosting from £1.95 a month rather than the usual amount of £4.95.  I feel that this web hosting server offers a decent amount of functions for my website at a reasonable price.

What is a domain?
A domain is basically the name of the website either ending in .co.uk or .com.  The domain can be used along side the web host making sure that no other website has the domain name.  A domain name is important because it allows people to simply type in the domain website address to access the website.