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Introduction

Probably the best way to advertise something nowadays is on the internet using a website. With more and more people having access to a computer, either at home, work or at school it is the ideal way to let people know about a group, activity or local service.

When the research team at BEST Advice discussed this section, we pooled our collective knowledge about how to build a website and the result was that none of us had the faintest idea. How websites actually work was a complete mystery to all of us. We research and write and then send the finished work off to our website designer, and then, as if by magic, a few days later, what we prepared appears on the pages of BEST Advice and can be read by millions of people all over the world.

We went to a local media solutions company based in Hitchin called "Get Involved Enterprises Ltd" and asked the director, Simon Stimson just how difficult a job building a website is.

Simon told us:

"Best Advice is a very big site and contains a lot of sections, sub sections and articles, together with dozens of links to other sites, so it is a very complex piece of work, and definitely one for a professional web designer. To build a small site of one or two pages is much easier and while a challenge, is usually fairly straight forward."

He went on:

"If a young person wants to build a web site there is a lot of help available. Their school ITC teacher can help and at bigger schools, like Samuel Whitbread, there is a full time IT support department, who they could approach. Just about all schools now have their own web sites, so a student could find out how that was built an approach the web site manager for advice and guidance."

Sources of Advice & Information

Published Material

The team at BEST Advice checked on the Internet and there are some excellent sites which can help as well.

Build-Website.com is just such a site. From the terminology they use we suspect it is an American based site but it contains a wealth of information, advice and tips on getting your domain name (the name of your site) finding a server (where you site will actually live) and building it from scratch. The site also has a "webmasters toolbox" with downloadable software you will need to get things started. The nice thing about this site is whereas many others charge you a fee to view the information, they provide it absolutely free.

Another good source of advice is a book in the "Dummies" series called "Building a Web Site for Dummies" This is one of a series of books designed to help total novices and the series started with a book about computers called "Windows for Dummies" which became an invaluable reference guide to help people understand the first Microsoft Windows operating system.

The book gives clear and easy to follow instructions and advice and always steers clear of jargon you can't understand. (If they do use jargon, they always follow it up with a very comprehensive explanation.)

The book retails at about £16, and you may need to order it from a book store. Alternatively, if you are at a middle school or Samuel Whitbread you can ask the librarian if they could get hold of a copy for you. It is well worth the effort to get hold of and well worth reading.

Personal tips

If you don't want to build your own site then there are lots of companies around who will do it for you and obviously charge a fee for their services. If you choose this route Simon has some good advice.

"Firstly write down exactly how you want your site to look. Talk to other members of your club or group and get a consensus of opinion as the last thing you want is to pay for a site to be built and then have to change it as someone doesn't like it. Write down what information you want to go on there, and how you want that information displayed, then shop around. This is really important, don't just go to the first designer you speak to, call several companies, explain your needs and see what they will charge you, as all companies have different rates and offer different packages of service."

Simon gave us some tips you may find useful.

• Use your imagination. Create something that would interest you.
• Know the audience you are targeting.
• Get a basic knowledge of Web development software and simple HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language).
• Research websites that are of a similar nature to the one you are building to get ideas but don't just copy them.
• Keep your pages short and the information clear. Avoid clutter.
• Make sure spelling is correct and that all Hyperlinks work
• Try to learn new skills as you build the site
• Don't aim too high to begin with otherwise you will lose interest
• Use layering or tables to display information or pictures as they can be easily edited
• Use tutorials as a useful guide when you get stuck on a particular problem

Website Design Advice Service

Get Involved Enterprises Ltd is a keen supporter of BEST Advice, the schools in the Samuel Whitbread pyramid and getting young people involved in IT and web design.

Walter Wolf is the company’s web development director and he told us:

"We would encourage young people to see the Internet as a valuable tool and resource, and not to be afraid of utilising what it can offer. While Twitter and Facebook are great, young people can harness the power of the web to take their particular message to literally millions of people."

"To help young people realise their potential with the Internet, Get involved Enterprises Ltd will make this offer to any pupil who goes to a school in the Sam Whit pyramid. If you want us to build you a simple web site to advertise your club, activity or group, we will do so at a very substantial discount to our normal charges."

"If you are building one yourself and you run into a problem then we will offer you an e-mail service whereby you can send us an e-mail and one of our web designers will try to talk you through the problem and give you advice as to how to get you web site back on track."

To access this e-mail advice service, simply send a message to: info@getinvolvedent.com

Make sure you include who you are, which school within the Samuel Whitbread pyramid you attend and exactly what the problem is. The development officer may e-mail you back with a request for some specific information and details which he will need to know to try and help and will then try to explain where it has all gone wrong and get you back on track again. If they can't fix the problem with you, then they will certainly be able to point you in the right direction as to what do.

If you idea is somewhat more complex and your proposed site presents more of a technical challenge, then please feel free to get in touch with us at BEST Advice and we can give the details of the man who built our site, or if you are looking for a server to host your web site we can give you details of the company that hosts ours.

Finally a last word from Walter Wolf at Get Involved Enterprises.

"Many people are put off from using the World Wide Web to get their message across as they don't understand how it works, but it isn't really as scary as it first seems. Keep your first attempts simple, do your research as to how things work and just give it a go and get involved."

The day of the Exam

• Make sure they have a good, nourishing breakfast that will sustain them throughout the exam.
• They should make sure they have covered all possibilities for distractions in the exam e.g. they should have a bottle of water, tissues and a spare pen.
• Encourage them to get up and be ready in plenty of time to ensure they have enough time to collect their thoughts and have one last glance over their revision notes. (It is important to remember that they should not be doing last minute revision the morning of the exam as this will be fruitless but one final look at their notes may help to calm their nerves).
• Make sure they know how important it is to read the questions carefully several times before committing to one question and to ensure they fully understand what the question is asking. Many an exam has been failed because a student has not read the question properly and answered a different question!