I've recently observed something. (I can't believe it!)

Geeks overlook the very basics all the time. It's natural to them to skip the very basic building blocks when explaining anything technical. I watch myself do it all the time. When I catch myself, I try to hit the emergency brake, do a big smoky 180 and head back to explain from the beginning.

But here's where the strange thing starts. (I mean, you already knew that geeks are lousy at explaining things, right?) Ok, the strange part. I truly have trouble explaining the very basics. Heck, it's easier to explain an advanced (at least to me) concept than a totally basic question.

It's like when a kid asks you “Mr. Yo, what is a thought?” Well, as you can imagine, that's a tough question to answer! Now, throw in the fact that you're trying to explain the concept before a three year old's attention span is diminished. Gaaaa! I feel the same way when someone says, hey man, how does the Internet work? There's just too many factors to explain quickly in an interesting fashion.

People lose interest so quickly when something is explained wrong. And that simply won't do! That's why writing is nice, I can think about it, and then try to explain quickly and coherently. (Like that's ever gonna happen!)

So. I decided a basic overview of building a website would be extremely helpful to some of you... That is, if I can pull it off with out starting to ramble and mumble. (c:

Ok, so a website seems like magic, right? You bet it does! But it's a bunch of things working together to make that magic happen. Not unlike a car or microwave.But, we're not here to learn about cars or microwaves! We've got metal to burn, sparks to fly, the... oh heck with it, let's get started.

A website is "coded" in a computer language called HTML. All this language does is, in effect, say “this font is going to be blue and bold, and there's going to be an image here.” So far so good.

This HTML must be viewed through a browser. That's a program like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape or Safari. The browser reads the HTML and then displaces the page accordingly.

Ok, so how does this HTML make it to your browser? Well, it's stored on a computer called a server. (Or sometimes a “web host.”) This computer basically puts your site on the net.

Now, last but certainly not least, the URL. This is your web address. For example: www.Mazuzu.com.

How does your browser know to go to your web host when you type in your URL? Good question. When you buy a URL, you set it up to “point” to a server. And to keep things simple, the server company does this for you. Woohoo!

And there you have it! The basic elements of web design.
HTML
Browsers
Servers
URLs

Hopefully your eyes remain unglazed, and you're not bored to tears yet. I tried to keep it a brief as I possibly could. Honest!
Until next time,