Ah, the internet. Never has such a vast playing field been open to the common man, to share his or her vision with whoever so cares to read it. From this we get up to the minute news, share family photos and post hate literature, to name a few. According to recent stats, seventeen new domain names are registered every second. Everybody wants a web site, but learning HTML and other net code seems beyond the regular Joe's. Enter NetObjects with their web site package Fusion 5.
Fusion 5.0 is a relatively simple package used to create web sites. I tried Microsoft's FrontPage 98 but found the layout and initial muddling a bit disconcerting. I worked with Fusion 4.0 to create my website www.ebabble.net, and found it to be quick and easy. Along comes version 5 and everything became a lot easier.
The basics of Fusion are this: the program uses a desktop publishing style of page layout, much like Microsoft Publisher. You've got a page, and to add text you select the text box icon, draw the box on the page with your mouse and start typing. Add a picture, same deal. Select the grid overlay and you can lay everything down neat and tidy. If you want to see what it will look like online, click the preview panel and check it out.
Sure, adding content is easy, but how to get started? Open the Style page and choose a look for your site. Each style combines banners, menus, text, backgrounds, and anything else needed to get a site going. The site management is just as easy, choosing from a flowchart view or a file manager type. Click the add icon to add a page, name it and double click to open it.
Every part of Fusion can be modified via the properties palette, a floating box that changes depending on where you've clicked. Want to change the page name? Click on the banner, then go to the properties palette and retype in the title box. Again, easy to navigate and use.
Once things are just so, select the publish icon and away you go. Most ISP's offer free web space with a dial up account, so you just have to know your settings and enter them. Once that's done, click generate and Fusion converts everything to HTML and uploads it. Now you've got a web presence.
The newest feature in Fusion 5 is the online guide, a step by step walkthrough to ease the use of the program. Click the online button in the program and be taken to a custom NetObjects site that walks you through planning, design, building, promoting and growing. Very easy to follow and put into practice.
Fusion is capable of almost anything you want to do on the web, in an easy to use package. E-commerce, database linking and message boards are a few of the advanced features I have yet to explore, but I like most of us out there just wanted to have a piece of virtual space. Go towww.netobjects.com and download a trial version now.
Once you're up and running, you way want to register your own URL. This used to be pricey and painful, but as with everything else time brings things into perspective. Look TV has started www.easyhosting.com which offers URL registration at $15 Canadian per year, compared to the $35 U.S. everyone was paying before. Of course your ISP will charge you more to host this, for some unknown and malicious reasoning. Your business will seem all that much more professional if you have a unique URL on your business cards. Besides, it's good bragging to your friends.
by Scott VanderPloeg
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