I gave design-a-webpage beta a trial run today, using it to create a landing page for my online business report card service.

It took about 60 seconds to create. I didn't have to write any CSS or HTML, or PHP. It integrates directly into my existing site using the exact same site logo and a link to my homepage. Absolutely awesome.

I speak to people on a regular basis about how they can obtain a suitable web presence for their business or startup. The overwhelming request I get is to explain exactly what they need in order to get their website up and running. This doesn't really have a simple answer because what is required depends on the business' requirements. To make matters slightly more complicated, what the business requires now may not be what is required six months or two years down the line. So defining the web requirements for a new business is not always an elementary job.

If you have just completed a website and are thinking about putting your feet up and taking a break, perhaps hold that thought for a little while longer. As time consuming and redundant as it may seem, it is absolutely critical that you run a battery of tests to ensure that your website is free of serious errors and robust enough to take care of itself. You've checked all your web pages in three or four different browsers, right?

Here's a short checklist of the main things you need to look out for:

It can be quite tricky to find exactly the right hosting service. It's important to find one that suits you and the requirements of your website. There are plenty of good services out there, but unfortunately, there are even more poor ones. Separating the wheat from the chaff is something everyone has to do on their first time around. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to increase the chances of finding the right hosting service.

Here's a list of things you need in order to run a website:

The importance of blogging cannot be overstated when it comes to building a business online. Entrepreneurs and startups should all build time into their daily/weekly routine in order to create valuable informative content (or at least content of interest). Even if it is not your aim to build up a base of loyal readers and generate income from them, it doesn't mean you can skimp on blogging. Regular fresh content, is the lifeblood of any succesful web presence...

Standard drupal content types can be quite flexible. It's easy to add new fields of various kinds ranging from integers, urls and text, to node references and user references. Fundamentally though, there comes a point where a given page needs more than a single piece of content - no matter how spiffy said content is.

Look at any content driven site such as news or article websites and, almost without exception, they'll have regions showing different bits of content on their landing page. It's easy to mimic this with your own Drupal website, no programming required - all you need is the Panels module.

Every now and then you run into an unforseen problem for no apparent reason. It can be quite a task to unravel what has gone wrong - especially when the answer is nothing... at least not with Drupal. Because a website relies on a number of different technologies all working together in relative harmony in order to properly serve pages, sometimes the fault may lie with the peripheral technologies. This blog will explore broken layout and themes in Internet Explorer and highlights the importance of testing development sites on multiple browsers.

Without doubt, running a website or converting a conventional business or idea into a website is one of the most multi-disciplinary tasks you can undertake. While most careers specialize, individuals and organizations operating a website have to garner a wide range of skills and know-how. This skill set is also a dynamic one - it changes with time to keep pace with new technologies and paradigms that become prevalent.

It wasn't too long ago when the only real way to get nice, rounded corners onto a webpage was through the use of images. This is ridiculous if you think about it because it should be very easy for a browser to render rounded corners itself. Today, all good browsers come with a built-in ability to control the look and feel of corners.

Before we begin its worth noting that good web design avoids making use of tables (unless you are actually presenting a table) and instead uses the far more powerful and dynamic <div> tags. If you want to follow along here, make sure your HTML is DIV based first.

If you're like me then the best of intentions are often not enough when it comes to making regular backups. At some point something goes wrong and the last three hours, or five days or one month's worth of work is lost. It's a heart stopping moment when the realization that precious data or hard work has disappeared right in front of your eyes. Luckily, it appears I'm not the only one with that problem. There's a contribution that can automate everything for people just like me.