SITE STUDIO
Compiled by Serge Ruban, Revised by Victor Katolyk
Have you ever felt amazed at how things changed over the last years? The Internet
has become as common as the telephone. E-mail makes people totally forget about
the existence of regular mail. Having a web site is now more important than
having a business card.
Actually, many people now think that having one web site is not enough. Really,
would you present yourself the same way to your potential employers, family
members and former schoolmates? Of course not! On the first site you would
probably place your professional resume - and will refer to it in an employment
classified. On the second, you would place new pictures of you and your fiancé
- you may want to share them with your parents in Minnesota and your sister
in Paris. On the third, you will open a picture gallery out of the old school
pics - maybe, this will help you find your old good friend whose trace you lost
many years ago…
And so, you have decided to make up your own website. High time! But do you
know enough HTML? Or do you want to create your site using a text editor?
In either case, you will end up spending days and days to have your site look
attractive and getting all things work. Not the best solution. Or, maybe,
you want to pay hundreds of dollars for these web designer guys to do the job?
Well, here is the solution. We will save your time and efforts, and what's
even more important, you can be personally involved in the Art of Web Design.
To create a professional-looking web site using Site Studio, you don't need
any special knowledge or experience. The wizard-like program structure will
guide you through the whole site-construction process step by step. Now you
become a web designer, a creator, an Artist! You can juggle around with page
layouts, colors, themes, add various effect and much, much more, everything
with a single mouse click! Within a half hour you can have your site created
and published on the Internet!
So, if you feel this is what you need, welcome on board!
Usually a site constitutes of a series of pages, each devoted to a separate
topic, article or resource. Site Studio offers you a set of templates for all
common pages:
- Splash Screen:
the home page or index page that welcomes visitors and contains references to all other pages.
- About:
the
page to provide information about the purpose of the site, the owner of
the site, and any other relevant data.
- Resume:
if you seek employment via the Internet, this is the central page containing a short
account of your career and qualifications.
- Links:
the
page where you list your links to related web sites or pages.
- Custom Table Page:
a page with any data organized in table format.
- Site Map.
If your site is becoming complex and hard to navigate, a site map will become helpful to get around.
- Photo Album:
a sequence of pages containing images. You may want to use it for
posting photos of yourself, your friends, your family, your art works, postcards,
etc. If you are a production or service company, use it to advertise your products
or services. One site may contain more than one photo album.
- Your Own HTML.
This tool contains a simple HTML editor allowing you to create web pages based
on your own HTML script. Recommended for advanced users.
- Humor:
a tool that helps you organize your jokes, funny pictures, humorous stories and
other fun topics.
- Survey Form:
a quick tool for drawing up visitor questionnaires.
- Generic Page:
a powerful tool to create pages with any layout, containing both text and images.
- Genealogical Tree:
a quick tool for creating a family tree. The output is a list of entries each
devoted to an ancestor or a family member.
- Calendar:
the page where you can list events with dates and comments.
- ICQ Contact Center.
If you extensively use ICQ, you will find this form of messaging the most convenient.
- Driving Directions:
a powerful tool for visitors to get the driving directions to the place
in North America that you specify.
- Amazon.com Web Store.
If you want to offer your visitor some books for sale, this is the page for
you. To use this feature, you need to sign up with the Amazon.com associate
program.
- Mobile Pager.
A page from which site visitors can reach you on a cell phone or a pager with
Internet messaging support. To use this feature, you need to be subscribed
with Bell Atlantic Mobil or Sprint PCS.
Every time your site is visited, the first page to open would always be the
Welcome Page, or Splash Screen in other terms. So, it would be a good idea
to begin your site with the Splash Screen.
If you chose to follow this advice, select Splash Screen in the box provided.
Click Next to continue with the design of the page.
Splash Screen is the home page that
welcomes visitors and contains links to all other pages.
To configure Splash Screen, fill out
the Splash Page form:
- Splash Theme:
the main parameter that determines the look of your home page. Site Studio
offers several Splash Screen templates (themes). Choose one - you can change
it any time in the future. The current version of Site Studio does not provide
immediate preview, so it is recommended to configure it after you configure
all other parameters (see instructions below in this section).
- Logo image:
Splash Screen templates are designed to include a welcome image. You can select
a picture that is stored on your hard disk or has been already uploaded to your
gallery. To include a picture click the "Select Image" button and follow
the on-screen instructions.
- Page Title:
This is the text that will show up on the welcome page in big letters. This
would usually be either the name of your site or a welcome sentence.
- Lock Splash Settings:
By default, Splash Screen is not affected by the global color settings for your
site. Here, you can allow Site Studio to modify Splash Screen properties by
checking "No" radio button in the Lock Splash Settings field.
As you finish, click the Next button to save your settings. The View
tab (see Tabs for details) will open for preview. How do you like your welcome page?
Okay, now let us look back at the themes. Click the Edit tab and select
a different theme, then go to the bottom of the page and click Next.
Try other themes to choose the best one.
Important: your
site will be published only after you press the Publish link on the menu
bar, in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
The About page is commonly used to provide
the following blocks of information:
- The purpose of the site;
- The owner of the site (a
person or a company);
- Any other relevant data.
Enter your text into the boxes provided. Paragraph headings are optional.
Site Studio allows you to include a picture into the About
page. This could be a picture of yourself (for a personal site), your working
team (for a company), a logo or any other relevant image. To include a picture,
click the "Select Image" button. Then follow the on-screen instructions.
After you add an image, its thumb view will become available in the form, as
well as a Remove Image button. Click it to remove selected image from
the About page.
After you key in or copy/paste the data
you want to show on your About page, click the Next button to
save your settings, and you will be brought to the View tab (see Tabs for details).
This is the central page for those who seek employment via the Internet. It
provides an easy-to-use wizard that allows you to effectively manipulate the
data you would like to include into your resume.
As the first step, you will see seven boxes with suggested section headings,
each with an Add button on its right. Click the Add button to
enter data into the relevant section. A new form will appear. Fill it out
and press Next to return to the main Resume page. The information you
entered will show in the box; also, Edit and Delete buttons will
be added. Click Edit to change contents of the box, and Delete
to clear the contents. Follow this instruction for every section you want to
include into your resume.
Note: In the Experience section form, you will have
an in-built form for job duties. The instructions are exactly the same as above.
Attention: Make sure you don’t add empty forms! They will be included
into your resume, too.
You can preview your resume at any moment
by clicking the View tab (see more on Tabs). Your all changes will NOT
be lost. At the end, however, don’t forget to confirm the changes by pressing
the Next button!
Now that you see your resume in a complete form, you may see how to make it
more visually appealing. Click Settings tab to change color, font or
style (see more on Tabs).
When you have your web page in front
of your eyes you may decide to change the order of some paragraphs. It's simple
and fast.
- Click the Order Elements link to re-order
your paragraphs. A new window will appear.
- In the box, click to highlight the
name of the item you want to move;
- Use the
 and
 buttons
to move the selected item up or down the list;
- Click the Next button to
save changes and return to the Resume Edit page.
Part of expressing yourself through a web page is including links to your favorite
web sites. The links you choose to include on your page can communicate your
interests and hobbies. If your goal is a company site, think of resources related
to your field or industry. A carefully designed collection of related links
can make your site a good launching place and will help you promote your site
- and business.
- Header Text:
The
text that shows at the top of the Links page as a header. It usually
details the page title or serves as a header to the introductory paragraph.
- Paragraph:
The introductory
paragraph to the Links page.
- Columns of Links to Display:
Links can be organized into multiple columns.
- Add button is used
to create a new Link category.
To keep your links organized, SiteStudio places new entries into categories.
To add a category or links to your Links page:
- Click the Add button. This will call another
form.
- Enter the name of the category;
- Click Add (Add Link);
- Fill in the fields (Site title and
Site URL), than click Next to continue;
- To add link - click Add;
- To make some changes - click Edit;
- To delete link - click Remove;
- Click Next when finished.
To edit an existing category:
- Click Edit button;
- Edit the name of the category;
- Click Add to include a new
link;
- Click Next to save changes.
To delete an existing category, click Delete button. Warning:
All links contained in this category will be permanently deleted!
Custom page table is a page with any data organized in a table format. To
create a table, fill out the form:
- Border:
enter a numerical
value representing the width of grids in pixels. To hide grids, leave the
field empty or enter 0.
- Width:
Table width
can be indicated in pixels or in percent of the page width. To enter width
in percent, put the "%" symbol after the numerical value.
- Cell Padding:
distance
from text to border, both vertical and horizontal.
- Align:
aligns the
table on the page.
- Resize:
Enter the
number of rows and columns for your table and press Resize button before clicking
Next.
Note: If you input an incompatible set
of parameters, Site Studio will optimize conflicts in these data.
This page shows the structure of your site. It is generated automatically
and does not allow editing. However, you can configure its settings, just like
you it for other pages.
For a personal site a photo gallery may become the central element with photos
of yourself, your friends, your family, your art works, postcards, etc. For
a production or service company, it may be used to advertise your products or
services.
To create a photo album, fill out the
fields in the form as the first step:
- Title:
the
text that shows at the top of the menu bar.
- Select numbers of pictures per
page:
Mind the size of your pictures. It is recommended
that all your pictures fit one screen. Follow the simple rule: the bigger
the image size, the fewer pictures per page.
- Enter the number of columns:
Change this parameter depending on whether your images have a horizontal
or a vertical layout.
In the next step, add images to the
Photo Album:
- Click Add. A new form will appear;
- Fill in the picture title and the
date in any format;
- Click the Select Image button. You will be
brought to the Upload Images page. Follow on-screen instructions to
add a new image.
- Add details. This may be a description of the place
or names of people in the picture.
- Click the Next button to
proceed.
To change or remove images use the
buttons under the Image.
To add more images to your album click
Add and repeat the steps above.
This tool contains a simple HTML editor allowing you to create web pages based
on your own HTML script. However, it is recommended that you create your files
in specialized html editors. To upload a file from your hard drive, click the
Upload File button at the bottom of the page.
When uploading your own HTML page, try to avoid non-Latin characters, spaces,
underlines, commas, dots, hyphens, etc. It is recommended that your file name
only includes letters of Latin alphabet and numbers.
Fun page template helps you organize your fun topics. To add an item, click
the Add button for the appropriate category and fill out the form that
appears.
To add pictures to your Fun Page:
- Click Add in the in the Add Funny Pictures
box. A new form will appear.
- Enter the name of the picture.
- Click the Select Image button. You will be
brought to the Upload Images page. Follow on-screen instructions to
add the new image.
- Add text. This may be any comment to the new image.
- Click the Next button to
proceed.
- Click the View tab to see
the page preview.
- Click the Edit tab to continue
editing the page.
To change or remove images or texts,
use the Edit and Delete buttons on the left of the picture or
text.
To add more images to your album click
Add and repeat the steps above.
To change the order of the jokes, images or stories, click the Order Items
button in the appropriate form. A new form will appear. Follow on-screen instructions
to change the order of the items in the topic.
This template will help you develop a custom online questionnaire. Use it
to research public opinion or to get feedback from your customers.
To generate a questionnaire, fill out
the form:
Page Title:
Page title is the text that will show at the top of the menu bar. For convenience,
it duplicates the same field in the Settings tab. In this field, you
can change SiteStudio default name from "Survey" to, say, "Questionnaire" or
"Feedback".
Button Text:
This is the text that will show up on the global site menu among other page
names. It may be the same as the Page Title, or you can give it a different
name.
E-mail To:
Here, enter the address where you want the survey results e-mailed. It can
be the Webmaster’s (i.e. your) address as well as any other address you specify.
Questions:
To add a question, click the Add button on the right. A new form
appears. Checking "Yes" in the Is The Answer Required field marks the
survey question with a red asterisk. The survey will not be accepted from a visitor
if one or more asterisked questions remain unanswered. The Question Type determines
the format of the suggested answer. Carefully fill out this form and click
the Next button to proceed.
On Successful Submission
of the Form:
Here, enter the text you want the visitor to see after
the form has been accepted.
On Error Submission
of the Form:
Here, enter the text you want the visitor to see after
the form has been rejected or an error occurred.
Click the Next button
to generate the questionnaire.
Generic Page template has been designed to enable fast and simple creation
of custom pages that do not fall into any other categories. You can choose
how to lay out your images and text depending on your tastes, needs and circumstances.
- Marquee:
This is
a scrolling area of text. To add a marquee, click Add link. A marquee
form will appear. Enter the text you want to scroll, width and height in
pixels, scrolling speed, horizontal page alignment and vertical screen position,
and the font style. Press the Submit button to proceed.
- Number of Columns:
Multiple columns for the whole page can be combined with individual paragraph
design.
- Choose Title For this Page:
Page title is the text that will show at the top of the menu bar. For convenience,
it repeats the same field in the Settings tab.
- Choose Link Text:
This text will show on other pages as a hyperlink to this page.
- Edit Paragraphs:
You can add, delete and edit only individual paragraphs, including
headers, body texts, images and image titles. All elements are optional!
To add or edit paragraphs:
- Click Add or Edit. A new form will
appear.
- Select paragraph layout by sliding
you mouse over the buttons at the bottom of the page and clicking one of them.
- Enter Paragraph Header;
- Click the Select Image button
to add a picture;
- Enter Paragraph Text;
- Click Next to preview.
Your family page includes two major
blocks of information, one about the whole family, and the other about its individual
representatives.
To provide general family information
enter the following fields:
- Title:
It
could be as generic as "My Family" or as specific as "The Simpsons Family Tree".
- Header Text:
give some introductory information about your family.
- Family Portrait:
Click the Select Image button to add a picture from your computer.
To provide information about individual
family representatives:
- click the Add button. A Family Member
form will appear.
- Fill out the form. (Note: The date format does
not matter). It is recommended to start your Family Tree with the ancestors.
Warning: Clicking the
Delete tab will remove the whole Family Tree Page, not a family member
page! To remove individual persons from the family tree, click Next
in the Family Member form to return to the Family Tree form and
click the Delete button on the left of the person’s name.
On the Family Tree central page
you can see the general family genealogy information.
To view individual family member’s page, click this person’s name. To return
to the general family page, click Back to Family Tree at the bottom.
The calendar is nothing but a page listing events like birthdays, anniversaries,
etc.
- Date:
this
field is insensitive to the format of the date.
- Headline:
what
is the event about. E.g.: "Our fiftieth wedding anniversary".
- Text:
the
optional comment you may want to add. E.g.: "Not celebrating".
- Type:
the
color in which the record will appear:
- Usual - green;
- Important - blue;
- Alert - red.
If you extensively use ICQ, you will
find this form of messaging the most convenient.
To add the ICQ Contact Center page,
fill out the fields:
- ICQ Number:
your active ICQ number to which the messages will be directed. You
can copy it from your ICQ View/Change My Details window.
- Subject:
Every
message directed to you by a visitor of your site will have this subject included.
A good name for the Subject would be something like "Sent From My Site".
- Online Indicator Type:
Your ICQ-message page contains an online indicator that shows your
current status (e.g. online or offline). Here, you can choose
how you want it to look. To preview, click the View tab. To continue
editing, click Edit tab.
- Status Indicator Description:
The text that appears next to the online indicator. You can change
the default text to, for instance, "The Webmaster is". Some indicator
types include text like "My current status is:" For these types, keep
this field blank.
Press the Next button to proceed.
This is a powerful tool for visitors to get the driving directions to any address
in North America that you specify. For a personal site, this can be your home
or hangout. For a business site, show the location of your restaurant, store (supermarket)
or a service center.
To create the page, enter the details
of the destination address and press the Next button to preview.
To change data, click the Edit
tab.
To create your online bookstore, do
the following steps:
1. Sign up.
You need to sign up to become an Amazon.com associate. Click here to sign up or here to find more about the associate program.
2.Fill out the form
- Associates ID:
After you subscribe with the associate program, you will be assigned
an associate ID. Enter it into this field.
- Create Your Sales List:
enter the names, prices, and descriptions of the books you want to
sell. Then press Next to preview.
Configuring mobile messaging with SiteStudio
is as simple as entering the phone or pager number, selecting service type and
provider and clicking the Next button.
Tabs
Look at the tabs right under the toolbar menu. They supplement every page-designing
tool:
Edit tab
opens by default, suggesting that you should enter or change your data before
viewing it. Forms in the Edit tab vary greatly from page to page.
View tab
allows you to view your changes. This option is always available when you work
on Edit or Settings tab. This means that after you introduce any changes to
your page data or settings, you can immediately view them by clicking the View
tab.
Settings
tab. Here you can customize all parameters for your page. For details go to Standard Settings Tab.
Delete tab permanently removes the page from your site.
Note: You can switch between tabs to change any data or settings
any time during the page construction process or later.
Standard Settings Tab
Page Title
Page title is the text that will show at the top of the menu bar. In this
field, you can change SiteStudio default name from "Fun Page" to, say, "Laugh
with us".
Button Text
This is the text that will show up on your site’s menu among other page names.
It may be the same as the Page Title, or you can give it a different name.
For example, if your Page Title is "Fun Page", you may want to add some versatility
by typing something like "Smile!"
File Name
Technically, your site is nothing but an organized inter-linked group of html
pages (files). SiteStudio enables you to assign a specific name for every page
that you add to your site. It is recommended that your file name only includes
letters of Latin alphabet and numbers. Try to avoid non-Latin characters, spaces,
underlines, commas, dots, hyphens, etc.
Title, Text, Heading
You can select:
- Font
- use pull-down menu;
- Color
- click on Change color button, when the color scheme appears, click
on Selected color;
- Lettering Style - simply click on letter symbol.
After you change the settings click
Next to see the result.
Rollover effect
When you move your mouse over some elements on a page, they may change their
color, shape and other properties. This is called Rollover Effect.
Background Image
You can place the contents of your page on an image. However, try to be discreet
with choosing the background. Avoid using photographs or bright decorations,
as they may hinder text readability.
Colors
SiteStudio allows you to change the color palette for every site's page. Their
default HTML codes are in the boxes next to the parameter names. You don’t
need to know these codes. Instead, click the  icon to call
a Color Picker - a palette with colors available - and select the color you
like. The "Color" section allows you to change background,
text and links color. Just select the element you wish to modify and click on
the color you like.
Note: If you decide to
change background color, ensure that the text on your page is clearly readable.
There must be sufficient contrast between the text and the background image.
A background with too much contrast competes with the text for reader's attention
and makes it difficult to read.
Secure
You can make your page open to general public or closed (secure). Secure sites
or pages are often used by multinational companies to communicate closed information
to its representatives worldwide, where e-mailing is not appropriate.
Choose Yes if you want to restrict access to the page. The frame will
expand to include a drop-down list box where you can choose who is allowed to
view the page. To create an authorized user or user group, go to Site Settings
-> Edit Security Information (for comments see Edit Security Information
help section).
Go to the directory or folder on your
computer where your picture is saved, select the picture you want to add to
your page, and click the Open button. The location of the selected file appears
in the "Upload Image" window. Click the Upload button in the "Upload
Image" window.
You can select images from:
- Your own computer;
- Gallery of images that you have
uploaded before (your gallery);
- SiteStudio image library (not included
in some versions).
To re-order your pages do the following:
- Click to highlight the name of the
page that you want to move;
- Use the and
buttons
to move the selected item up or down the list;
- Click the Next button to
save changes.
Click the category you need help with:
Note: When available,
use the navigation buttons inside the browser window. For some pages, your
browser's Back and Forward buttons will not work correctly. If
a page fails to load, or does not reflect last changes, click your browser's
Reload or Refresh button to update the page.
website category
To select the website category, scroll
the list of suggested topics in the box in the right half of the page. Select
the topic for your site and click it. Then, click the Next button.
You will be brought to the Select Website Color and Style page.
Attention: Once
you begin to create your site you may not change the website category!!! To
change the category, you will have to start anew, which will delete ALL
PREVIOUSLY SAVED SITES.
website color &
Choosing a correct layout is crucial for the success of your web site, as it
will determine the look of every page. Site Studio is equipped with a number
of pre-designed Overall Site Layouts. Go through the list in
the upper left box by mouse-clicking each item or using cursor keys on your
keyboard. Sample pages will be shown in the preview window on the right. Stop
on the one that will best suit the contents of your site.
Then, select a color scheme in the lower box. It will only affect the menu
bar; colors for every individual page are set at a later stage (see Standard Settings Tab).
You can change your layout and color scheme any time in the future without
losing any information whatsoever, even when the construction of the site is
complete.
The checkbox allows you to apply selected layout and color scheme to all pages
on your site. It comes checked by default. If you uncheck it, the layout
and color settings will only affect the pages you create after applying these
changes; the pages you created before will remain unchanged. Changing this
option doesn’t affect your settings in any way, if you are only beginning
to create your site.
After you select the layout and color
settings, click Next to move on.
Global Settings
Web readers often want or need to contact the person who created and maintains
the web site. Global Settings form requires you to enter basic information that will
help identifying the site and its author after it is published.
In the Search Engine Keywords box enter the words or word combinations that
distinguish your site from all other sites on the Internet. They will be helpful
when somebody tries to find your site with a search engine. Think of the words
that would be most characteristic of your site.
In the Search Engine Description box enter a short description of your site,
like an answer to the question: What is it about? If an Internet user finds
your site with a search engine, this description will show right under the site
name.
You can enable visitors to perform text search on your site. This functionality
takes a form of a textbox added to the menu bar. A visitor will type a word
or a combination of words and they will be searched throughout all texts on
your site. If you want to include a search engine into your site, click "yes"
at the bottom of the form. Otherwise, choose "no".
At this point, you are done with general site settings. Click the Next
button to configure individual pages.
Website theme / effects
Add themes and special effects! Make snowflakes fall down
in the browser, add logos that stay put as the user scrolls, and tons of other
cool features, all with easy point and click selection.
There are several check boxes to indicate and select the theme (javascript
effects) that you can see on your web page. Use pull-down menu for selection.
Then, click Next to preview.
Falling Things:
- Snow - the snowflakes will fall on your screen;
- Snow 1
- just the same action but another type of snowflakes;
- Leaves - the leaves will fall and fly on your
screen;
- Angels - the same actions but Angels (instead
of leaves) will fall on your screen.
Items.
Please use pull-down menu to select the number of snowflakes (leaves).
Theme 1.
Here you can include the "Top down curtain" effect. Try not to include too many
effects.
Cursor pointer.
Here you can select:
Cursor text. The name of the web page will trail the cursor.
Colorful tail. The colorful tail will follow the cursor.
Site logo.
Specify where you want to place the Logo image.
Logo duration.
Specify how long you want the Logo to show on the page after it is loaded.
Alt text.
Enter the tooltip text - a brief message that will pop up next to the cursor
when it stops over the Logo image.
Load
/ Save website
You can save up to five different versions of your site. Make sure the names
you enter reflect changes between versions.
Attention: Before retrieving a
previously saved website, save your work! If you don’t save your current project,
you will lose it. SiteStudio can work with only one site at a time.
Warning: Starting over will delete
ALL PREVIOUSLY SAVED SITES. To start a completely new site, you
need to register as a new user.
Note: Saving your web site will not publish
it. To publish your site, click the publish link at the upper left-hand corner
on the menu panel.
Start
Over
Scrap all your pages with one click, and begin designing anew. Use this option
only if you are completely sure. There will be no way to get back your current
pages if you start over.
This option allows you to delete all your web pages with ONE click and start
to design from the beginning. Warning: You will lose your current site
as well as ALL PREVIOUSLY SAVED SITES. Don’t use this function
if you are not strongly sure!
Edit
Security Info
You can make your site open to general public or closed (secure). Secure sites
are often used by multinational companies to communicate current information
to its representatives worldwide, where e-mailing is not appropriate.
In this section you need to specify the users or user groups authorized to
access your secure site. After you include them into the authorized user list,
communicate to them their passwords.
To secure individual pages, go to Page Settings tab (see Page Settings help section for details).
Here you can see and inspect all the web pages your web site
consists of.
- to preview page content click View. You will be brought
to the page’s View tab.
- to change, add or delete info - click Edit. You will
be brought to the page’s Edit tab.
- to delete the page click Remove. The page will be
permanently deleted.
- to change the look and feel of the page, click Settings.
You will be brought to the Page Settings tab.
|
