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Now that's you've created an amazing web site, it's time to actually get it online. This is, unfortunately, the hardest part. The first step is thinking about how serious you are about this site. When it comes to this kind of thing, people generally fall into one of two categories:

1. If your site is really important to you and you're willing to do some more work, you may want to invest in a .com address. To check availability, go to www.register.com and enter your desired URL in the box.
2. If the site is not so important to you, you may want to stick with a free hosting service. Unfortunately, the "free" part means that you'll most likely have to have ads on your site and a not-so-great address -- something like http://members.myservice.com/yourname. When I first made this site, its address was http://members.xoom.com/tophbtucker.

If you chose one, keep reading. If you chose two, skip ahead to section 2.

Paid Hosting

If you're serious about your site, you'll probably want to invest in a .com web address. The very first step is to check domain name availability. To check which .com names are up for sale, go to www.register.com and type your desired web address into the box.

Let's say your name is John Smith, and thus you want the domain name JohnSmith.com. The chances are pretty high that your desired name is already taken. If so, consider adding you middle initial to the name -- JohnDSmith.com, for example. If that's not available either, you may want to chose a .org site address instead -- for example, JohnSmith.org or JohnDSmith.org.

One you've purchased a domain name, you need to get it "hosted." Basically, you need online storage space for your site. If you purchase your domain name from Register.com, you can also get your site hosting there (for a fee). Or, you can use some other site for hosting. I use 1dollarhosting.com, which offers hosting for only $1 a month. Its services are pretty basic, but you do get an email address (like me@tophtucker.com) and plenty of storage for a site. (My entire site requires no more space than the basic 20 MB package, including all the various images, animations, programs and documents.)

Once you've purchased both your domain name and hosting, it's time to actually upload your site. Once you get your site hosted, you will receive a user name and password that can be used to log on and upload content to your site.

Site uploading is done using something called FTP. To upload to your site, you can either download an FTP client like CuteFTP (free to try, $40 to buy), which I used for many years, or just use Internet Explorer. Using IE isn't quite as easy, but it is free, and it comes with every single version of Windows.

If you choose to use something like CuteFTP, just start it up, enter your domain name, user name and password, and it should be pretty easy and simple from there.

If you choose Internet Explorer, I can give you somewhat more detailed instructions.

1. Go to ftp://yoursite.com -- for example, ftp://JohnSmith.com. If that doesn't work, add the www (ftp://www.JohnSmith.com, for example). That part never quite seems to be consistent.
2. Internet Explorer will ask for your user name and password. Use whatever you got way back in the hosting stage.
3. You will see any folders or files that are currently uploaded to your site. From there, just drag and drop files from your hard drive to Internet Explorer.

NOTE: Sometimes, when you first sign in you'll see a folder called "Docs" or some other variation on Documents. That is most likely where you need to put your files. If they're not in that folder, they won't show up online.

Voila! You're done! Now, when you go to your web site -- www.JohnSmith.com, for example -- you'll immediately go to your index.html page. Congratulations!

NOTE 2: It may take a little while for your files to actually get online so that you can see them. Be patient. In fact, you'll probably have to wait a little while after first signing up before you can access your site through FTP at all!

Unless you feel like learning about free hosting services as well (or if you decided this method seems too hard), I am happy to say that you have completed TophTucker.com Web Site Authoring 101. Congratulations!

Free Services

Some people may not feel the need for an ad-free, .com web site. In that case, it's probably best to opt for using a free hosting service instead.

Since free hosting services are... well... free, they come with some limitations. Unlike the paid-for method above, if you choose to use a free service you will have to live with ads, less storage space, a pretty annoying URL and no email addresses at all. If you don't particularly care about that, a free service should be fine.

Before I continue, I should note that in addition to free hosting services, there are also services that let you build a web site (& host it) without any prior knowledge of HTML. The most famous of these is Tripod, which -- as we're about to learn -- is also the premier service for free hosting.

In addition to letting you build your own site without any knowledge of HTML, Tripod lets you use HTML to create your site. Once you've created a free account, just log in and click "File Manager" under the list of building tools. From there you can upload any files you want, and -- voila! -- they're online!

NOTE: Tripod can sometimes get very annoying -- don't count on being able to log in and work on your site any time, every time!

I'm now happy to say that you've completed TophTucker.com Web Site Authoring 101. I'll be adding more lessons over time, so check for information on tables, frames, and more.