chapter 4 creating a website from an indesign layout

Chapter 4

Creating a Website from an InDesign Layout

Registering a Domain Name

• A domain name is a humanly memorable name that people use to identify and access websites.

• A domain name stands for an Internet Protocol (IP) address. An IP address could be anything from a computer that’s being used to access the Internet, to a server that’s actually hosting a website, to the website itself.


• Domain names are administered by domain name registrars, who sell this service online to the public.

• Domain name registration websites allow you to enter a domain name and find out if it’s available.


• Domain name registration sites are accredited and overseen by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

• ICANN also oversees a registration database that lists all registrars for all registered domain names.


• One important component of a domain name or IP address is the top-level domain (TLD).

• The TLD is the highest level of the domain name system (DNS) on the Internet.

• TLDs are the same thing as Internet address suffixes like .com, .net, or .org.


• When you register a domain name, you have the option to register email accounts associated with that domain name.


• With the Adobe CS6 release, InDesign is a great choice for designing and managing a personal website because it allows you to create dynamic, visually interesting layouts without the need for coding or scripting.


• godaddy.com is useful for both domain name registration and web hosting because it is a popular site that is dependable, easy to use, and features competitive pricing.

Godaddy.com home page


Unavailable domain name screen

Search again link


Purchasing Website Hosting

• You can think of purchasing web hosting as purchasing both space and function on the World Wide Web.

• Web hosting companies are often referred to as Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and they function somewhat like an agent: they provide a location—a space—on the web where your website exists.


• The size and complexity of a website is a central factor in the ISP’s role in hosting that site.

• When you purchase web hosting, email is a service that the ISP will provide as part of the hosting package.


• You can expect to receive 300-500 email accounts with the service, accounts that you can set up for yourself and for employees.

Email inbox



• Data transfer is another built-in service that your ISP provides. When a user accesses your website, the ISP downloads your site from its server to the user’s browser. You should expect unlimited data transfer as part of the monthly fee you pay to your ISP.


• Once you purchase web hosting, you need to set up your web hosting account.

• Essentially, this means creating a username and password for you to use as the administrator of the website.


• Once you set up your administration account, you’ll have an account management page that you can use to manage all areas and functions of your website.

My Account page


Uploading an InDesign Layout to the Web

• Uploading is a process by which files are copied from your computer to the network of computers the ISP is using to host your website.

• This is accomplished through a file transfer protocol (FTP) software utility.

• FTP software literally moves files between computers.


• In the process of exporting an InDesign file, you will be given the option to name the exported files.

• As a standard procedure for exporting InDesign layouts for the web, name the export file index, and be sure to use all lowercase letters.

• Thus, exporting to the SWF file format will create an index.swf file and an index.html file.


• An HTML file is only a text file; it’s code.• If a web page has images, the HTML file

contains code that references each image on the page by its filename.

• This code tells the browser where to go to look for those images.


• When you use files exported from InDesign to create a website, the browser once again accesses the HTML file, but the HTML file then references the SWF file for all page layout information.

Files generated from the export

Index_Resources folder

Index.html file

Index.swf file



• In addition to placed images, the exported SWF contains all other functionality you have programmed for the site, including:– Animation– Hyperlinks– Buttons– Object states


• The SWF file contains code that, essentially, tells the browser to look for and access the video and sound files in a folder named index_Resources.


• When you use the built-in FTP utility on godaddy.com, as you will in these lessons, you can’t simply upload an entire folder.

• You must create the index_Resources folder yourself then upload the sound and video files to that folder.

FTP File Manager page


chapter 4 creating a website from an indesign layout

Documents

website hosting slide

unavailable domain

registered domain names

toplevel domain tld

web hosting companies

web hosting account

purchasing website ho

personal website