How to Make a Website

When I first began Sparking The Muse, I thought I needed a web designer.  I had taken a web design class and the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) went right over my head...plus the coding was frustrating the bejeebus out of me.  

So I conceived an idea and made all the graphics for it, made a spec sheet on how I wanted it organized.  I was prepared.  But the person I had asked to do my website launched a new career and could no longer fit the time in to do my website.  

So I fretted...who to get?  I asked another friend who was learning how to do web design, who said yes, but this person was in school and didn't have a lot of time outside assignments.  

I was also at a point in my life where I was deciding to take charge of things I had let go for way too long.  And I realized not having a website for my artrepreneurship was one of those things.   So I decided to scrap the graphics and just make it lean, mean and clean, from a template.  I also thought that a white background would fit with the white background pieces I'd been creating lately ("Our Humanity > Our Differences" and "Kinder, Gentler, More Badass").  I made an account, got my domain transferred, and got down to work.  

And it was a matter of plugging things in: learning the lay of the land, how to make the design my own, organizing the menu, adding images, text, links, re-arranging headers, changing fonts, adding content, building galleries.  It's been quite educational.  Not to mention, FUN!  This satisfies my inner stage manager very nicely.  And I can change it whenever I have new images to add, new products for my store, new blog entries, and on and on.  

It's good to be the captain of your own ship!