Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2

Creating Your Own Website.......................................................................................................................... 2

Domain Name ........................................................................................................................................... 2

Web Host .................................................................................................................................................. 2

Creation..................................................................................................................................................... 3

In Summary ............................................................................................................................................... 3

Highschoolhelp.com...................................................................................................................................... 4

The Beginnings .......................................................................................................................................... 4

Designing................................................................................................................................................... 4

Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 6

Works Cited ................................................................................................................................................... 7

Introduction
When asked what to do for my individual project for Miss Enger's English 320 class, I was very
perplexed as to what I would attempt to do at first. Then I began to reflect on my own life and
what things I like to do along with what I need at this point in my life. So I combined those two
things and came up with the idea of creating a website for students, mainly of high school
status, that would help them succeed in a world that requires everyone to have a degree. For
the purposes of this class, I will not be actually creating a website that will be functional, but
explaining what I would create and some examples as to what I would intend it to look like. This
paper will give the reader an insight as to how to begin the process of creating a website and
how I would go about designing one of my own. I have done research as to what others have
created and are currently available to a various array of students.

Creating Your Own Website

Domain Name
The first step when creating a website is to register your own domain name. "A domain name is
the thing that looks like this: 'yourdomain.com'. Your domain name represents the URL (or
permanent web address) of your website. Therefore, when anyone types in ‘yourdomain.com’
or 'www.yourdomain.com', they will see your website" (Create a Website, 2010). Many domain
names cost the user a small fee, but there are also existing options that are available for not
cost. The free options, unfortunately, do have some downsides when it comes to sharing your
webpage with the world. "They are too unstable, you never really own your site and you do not
receive a true domain name. Instead your address will be something like
http://freesite.yourdomain.com. In some cases, the domain may be even longer," (Website
Creation Tutorial for Beginners, 2010). For these reasons, various individuals pay to have their
webpage on the World Wide Web to avoid any unforeseen problems. If an error arises they can
take it to the tech assistant that is required to repair the problem. The domain name that I have
chosen for my website was 'highschoolhelp.com' because it objectively reveals what the site’s
primary function is and who the primary targeted user includes. This part of the production
process is where all of the creativity and ingenuity of the designer begins. Following this
process, the next step is to find a web host.

Web Host
Having a good web host is critical when you intend to share your webpage with the world at a
rapid rate. "A web host (or hosting provider), is a company that makes your website available
for the world to see. They have the equipment and technical skills to make sure your website is

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available to the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," (Create a Website, 2010). This is very
beneficial when wanting to market your website quickly and makes the process of designing
your own website much more stress free. This process also comes at a cost, along with the
domain of which has already been created, and typically is charged at a monthly rate (these
rates vary from host to host and you typically get what you pay for). The web host is a must and
has to be completed before moving onto the next stage of creating a website. "A website
cannot exist without a web host. This is the company that houses your files and provides the
environment for you to create and save pages to the Internet," (Website Creation Tutorial for
Beginners, 2010). When choosing your web host, it is important to weigh the pros and cons of
each provider to find the best solution to your specific needs. After you have determined what
host you will use and have finished up with their process of registration, you can begin
designing your website.

Creation
Designing a webpage is where individuals are now allowed to express their creativity and
individuality. To accomplish this, many choose to purchase software such as CoffeeCup or
Dreamweaver to help them get started with basic layout suggestions. Others want to write the
raw code for the website and build it from the ground up. The second option typically requires
you to be more dedicated and put forth a greater effort in the creation process, but gives you
the freedom to do whatever you please. The programs, on the other hand, make it much easier
for the common person to implement their ideas if they don’t have the HTML background. "If
you don't use any software, then you will need to learn how to code HTML from scratch. All
you do is open a text editor (Notepad or BBEdit for example) and then write the HTML that will
create your page. It's pretty easy to learn. Then you save the file as filename.html and save it to
the Internet through your web host. If you're not interested in learning HTML, I'd strongly
recommend downloading some of my free HTML templates a software program like CoffeeCup
to edit and continue building your site," (Website Creation Tutorial for Beginners, 2010). As
quoted previously, there it can be very easy to learn a new programming language, but if you
do not want to take the time or effort in learning, there are alternatives for you to choose from.

In Summary
Now that you have all the tools to begin the process of designing your own website, you can let
your creative juices flow. There are multiple sites out there to help you get your domain name
and web host and typically are very easy to find. I did not give any examples above so that I
don’t sway you to choose one or another. This leaves you the opportunity to find what would
be the most beneficial to your specific needs.

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Highschoolhelp.com

The Beginnings
When beginning my research, I had found many of the tutoring websites to quite similar in
format. This proved to me that there are some consistent features that seem to work well for
tutoring websites. One of the main concepts that I intend to implement in my website would be
a login system. This gives the user the reassurance that no other can see what they are doing
and accounts for every time they sign in. This ensures the user that they will have complete
privacy with their tutoring needs. Also, after the student logs in for the first time, I will give
them the opportunity to search for courses of which they are enrolled in at school to better
personalize the student’s areas of tutoring need. Besides their very first time logging in, they
will not be asked these questions again unless they would select the option to 'enroll' in a
different set of courses and change the ones available for them to view. Once the student has
gone through this process they will be able to get help from a tutor, post questions on a
discussion board of which other peers may respond, and video chat with a teacher at
predetermined hours. When choosing many of these features, much of my inspiration came
from Cramster.com, which is also a tutoring site for high school/college level students. After
exploring each site for myself, I felt that it seemed to include the most help for students on
their own personal schedule. The other tutoring websites that I had viewed have still helped
and inspired me in the designing process, but I still had felt that Cramster was the best model
for what I was trying to portray to students, teachers, and tutors alike.

Designing
I have stated above how I would begin
and what the first page of my website
would look like. I have also included a
few examples as to what I’m envisioning
with many other components that I
intend to implement in the website. The
log in page would look much like the
one portrayed here on the right
(Cramster.com), other than I would have
to change the graphics. Also, I would
give the user the option to choose

www.cramster.com
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whether they were a student, tutor, or teacher to get them directed in the correct direction as
to what type of help they will be receiving/giving. To do this, the user would first log in and
then come across a toolbar that alsos them to select one or more of these statuses. This is seen
on The Tutoring Hut website pictured below. I would essentially just be implementing the
components that are in the oval on this specific page. This would play a huge role in my website
when deciding where to direct the new user. Once they had logged in for the first time their
name and password would be stored in a
bank of other users. This allows their
information would be stored and
recovered if they had accidently
forgotten their password/user name.
To prevent identity theft, I would ask a
few security questions to ensure that I
am sending the correct password to the
correct person.
I will not be getting into this aspect of
the website due to the length and time
consumption of the explanation. After
all of the
Tutoringhut.com
preliminary
steps have been accomplished by the user, they will have to select
the classes of which they would prefer to view. This will help
minimize the clutter of have 2,000 classes listed all the time, and
they will be listed on a sidebar much like the one pictured at
studentquestions.com, even though it is somewhat difficult to
make out the basic concept of what is circled is much easier to
grasp with a physical visual object to look at. This feature will make
using the website much easier for the user to navigate and get the
help they need that much quicker. If the user has a different set of
classes, my website will allow the user to change the classes of
which they have in the quick access bar to whatever they please
whenever they desire. This will help tailor the site to each specific

user and give them the peace of mind. As for the video chatting, www.studentquestions.com
discussion boards, and the basic instant messaging, I will
implementing much of what Cramster does and have the discussion boards be anonymous (if
desired) and posted for all to see and try to assist in finding the correct solution. To make my
site much more user friendly and to give the users the best experience possible, I would most

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likely have to team up with either Skype or MSN to get the video and instant messaging aspects
to work the best.
This part is something new to tutoring websites so I am unable to give a screen shot of what I
intend to do. Once all of this has been completed my website is essentially done and has the
ability to help students with their education and the experience they have while doing it. The
rest of the details; such as graphics, where options will be located, and different aspects that
are just minor details, will be ones that are difficult to portray what I would want to do until I
would physically design my website and see what actually is presentable to the public. After all
of this is completed the site is ready to be put on the web and ready for people to use. The first
year or so would really be a troubleshooting time and give me the opportunity to get feedback
from the students using my site to help serve them the best. It is hard for me to know exactly
what students need today, so their input would be crucial in the maintaining of
highschoolhelp.com along with its success.

Overview
Thus far I have explained what I intend to create and a few examples of what it would roughly
look like. There would be a lot of hours and sweat put into this project, but it may just give
many high school students the edge they may need to help them get a scholarship to go to
college and further their education. A student’s education is critical in a growing nation where
the professional world is essentially requiring workers to have some sort of college degree to
even be considered for the position. My intention here is to help them achieve this goal and
give them , along with their parents, the ease of mind we all desire. I know that I had not
explained the whole website in detail, but I feel as if I had given the reader a basic overview as
to what my ideas are and how I would go about achieving this goal. It would most likely take
much more work that I had initially intended, and would be an ongoing process, but would be
much worth the effort put forth in the end. In my past experience, I know that it can be difficult
at times to get your school work done on time when you are also in extracurricular activities. So
I just wanted to use my talents and what I have available to help others when they are at a
vulnerable stage in their life. I hope that what was explained above and the ideas I have are not
too hard to grasp, but give you a clearer picture as the functionality and the ease of use. There
are many tutoring websites out there, but I hope that mine would be unique and give students
the opportunity to learn the way that best suits them. We all learn differently and here my
ideas give the students a variety of ways to learn and understand the material.
Highschoolhelp.com is there to service students, not to be serviced by students.

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Works Cited
Cramster. (2010, October 21). Retrieved October 21, 2010, from http://www.cramster.com/

Create a Website. (2010, October 21). Retrieved October 21, 2010, from
http://www.quackit.com/create-a-website/

Free homework Help. (2010, October 21). Retrieved October 21, 2010, from
http://studentquestions.com/

The Tutoring Hut. (2010, October 21). Retrieved October 21, 2010, from http://www.tutoringhut.com/

Website Creation Tutorial for Beginners. (2010, October 21). Retrieved October 21, 2010, from
http://www.2createawebsite.com/

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