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How I Designed My Website

Site Launch and Testing

Duration: 1 hour

I launched an unfinished site which is a huge no no, but I also knew two things.

First, I wasn't using this site as a sales tool because the primary purpose was to share information. Secondly, I knew people who needed the information now, not months from now when I finally finished writing all the content.

Launching a site is pretty simple. All the images and code need to be uploaded to a hosting server that can be reached by anyone. I have hosting through a company in England that I like which I've been using for years. I use an file transfer program to copy everything from my computer to their server. That server has a website where I can log in and enter the correct settings to make my site load when someone types in www.ockhamdesign.com.

After I upload, I test. I click through the site to make sure that the code works on the server like it did on my computer. Not all the code worked.

My send mail form didn't work on the server. It wouldn't send the form information to my email address. I pulled down the form and just put a link to my email address. I'm still in the process of figuring out why code I've used on other servers doesn't work on mine.

This is why testing is necessary because sometimes there's a server configuration that brings out unexpected behavior which needs to be corrected.

Next: Measurements