Many people are confused about what makes a website tick, and consequently are at a loss about who to contact when their website is not working.

Can’t see your website? Before you hit the panic button, try these steps.

Check if your browser is giving you access to other websites. Try a site you don’t regularly visit, like a big company that is probably going to have a reliable website online all the time; or simply try a Google search for something you have never looked up before.

If you can’t reach any other websites, then check if you can send and receive email.

If both your web browsing and email have ground to a halt, chances are your connection to the internet has dropped out. This can happen from time to time and may just be a short interruption. If you are not back to normal functioning in about 15 minutes, you could try turning off your modem and then turning it on again (if your computer has an internal modem, shut down and start up again). Bear in mind that some modems take up to 10 minutes to re-establish a connection.

If that doesn’t work, contact your ISP* (ISP = Internet Service Provider, for example Bigpond, Optus, iinet, etc)

If your web browser doesn’t let you reach any websites, but your email is still working, try quitting your browser and starting it again. If that doesn’t help it is possibly a problem with your browser. You may need to upgrade or re-install your web browser.

If your email doesn’t work, but you can browse the internet, try quitting your mail program and starting it again. If that doesn’t help it is possibly a problem with your mail program. If you are able to access your email via a webmail program, give that a try – that will at least help you stay connected while you try to find the source of the problem. If your webmail works fine, then your computer’s mail program is at fault.  You may end up having to upgrade or re-install your mail program to get it fully functional again.

If you can see other websites but not your own, again, try restarting your browser. If that doesn’t help, you may need to contact your Hosting Provider* or your Domain Reseller*. Try to check if your domain name is paid up. Do you know when it is due to expire? Domain names are normally renewed every 2 years, so check with the organisation that is billing you for your domain name (it may be me). If yours has expired, your website may display a ‘Server not found’ error, or some other plain looking page. If your domain name is paid up, there could still be a problem with how it is set up, but it’s most likely the problem then is with your hosting account. You will need to contact the helpdesk of your Hosting Provider* (again, it may be me, if I set up your hosting).

Finally, if your website is displaying some weird content, particularly if it is offensive or has a hacker’s name on it, let your web person or your hosting provider know immediately! Hackers love to leave a calling-card so you will probably see their pseudonym emblazoned across the page “hacked by Goth Bunny” or something like that. Other less offensive errors on your website should be reported to your web person.

I hope you find the above information helpful.

* For a description of what your ISP, Domain Reseller and Hosting Provider are and what they do, refer to my web page: http://www.kitka.com.au/first-timers.html

Hey don’t worry! Many people have trouble properly identifying elements of a webpage. It’s hard enough keeping up with technology without having to learn what everything is called… But it does help when you are talking to your web designer to know a thingamy from a whatchmacallit.

OK, well there here some basic names for the parts of a webpage, and a brief description of what they do…

1. Title
This code appears right at the top of your browser and is saved when you make the page a ‘favourite’ or ‘bookmark’. It is also important in your search engine rankings so it is good to include your keywords in the Title.

2. Favicon
This is a tiny image that can be used to brand your web address. It is also saved by most browsers when you make the page a ‘favourite’ or ‘bookmark’.

3. URL (also sometimes called URI or web address)
This is the entire address of the web page from the http to the end. Sometimes it can be ridiculously long.

4. Domain name
This is just the name that you have registered for your website (eg kitka.com.au)

5. Page name
This is the bit that comes at the end of your URL and identifies the specific page you are looking at. It usually ends in .html, .htm, .php or .asp  but on some sites it is not visible at all.

6. Menu
The menu can take many forms, be horizontal or vertical and can incorporate sub-menu items that ‘fly out’ or ‘drop down’ but it is basically a list of where you can go on the website.

7. Drop-down list
These lists are generally used in a form where you have a number of list items to choose from. It can be used as a menu (particularly useful if you have a huge choice of pages) and it can be styled to look nicer, as in the ‘Course Finder’ on this site: http://www.openchannel.org.au/training/

8. Verification box or Captcha
This is becoming more common in online forms. It forces the site visitor to type the words in the box that they see in the picture. The purpose of this is to make sure it is a human filling in the form, and not an automated spam program. (It also serves a secondary purpose and that is to unscramble scanned book texts: http://recaptcha.net/learnmore.html )

9. Status bar message
This often overlooked part at the bottom of your browser window will let you know if your page has loaded properly or if there was an error, and it also will give you a preview of where you are about to go when you hover over a link in the page.

Below are a few other terms for parts of web pages that clients have asked me to explain over the years…

Alt Tag
This is a hidden tag used to describe an image. The Alt Tag is displayed on the page if the image doesn’t load properly for any reason, so it is handy if it is a proper description of the image. In Explorer you will usually see the text of the Alt Tag when you hover your cursor over an image.

Hover Title
A hover title is another hidden tag that will display when you hover your cursor over an image or link, however the Hover Title works in all browsers, so if it is important to explain what an image or link is, it should be added.

Meta Tag
The two main meta tags are for the ‘Description’ and ‘Keywords’. These tags are only visible if you view the web page source code and are read by search engines and have some apparently minor bearing on your rankings. There are suggested limits of 100 characters for the description and 20 keywords.

Animation
There are a few different forms of animation in use on websites:
Flash Animations (quite good for smooth and sophisticated animation – even incorporating things that you can click on);
Animated Gifs (very simple animated images) and
Slideshows (great for cycling through photos).

Banner Ad
There are a few standard sizes of banner ads that you should know if you are negotiating exchanging paid links (or paying for advertising) with other web sites. Here are the most popular sizes: http://www.kitka.com.au/ad_sizes.html

I know I have gone out the door with my buttons askew! But don’t let this happen to your website. A good idea is to make your own website your ‘home page’ for your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari etc.) or at least mark it as a ‘Favourite’ and look at it often! Many people leave their browser home page at the default – like NineMSN or Google. While this can be handy for the latest news or doing a quick search, you might want to think about making your website your home page so you can be reminded to click through and check for out-of-date content, see if any pages are offline, or (heaven forbid) you have been hacked. It can happen to all of us.

To set your home page: in Internet Explorer, first go to your website, then under Tools > Internet Options you will find a box where you set your home page. You can hit the ‘Use current’ button to make it the page you are looking at.
In Firefox go to Preferences > Main
In Safari it is Preferences > General

Often old information just stays there lolling about on your website like a sauce stain on your lapel, and your site visitors are seeing information about an event 6 months ago, or seeing old prices for your services. Your website may be their first introduction to your business, so make sure it’s looking tidy and fit to go out in public.

I hope you found this information useful.

Kitka