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Last week we taught you how to make a web site from start to finish, including finding a reliable web host to host your site. Here's the complete guide so you have access to all the lessons in one convenient location. The first thing you need to learn when making a web site is basic HTML, and that's what this lesson will teach you. Once you've got basic HTML down, it's time to learn styling and CSS so you can make your HTML look the way you want it. This lesson covers the basics. Now that you've got basic HTML and CSS down, we'll take you through the process of creating a site from start to finish. Now that you know how to make a site, you need to get it online so everyone can see it. Here's a look at choosing a web host and getting your site online. Before we let you go, here are some additional resources to help you keep learning and make your web sites great. Also, if you want all of the text from these lessons in one convenient PDF, you can download one here. You can follow Adam Dachis, the author of this post, on Twitter and Facebook. If you'd like to contact him, Twitter is the most effective means of doing so.
One of the most important navigational tools on the Internet is the search engine. Search engines have come and gone, but most of them followed the same strategy -- using a search algorithm to scan Web pages for the user's search terms. Web page publishers figured this out pretty quickly, and soon users were browsing through irrelevant sites just because the page's owner had hidden every search term imaginable in the page's html code. Mahalo is revolutionizing search engines with a new mission -- to give users a hassle-free, informative and relevant experience. Instead of relying on a complex algorithm to generate search results, Mahalo uses human beings. Real, live people research each search term, seeking out the sites that best fit the user's request. While most search engines depend on complex algorithms developed by a small group of people, Mahalo searches are the result of hundreds of people working to sort out the absolute best of the Web. Instead, Mahalo contributors submit search results pages (SeRPs) to a centralized database, called the Mahalo Greenhouse.
When the SeRP has a few great links in it, Mahalo publishes it to the Web, giving users access to the search results. Each SeRP includes a completion percentage, indicating how close Mahalo employees feel the results fit their ideal of 100 percent of the best links on the Web relating to that topic. The easiest way to understand the philosophy behind the Mahalo search engine is to use it. When you search for a term like "Hawaii," for example, you'll see that links are organized into subcategories. The first subcategory is "The Mahalo Top 7," a list of seven sites Mahalo employees feel are the most relevant to the term. Other subcategories include Hawaii Vacations, Hawaii State Government, Hawaii State History and Hawaii State News, among others. You can scan a search result to look for the information you need and continue browsing other links, knowing that each one is the result of careful research.
In this article, we'll learn about Mahalo's internal structure and explore what the Mahalo search experience is like. We'll look at the Mahalo Greenhouse database, where employees build and tweak search results. And, we'll find out how to build a SeRP and work for Mahalo. In the next section, we'll learn what happens when you enter a search into Mahalo. Mahalo is a Hawaiian word that means "thank you." The company's motto is "We're here to help," and the site has a Hawaiian print motif. Even Mahalo's symbol for excellent links is a Hawaiian reference -- it's an icon representing the shaka sign, a hand with the thumb and pinky finger extended, often used in Hawaii for greetings or hanging ten. These symbols are used to tag links. Warning tags: These tags tell the user that the link might be very good, but it has some things Mahalo usually tries to avoid, like pop-up ads and intrusive music, or parts of it are written in languages other than English.
Moving your cursor over the warning icon generates a message that explains why the guide felt that warning was necessary. What is? tags: Sometimes a guide will find a really great link relating to a search topic, but the link's source is obscure. If the guide feels that the user might not be familiar with the link's source, he or she can create a What is? Web page when you run your mouse over the icon. Guide's Choice tags: Mahalo guides use the shaka symbol to designate really cool links. If a guide feels that a particular link is better than others, he or she can mark it with a Guide's Choice tag. If you move your cursor over the icon, you'll see a short explanation that describes how this link is one of the best on the Internet. If you find a dead link on Mahalo or a link that leads to a substandard Web site, you can report it by clicking on the "Report a problem" link.
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