Linking to an External URL
Ever wondered how to create an external link from your website without making the link override your website! Well its easy - when you know how.

If you want to point to an external URL add "target="_blank to the end of the URL and the site you are linking to will pop up in a new window. Ensuring your customers don't leave your website but can view the external link at the same time.

Did you know that you can change the Justification of your text within your website? Well you can. Depending on the style and layout you have chosen, you can setup in the Template Module for all your text to be left justified - right justified or even full. I have shown some examples below.

Justified

Left Justified

To set the justification for your website - you need to go into the Completeweb Template Module. You can see below that i have gone into Style Preview (one of the three tabs at the top). You then need to select (or click on the + sign) next to Body Styles - this will give you a drop down similar to the one below.

From here you need to select Table Cell (Text). This option allows you to select the font style, font size, font colour, borders if any for the entire body content of your website.

To select which justification you require, click on the Border box - which will then give you a drop down. From here scroll down the list until you find the following:

none;text-align:left = This will left align all of your text in your website
none;text-align:right = This will right align all of your text in your website
none;text-align:centre = And this will justify all of your text as it shows below.

Once you've selected which you one you require - don't forget to Sycronise the template. The font in your website will now automatically change to the correct justification.

I know that its important to pack your pages with content but i still believe its crucial that your website looks good! There are so many things to look out for, so i've included just few tips to keep in mind when designing your site.

Learn which colours and fonts work best and use them throughout your webiste. A useful online application designed to help you select the appropriate colour scheme for your website is Adobe Kuler . It shows you thousands of pre-made colour schemes to choose from.

Don't forget your computer may have hundreds of fonts installed but thats no reason to use them all! The fewer the better. I suggest maybe two fonts - then make some rules on how they should be used and stick to them on every page! One should be a body copy font and the other used for headings.

When putting together your website, remember that images bring pages to life online just as they do in print.

Your website design should help people find what they want. Not to complicated.

Consistent page design and a familar look on each page, will help people navigate through your site.

Make your website look professional by eliminating typos and bad grammer!

I thought what better way to start my blog but from the beginning - Planning your website !

A little time spent on your planning or even re-designing your website will save you hours of frustration later.

I know this probably sounds silly but I would plan your website with good old fashioned pen and paper. Start by creating a 'map' of your site. Your Home Page is probably a great starting point. As you can see below, i've mapped out a home page, Services, Gallery & Contact us menus, with some drop downs on the services page. Once the main menu headings have been decided you can start to think about the content for each page. (We will cover this in a later blog).

Spending a few hours 'surfing the net' and finding websites you love or even hate for that matter is a great way to get some basic ideas on how you would like your new website to look or not to look!

Quick tip - To make life as easy as possible for your visitors apply the same design elements, colours and fonts throughout your website.

So grab your pen and paper and get started!