Getting Started...
SiteSpinner provides many advanced features and operations. To help you get started building your website quickly, we have developed a number of interactive hands-on tutorials. On this page we cover:
Important first steps
How to use these tutorials
Basic topics
Advanced topics
Help when you need it
Important first steps
Load these tutorials, in their original form, at any time from the menu bar top of your SiteSpinner workpage by selecting Help > Load Tutorials (as you may have just done!).
We suggest you do a preview all now. Use the double-page spyglass button on the top toolbar (illustrated to the left), or the hot key F8. This builds all the tutorial pages to your computer. You can then view the pages for these tutorials in a browser window while you work on your own pages.
Without a preview all, you may get "page not found" errors if you click on any links -- the page you are linking to will not have been built, and so does not exist.
How to use these tutorials
We have designed these tutorials to work within the SiteSpinner work-window. Feel free to modify them -- you are working with a copy, so even if you save your changes, you will not upset the originals.
We suggest this way of using these tutorials:
- Preview all as recommended above
- Using your browser, navigate to the tutorial of interest (optional)
- Open the same page in SiteSpinner, via the drop-down page list on the top toolbar -- where it currently says "index"
- Try your own changes directly on the tutorial page
- Click the spyglass with single page preview button on the top toolbar above to preview the effects of your changes
Or instead of working on the tutorial pages, work directly on your own project.
If you are new to SiteSpinner, we suggest that you now begin with the first few of the Basic topics and then visit the other tutorials that are appropriate for whatever task you wish to accomplish. If you are a more advanced user, go wherever you like!
Basic Topics
Click on the links below to view examples and step-by-step instructions on how to create, edit and publish your pages and projects.
In contrast to regular links, you can click on these from within the workpage, and move quickly to the page concerned, staying with the workpage layout.
Overview of web pages and SiteSpinner's role
Create your very first basic two-page project
Use the workpage to set up your web pages
How to publish your finished pages
How to set Windows to upload your pages
Introduction to rectangles, ellipses, polygons and curves
Add formatted blocks of text
Make hyperlinks between your pages
Add titles as image files
Introduction to special effects - mouse overs
Introduction to the built-in templates and clip art
Meaning of terms used in these tutorials
Links for more help and information
Advanced Topics
Click on the links below to view further examples and step-by-step instructions on how to create and edit your pages and projects. It will help to already have a reasonable knowledge of what is in the basic topics.
You can also click on these from within the workpage, and move quickly to the page concerned, staying with the workpage layout.
Making, retrieving from backups and backup disasters
Link to a specific point in a page
Simple buttons and mouse overs on buttons
Horizontal centering; relative positioning and sizing
Import HTML, scripts, or any type of code
Import audio, video and other formats (Foreign Objects)
Introduction to the basic elements of forms
Files on your site to process your form data
Some practical uses for forms
Create i-frames and change their contents
Add drop-down menus to your pages
Objects are the main elements of a web page
Select, move and transform objects
Meta tags, headers, and page backgrounds
Add PDF files to your pages
Information about the various preview options
Creating shapes: ellipses, circles and curves
Creating shapes: rectangles and polygons
Mouse over and other special effects
Use tables to lay out repetitive data and for decoration
Make a template to help in creating new pages
Help when you need it
You are never on your own. When you need help, the first place to start is with the SiteSpinner Community Forums. You will find a wealth of information from experienced users and novices alike, and the forums are monitored by us daily: Visit the SiteSpinner Community Forums.