In the 60s， people asked about your astrological* sign. In the 90s， they want to know your URL. These days， having a web address is almost as important as a street address. Your website is an electronic meeting place for your family， friends and potentially*， millions of people around the world. Building your digital domain can be easier than you may think. Best of all， you may not have to spend a cent. The Web brims with all kinds of free services， from tools to help you build your site， to free graphics， animation and site hosting. All it takes is some time and creativity.

　　Think of your home page as the starting point of your website. Like the table of contents of a book or magazine， the home page is the front door. Your site can have one or more pages， depending on how you design it. If there isn't a lot of information just yet， your site will most likely have only a home page. But the site is sure to grow over time.

　　While web pages vary dramatically* in their design and content， most use a traditional magazine layout. At the top of the page is a banner graphic. Next comes a greeting and a short description of the site. Pictures， text， and links to other websites follow.

　　If the site has more than one page， there's typically a list of items——similar to an index——often with a brief description. The items in the list link to other pages on the website. Sometimes these links are highlighted words in the body of the text. It can also be a combination of both. Additionally， a web page may have images that link to other content.

　　Before you start building your site， do some planning. Think about whom the site is for and what you want to say. Next， gather up the material that you want to put on the site： write the copy， scan the photos， design or find the graphics. Draw a rough layout on a sheet of paper.

　　While there are no rules you have to follow， there are a few things to keep in mind：

　　Start simply. If you are too ambitious at the beginning， you may never get the site off the ground. You can always add to your site.

　　Less is better. Most people don't like to read a lot of text online. Break it into small chunks.

　　Use restraint. Although you can use wild colors and images for the background of your pages， make sure your visitors will be able to read the text easily.

　　Smaller is better. Most people connect to the Internet with a modem. Since it can take a long time to download large image files， keep the file sizes small.

　　Have the rights. Don't put any material on your site unless you are sure you can do it legally. Read Learn the Net's copyright article for more about this.

　　Stake Your Claim

　　Now it's time to roll up your sleeves and start building. Learn the Net Communities provides tools to help you build your site， free web hosting， and a community of other homesteaders.

　　Your Internet service provider may include free web hosting services with an account， one alternative to consider.