How To Turn My Site Into A Homepage?
My dear friend Jens and me are up to an interesting discussion. Jens claims that my site is not a homepage, because it is a blog. I claim that a blog is a homepage, but he strongly disagrees. I have asked him for a definition of “homepage”, but I cannot say I have received any satisfying response. However, he has provided a few examples of what he classifies as homepages. What they have in common, is that they are built of static HTML files and are note very often, or never, updated.
I asked him what I need to do in order to turn my site into a homepage, or more exact, what is missing on my site for it to qualify as a homepage. Surprisingly enough, he replayed “content”. Then I immediately asked what is wrong with the content of, for example, “Making gphoto2 Accessing Canon Ixus 700 Correctly“. Can you guess what’s wrong? It has a timestamp…
Dear World… I have always wanted a homepage, and now, when I finally have made myself one, I am informed that my homepage is not a homepage. Can someone please help me with the definition here, and tell me what the heck I need to do, in order to homepagify my site? Many thanks in advance… /A lost soul
According to The Free Dictonary (TFD) a homepage isn’t even the whole page, it’s just the initial start page where your website begins. While Wikipedia agrees with TFD it also adds this relevant definition: “The website of a group, company, or organization. A personal homepage is usually a page featuring an individual user.”.
If we only follow the first definition which TFD uses I would say that you haven’t got a homepage (and neither do I), as your first page isn’t specifically intended to present your website. By the second definition though which is quoted above from Wikipedia you certainly have a homepage. As this page is your home on the internet where you express yourself as an individual.
Thank you for making things clear, Kent! “The opening or main page of a website, intended chiefly to greet visitors and provide information about the site or its owner” is the definition of TFD (the first link you refered to). That means, if I have understood correctly, what I have to do, is changing my main page. Actually, I’m not completely comfortable with the current function of it. I don’t really know what I want. Maybe some static information about the site and myself, together with just a list of the recent bloged topics? Decisions, decisions…
Ok, but imagine that I replace the main page with some greeting and personal presentation, and put the blog one level down in the page hierachy. Then I will have a homepage, won’t I? I doubt Jens would agree
…
There is a nice tutorial on the Wordpress Wiki about creating a static front page which you might enjoy. And yes, according to both definitions you would have a homepage in that case for sure.
I’ve also thought about creating some kind of front page. But it hasn’t happened yet and I’m not planning to do it anytime soon. I wouldn’t know what to put there except a list of blog entries.
Just for a notice. If the TFD is the one we should go by, then Jens haven’t got a homepage either. He’s just got a listing of the site contents to start with and his musical preference. You’ve got that sort of listing to the left and it’s mostly static as well.
I think we should continue this discussion with a new topic: “Is Internet Explorer a Web Browser?”
That would not be necessary. We already know it’s not.