Hi, I'm Dianne Reuby - and I'm a Newbie. At least I was when I decided to build my first Website.

When The Newbie Club™ asked me to write down my personal experience of building my first Website I was delighted and excited. You see, it's been my experience that people like me who had never ventured into the dreaded and forbidding 'Techie' world, are so over-awed by the sheer complexity, that they never even get started.

Yet the truth is that it's NOT complex at all. The problem is wading through the overwhelming amount of information available, and trying to filter out the best tools to use. So I hope to prove to you that building your own Website is not only possible, but relatively simple. All it takes is the willingness to spend the time and effort, and you can achieve exactly the same as I did.

But you now have a head start, because I'm about to show you the tools and resources I used, after spending an enormous amount of time and frustration trying the ones which didn't work - at least for me!

Where do we start?

Well, first of all let's look at the typical Techies' attitude toward 'amateur' site building. It's probably no different to any other Pro's attitude toward amateurs in a given profession, but if you surf the Net you may well become convinced that it takes a real Techie to produce a Website. But I can tell you unequivocally that..

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Of course you won't produce the ultimate high-gloss site at your first attempt. But who needs it to start? The fact is that once you know the fundamental basics, you can progress as far as you wish - if you really want to!

Here's a typical imaginary conversation any Newbie could expect to hold with a typical Techie ...

"Hey Techie, I've just built my own Website. Cool huh?"

--- "Nah, Newbies can't create Websites. Go away."

Oh no? Then how come a complete Internet Newbie like me has had a Website up and running since last year?

--- "But Newbies can't use drawing programs!"

Maybe so - but lots of people can, and many of them let you use their pictures free. So I didn't need to learn! --- "You need to pay lots of money for web space!"

No you don't. My site is on a free Web space provider. --- "You need lots of expensive programs."

Yet another myth. I haven't spent a penny on my software - I use free programs.

--- "Huh, if it's free it can't be any good."

That's a reasonable assumption. And it's true there is some rubbish about. But there's also a tremendous amount of top quality software available - when you know where to find it.

--- "Oh yeah - then why is it free?"

Because some is "Sponsor" or "Ad" ware. This works the same way as commercial TV. When you use their program they display an Ad in the hope that you may respond to it.

Some are a cut-down version, or an old version. The companies producing the software hope you'll pay to upgrade to the full or latest version.

Some extremely clever people write programs for a hobby, or for their own use. Then put them on the net for others to use. There are also a few programmers who genuinely believe that all software should be free.

So it's not too difficult to build your own customized software library.

OK, back to reality. Believe me, lots of free software is just as good as any you have to pay for. And if you're on a budget, it's better to have three or four programs that each do one thing, rather than a large expensive program that does everything. Large programs often mean a huge learning curve, and who needs that?

And if your PC isn't top-of-the-range, it's better to have the smaller programs, because loading a huge memory-hogger to do just one tiny task can be extremely slow. And it may cause system problems.

So you can build up a complete set of software that's exactly what you want, instead of having one large program that you only partially use. And if you do decide that a free program isn't what you want - just un-install it (remove it from your PC), and you haven't lost anything.

OK, I know you're probably keen to get started right away. But like anything else in life, there are some solid ground rules you should follow. Otherwise you'll end up frustrated and disillusioned. Don't worry, they're easy enough.