CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet and is a standardized styling format for websites and HTML. It is recommended that websites always use an external style sheet based in CSS in order for the site to render the correct styles on it.

If, for example, you developed a 10 page site in HTML code without an external CSS file, then decided to change your navigation slightly to a different colour or position, then you’d have to change every page on your site which could take a long time.

CSS avoids this since all the styles of the site are held in one single external file.

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language and is the standardized programming language for websites worldwide. It is non-dynamic, meaning that without any other languages on the same page, a HTML-based page is completely static – it does not interact with databases and it cannot return different information from the same physical file.

If you are planning on designing and developing your site yourself, then it is almost certain that you will need at least some HTML knowledge, if not learn it.

Even if your page is PHP based, for example, HTML code will almost certainly still exist in that page since PHP itself does not output anything for a browser to read.

Designing your own website, from scratch, is usually not an online-based process. It is best if you design and develop your site locally (on your home computer) before putting it online.

If this is possible, then designing, developing and constructing the site will be much faster since you will not have to upload the files that make your site each time you make a change.

If you are hoping to do this, then you should look into installing Apache on your home computer if you are using Unix-based web hosting.

Taking credit card payments on websites is becoming easier and easier as more and more people are interested in starting up their own business online.

The easiest way is to get in contact with a secure payment provider, follow their website integration guides and tutorials, then re-direct your customers via their website so that your customers have the security of another company and you don’t have the overhead costs of a secure payment server of your own, or a secure certificate.

A well known payment provider which has free setup is Paypal. Paypal is easy to use and many people have heard of it before, via eBay, so it is trusted by many people around the world. Paypal may be free in terms of their setup fees, but they do charge on a per-transaction bases which can become expensive as your website becomes more popular.

There are a number of other companies offering free transaction-based fees, but with a setup fee such as Worldpay, Protx, and many others.