Just read this guide to find out!
DIRECTORY:
Chapter 1 - Decisions
Chapter 2 - Making the Site
Chapter 2.1 - Gather Materials
Chapter 2.2 - Non-Clickable Site
Chapter 2.3 - Clickable Site
Chapter 3 - Gathering Members
A Little Extra
~Chapter 1~
DECISIONS
To make a site, there are many decisions to make. This chapter will help you to decide.
What to name my site?
You might want a name that gets the point of your site across. Simple, quick, and to-the-point. Like Adopt-A-Wolf or WildCat Adoptions.
You might also want a name that is random, but catchy, and sounds cool when you say it. Like Mashed-Banana Adopts, PapayaPalace Adoptables, or even our very own ChickenSmoothie. Often these have to do with foods.
We are welcome to site name suggestions.
Clickable or Not?
Well, we all enjoy the fun of collecting clicks, competing for more clicks than others. But we also like a little relaxation, just watching the pet grow up on its own. Non-clickable sites are a little bit easier to make, but there is a popular pre-made PHP clickable adoptables code, PHP EasyAdoptables
What pets to put up for adoption?
Some sites (like CatAdopts and Pangolinz) are just based on one species. Others (Like CS and ASC) are a variety of adoptables. If your artistic talents lay in only one species, you might want to base your site off of only one species. Maybe you'll hire different people to draw different pets. I know there are plenty of people out there who would like to work for you + your site!
Which host?
I'm not the expert of hosts, but some good ones are Wetpaint, Webs, and Synthasite. Again, open to suggestions of more. Or you might just decide to buy your own site, so instead of being yoursite.webs.com, it'll be yoursite.com.
~Chapter 2~
MAKING THE SITE
To have a site, you need to make the site. Once you've decided all of the above things you need, get started.
-Chapter 2.1-
GATHER MATERIALS
You're going to need art to start your site. After drawing a bunch of pictures, or hiring someone to do art for your site, you'll need to upload them somewhere. Photobucket works best.
This will come into play later.
-Chapter 2.2-
NON-CLICKABLE SITE
Sometimes we all enjoy a break from frantically collecting clicks. We all like a little relaxation; sitting back and watching the pet grow up on its own. No clicks, levels, or hatcheries.
To make these, you'll need your site. Webs and Wetpaint work pretty good for a non-clickable site.
First, you need your site to look welcoming. You might want a mascot "talking" to the visitor on the homepage, or maybe a directory. Whatever you do, be creative and friendly!
What's an adoptables site without adoptions?
Create your adoptions page and place your pictures up, be sure to include your codes!
Now, get some members. This is talked about in Chapter 3.
To get your pets to grow, delete the current pet from Photobucket. (Yes, I said DELETE.) Now upload the older version of the pet WITH THE SAME FILE NAME.
Example:
The puppy version is bluepup.jpg
Delete the puppy from Photobucket.
Then upload the adlut version, also saved onto your computer as bluepup.jpg
The dog grows up, but to your users it seems like magic!
Then repeat the process to all the breeds.
Some adoptables sites have gotten really popular using this method!
-Chapter 2.3-
CLICKABLE SITES
Clickables are fun, right? Run around, advertise your pet, collect clicks, watch 'em grow! A never-ending contest!
Although these can be hard to program on your own, there IS a script out there that will let you make a clickable site!
It's called PHP EasyAdoptables. And it IS easy!
To make a clickables site, you need a host that supports PHP code and MySQL. I personally don't know of any that work REALLY well, because I just paid the money for my own domain, so my site supports basically anything. There was webhost00 or sumthin' that does support these, but the code works best when you buy your own domain.
~Chapter 3~
COLLECTING MEMBERS
You made your site so people can adopt, right? How can people adopt if there's nobody adopting? You'll need members!
To get members, advertise wherever you can. Most adoptables sites will have a special section of their forums to advertise. You'll probably get the most publicity when advertising here, on the Other Websites forum of CS!
Also, a good way to start is to tell all your friends about the site. I'm sure they'd be glad to join!
When members join your site they are looking to see these in your site:
- Good art
A friendly site
An easy-to-navigate layout
Other Members to talk with
A little extra:
Sometimes members will want to chat with each other. Creating a forum will really help, you will probably want to use a free forum host like [url=forumotion.com/]ForuMotion[/url] or ProBoards.
I hope this guide really helps you when creating your adoptables website!