In the past, the only things you could really put on your website were hand-coded pages, images, and maybe the occasional file download. Today, however, there are vast amounts of software that can make your website work the way you want it to, and thanks to the efforts of volunteers, almost all of it is available for free.

Right now, a lot of people are into blogs. When you install a blog on your website, it allows you to write ‘posts’ instead of pages, a bit like writing a diary. These entries automatically appear on your website, most recent first, without you having to touch any HTML.

A similar concept is wiki software, like the software that handles Wikipedia. If you put a wiki on your page, anyone can edit your website, which means they can add their own information to what you’ve already written, quickly and easily. However, you have to be careful about vandalism, as it’s also very easy for anyone to delete all your pages and replace them with ‘you suck’ – the best wiki software can detect this and instantly reverse it.

If you want to put your photos on the web, you can use photo gallery software. There are all types available, but chances are your web host has already installed one for you anyway that is compatible with your system, so you might as well use that one as well. Gallery software allows you to upload and display images without having to manually create pages to place them; It’s good if you take a lot of photos.

Popular websites may also include forums, where site readers can talk to each other. If you run a website for a hobby with a lot of enthusiasts or something else that you think people are very likely to want to discuss, setting up a forum can be a very valuable use of your time.