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Computers and the Internet

General

If you are thinking of moving to Spain and you are an avid computer user – relax, because you will survive here very well. The Spanish are crazy about innovations and have taken to all the latest gadgets, including mobile phones, DVDs, MP3 players and of course computers and the internet. The language problem in this field is much less of a challenge as Spain has adopted many of the English technical terms.

Buying Your Computer

Many British people moving to Spain, (and quite a few who live here), buy their computer and peripherals in the UK because they assume they will be cheaper than in Spain and of course because of the language problem. The power source does not present a problem because the electrical power system here is very compatible with that of the UK, (you just need to fit a plug adaptor or change to a Spanish plug. I would, however, recommend that, in general, you buy locally, for the following reasons:-

o        Spain is now a very competitive computer market and the price differential has narrowed to become negligible.

o        Computer hardware is largely language independent.

o        You can obtain software in English, including importantly operating systems like Windows.

o        Unlike in the early days of personal computers in Spain, there is now a wide range of individuals and companies offering hardware and software support in English, (obviously not to the same extent as in the UK). Ask your friends for recommendations. In any case many international computer equipment companies award warranties that are effectively country independent.

So think twice about lugging your ageing computer and printer from the UK!

Obtaining Software in English

Very few small to medium Spanish computer shops sell programs in English. Large department stores, like Corte Ingles, do stock a limited amount. Other useful legal sources include:-

o        Buying from the UK, (or getting your visiting friends to bring them).

o        Ordering the CD in a box from the Internet, (usually takes about 2 weeks and you pay extra for delivery).

o        Purchasing a downloaded version from the Internet. Choose a reputable website and beware of fraudulent emails promising cheap software.

I personally recommend the downloading source and have never experienced any serious problems using this method. Obviously you don’t get a physical User Manual when you download, but these days very few software manufacturers send one with the box. The User Manual often comes with the download, or is available for studying or downloading from the manufacturer’s website.

If you buy your new computer from an English speaking supplier, the software, including the operating system, will almost certainly come in English. Remember finally that many programs have options to choose different languages at installation time.

Buying Printers and Other Devices

If you are moving to Spain and thinking of bringing your printer and/or scanner with you – think again! Take my advice and sell them at the local boot sale. You can buy a brand name photographic quality colour printer/scanner/copier for well under 100 euros here in Spain. Other peripherals such as digital cameras, CD/DVD units and pen drives are all widely available at similar prices to that of the UK. Most of these items come with multi-lingual installation instructions.

Computer Consumables

Supplies of printer paper in many different colours and sizes are widely available at reasonable prices, as are virgin CDs and DVDs, (normal and re-writable). Brand name ink cartridges are readily available, but very expensive, (aren’t they everywhere – I’m sure manufacturers sell the original printer at cost or below and recover on sales of ink cartridges later!). I buy compatible cartridges from reputable UK Internet suppliers and save a fortune. If you’re really mean get them delivered to a friend or relative in the UK, (thereby saving extra deliver costs), asking the victim to bring them over on their next visit!

Connecting to the Internet

As in other countries you have two main methods of connecting to the Internet:-

o        Dial-up – you pay, (very often at local call rates), for each minute you are connected. Your normal telephone bill will indicate the calls against the special number you dial automatically to get connected. This recommended for new Internet users and those who want essentially to send and receive emails and do a limited amount of Internet surfing, (i.e. book the odd airline ticket, check your online bank account). All you need is a fairly modern computer with a telephone socket at the back of your processor and, of course, a telephone connection.

o        Broad Band, (ADSL) – you pay a fixed amount each month to connect, free of call charges, either for 24 hours per day, or at specified times of the day or night. This is a must for:-

o        Running an Internet business,

o        Creating and managing your own website,

o        Extensive surfing of the Internet,

o        Sending/receiving volume emails with large file attachments, (such as high definition digital images).

As in other countries, there are several Internet Service Providers, (ISPs), who offer free dial-up connection, (you still have to pay for the connect time). Connecting to ADSL, as it is commonly referred to in Spain, is more complicated, but not rocket science. At this point, rather than boring you with the technical details, I refer you to an excellent ISP, based here in Spain, (but providing a bi-lingual support service), that will provide you with all the information you require on both types of connection:-

 Gonuts4free

Website: www.gonuts4free.com

Telephone from Spain: 807 517045

Telephone from UK: 0905 21 0908

(Support in English language)

Email

Once connected, you can set up one or more personal email addresses, (or accounts as they are often referred as). Window users will find they have two programs that handle email messages completely free – Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express. The former does much more than manage emails and for this reason I recommend MS Outlook Express for simplicity. Most users will create an email address that is associated with their ISP – example JohnDoe@gonuts4free.com. However, experienced users will know that you can create email addresses from different sources, (or domains). Your email management program will be able to handle this complexity by setting up parameters for each address, (or account).

Again, I refer you to the capable hands of Gonuts4free, who can also help you on this subject. (I have no financial interest in this organisation, but have used them many times to help new users successfully set up their Internet requirements!)

Creating Your Own Website

Launching your own website is truly an exciting experience, whether it’s a single page relating your personal believes or experiences, or a site that will promote your favourite sport or hobby, or a fully fledged business venture. The beauty is that it doesn’t cost much, (if you don’t include your own time) and it can be done just easily from Spain as from the UK.

These are the important steps:-

1.       Define clearly the purpose of the website.

2.       Identify the groups of people you want to attract to your site.

3.       Define the structure of the site.

4.       Determine how the visitor to your site will navigate from one section to another.

5.       Choose the simplest and most representative title for the site.

6.       Visit https://www.networksolutions.com to register your domain i.e. www.mysite.com. If the domain you want is not available, you can try modifying the name slightly, e.g. www.myownsite.com, or trying another extension, e.g. www.mysite.net. For the privilege of registering your own domain, it will cost about $ 35 per annum. Technically you do not have to complete this step until later, but doing it earlier helps to ensure you get the domain you want.

7.       Purchase a suitable Web Authoring program. This is an important step, because with this program you will construct your site, initially on the hard drive of your Personal Computer. My advice is to surf the Internet for Web Authoring sites that allow you to download, free of charge, a trial version of the software. The choice is extensive, with each product sporting different features. If you are new to this “art” choose a program that is easy to use.

An alternative to purchasing software is to visit a website which provides standard templates which you can easily modify to your own requirements. This is an attractive alternative for those who want to get started quickly with a fairly simple, but very often, a very professional looking site. Try the Site Builder at http://www.brinkster.com.

8.       If you insist on bringing on pre-mature ageing and decide to purchase your own Web Authoring program, with a view to creating your own masterpiece, then I offer the following advice:-

·         Surf the Internet looking for good examples of web design.

·         If the software contains templates, look at them and see if one suits your purpose – it can save you a lot of time.

·         Many good products, such as Microsoft FrontPage, have very instructive on-line and interactive training courses. Take the time to complete the courses before you start – it is well worth it.

·         Keep it simple and avoid the temptation to include the more exotic features in your design.

If you want to include useful extras such as, hit counters, guestbook and feedback forms, surf the Internet for sites that will help you include these features.

9.       When you are happy with the website you have created on your own computer, you need to find a company that will host your site, so that it will be accessible by all the millions of visitors you expect to receive! You will probably find that your local computer Internet Service Provider will be happy to host your site and you might think that, being local, the service will be superior to a remotely located hosting company.

The key here is service and ideally you need it 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, every week of the year! Most local companies cannot provide a true 24/7 service, (beware of answering machine based service). My advice is to surf the Internet for a really professional hosting company. (Try my friends at http://www.brinkster.com for a start.)

Before you purchase their product, test their support services – call the support telephone number at 4am on a Sunday morning and see if you get a human voice within a reasonable time. Many of the top companies have telephone, chat and email support – try before you buy!

The good news is the large reputable international hosting companies very often charge less than the local companies.

10.   You are now ready to publish your site, which involves copying your local files to the remote site, which you effectively hired in the previous step. Once published your site will be accessible on the Worldwide Web. Many Authoring programs, such as MS FrontPage, reduce this task to simply clicking a single button. Otherwise, there are a number of file transfer programs you can download free of charge from the Internet. These programs work on a similar “drag and drop” process to Windows Explorer, (My Computer).

Each time you make even a small change to your local version of your site, you need to reflect the change in the remote site. If your authoring program has the Publish feature, this updating procedure is very simple. Otherwise, you need to make detailed modifications individually by “dragging and dropping” and careful use of the delete key.

11.   I suppose you thought that, having completed the previous step, your job was finished and you could sit back and watch the hit counter reach 6 figures in the first month! Well it’s not quite that simple – you have to promote your site. Here are some methods of promotion:-

·         Submit your site details to important Search Engines, such as Google and Yahoo. (Most Internet users will employ Search Engines, which use key words, to find sites of interest to them, rather than typing a specific website address, known as URLs.)

·         Include mega tags in your website code – these help the search engines to find your site, (for a more detailed explanation refer to your authoring software Help).

·         Employ conventional non-computer based advertising such as, periodicals, TV commercials, business cards, vehicle advertising.

Be patient, it takes time to build traffic!

Cyber Cafes

Cyber Cafes are becoming more and more popular in Spain. Many of the operators speak English.