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Tools You'll Need
In order to put your web pages on-line, you will need the following tools:
- One: A tool to create your pages
- Two: A tool to create graphics for your pages
- Three: A tool for uploading your pages
If you have all three of these, or already have a page assembled, skip directly to "Uploading Your Pages."
If you already have your pages uploaded, but they aren't being displayed correctly, skip directly to "Troubleshooting Your Pages."
Please Note:
We do not offer tech support for web development. If you need help troubleshooting your web pages, consult a web developer, or search for development resources on the web (Yahoo is a good place to look).
Tool one: A tool to create your pages
A web page consists of text and graphic images. Start by creating the text. You can create a web page in plain text or with an HTML editor.Option One: Write web pages in plain text
Web pages are written in a language called HTML (Hyper-Text Mark-up Language). It can be written using any program that creates basic text. If you use a word processor, make sure that you save your documents in text-only format. Avoid presentation features such as bold, italics, underline or tabs. You should use the proper HTML tag instead.
There are a variety of HTML instruction books. We recommend "HTML, The Definitive Guide" from O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
Additionally, there are numerous websites devoted to HTML. Here's a place to start, an HTML tutorial: http://www2.utep.edu/~kross/tutorial/. To find more, do a search for "HTML tutorial" or "HTML guide" from any search engine.
Option Two: Use an HTML editor
If you would prefer not to tackle raw HTML, you should use HTML editor software with a WYSIWYG feature. WYSIWYG stands for "What You See is What You Get."
Creating a web page with an HTML editor is similar to using a design program. You insert text and graphics. The program writes the HTML tags for you.
Warning:Which program?
Remember that creating web pages is different than writing with a standard, normalized word processing program. Not all HTML editors write HTML code the same way. What you see is not necessarily what you get (even though most claim it is!). And your desired effects may not show up in every browser. The worst case is that with certain browsers, or certain versions of standard browsers, your web page may not display at all. When this happens, the only way to fix the page is to edit the HTML code directly, or find someone who can edit it for you.
We have reviewed several HTML editors, and have found that Allaire's HomeSite is one of the better programs to use for creating web pages. It retails for $99, and an evaluation copy is available from the Allaire web site.Note:We do not endorse or provide support for "Home Site," but we do believe that it will be adequate for most user's needs.
If $99 is more than you were planning on spending, you can try Netscape Page Composer. Netscape Page Composer is a WYSIWYG editor that is included for free with certain versions of Netscape Communicator. To see if you have Netscape Page Composer, activate your Netscape browser, pull down the "Communicator" menu and look for "Page Composer". If you can't find "Communicator", click on "Window" at the tool bar and look for "Page Composer" there. You can download a free copy of Composer from the Netscape web site.
Composer has limited tools, but should be sufficient for building a simple web page.
Note:We do not endorse or provide support for "Page Composer," but we do believe that it will be adequate to create simple web pages.
Can't decide between using a WYSIWYG editor or writing HTML from scratch? You may want to read this article by Robert Crooks of Allaire Software to gain some perspective.
Tool two: A tool to create graphics for your pages
Graphic images enhance text. The most common types of graphic images are digitalized photographs and clip art designs. Remember that your page will load more slowly if there are large sized graphic images. Small clip art images lead to faster downloading time than larger photographs.There are many web sites that provide free clip art to use in building a web page. Search the web for "Free Clip Art" and see what you find.
Here are two sites we discovered when we looked:
Barry's Clip Art--http://www.barrysclipart.com/
Free Clip Art--http://www.venturnet.com/clipart/
Note: You should only copy graphic artwork that is expressly placed in the public domain. If you see the copyright symbol (©) on a web page, it means that all the content, including graphics, are owned. Copying such images is illegal. Even if the copyright symbol is not shown, the copyright may be implied. Look, instead, for sites that promote free clipart.We have compiled a large group of free clip-art as one zipped file that you can download and use for your pages. Beware that this is a big file, about 4 megabytes in size. It can take between 15 and 20 minutes to download this file over most modems. Download Images.
You may also create graphic images yourself. You can use a scanner to scan photographs, use a digital camera to take digital photographs (which can be directly posted to the web without scanning), or you can draw your own clipart-style images. If you'd like to draw your own images, a program you might want to try is Paint Shop Pro, by Jasc Software.
Tool three: A tool for uploading your pages
After you have created a web site, you need to copy it to your web space it will be viewable to the Internet at large.The most common way for you to transfer your web site from your computer to the web server is with FTP (File Transfer Protocol). There are many FTP programs. We recommend "WS_FTP" if you have a PC or "Fetch" for MAC users.
PC users: if you need WS_FTP, you may download it before you continue.
Note: We do not provide technical support for this program. Our download is available as a courtesy and may not be the most current release.Do I have to use WS_FTP?
No, you can use any program that supports FTP. If you use another FTP program, please check the documentation and make sure to use the the same settings that we show for WS_FTP.
Click here to continue on to "Uploading your pages"