There's no need to purchase an expensive HTML editor to create your home page, at least not at the beginning. Web files in HTML are really just ordinary text files, so you can use Windows Notepad to edit them. To start Notepad, click on the Windows 95 Start button, move your pointer to Programs, Accessories and click the Notepad icon. In Windows 3.x, double-click on the Notepad icon which is commonly found in the Accessories program group.
The secret to getting started quickly is to modify someone else's page with material of your own. When you find a page you like on the Web, save it to your hard drive. Because it has an .htm extension, you will need to change the "Files of type" box in Notepad from ".txt" to "All Files (*.*)" to see the page you've saved. If you have Microsoft Word, you would do better to use Microsoft Internet Assistant for Word to do this editing as it provides you with all the editing facilities provided by Word, and automatically saves your documents in proper HTML when you are finished.
Most browsers automatically save Web pages in a cache, or special folder for visited pages. Some browsers also save the pictures. Check your cache to see what you have. If your browser doesn't save pictures, you can do it manually by clicking on a picture you want with your right mouse button, then save it to the same folder as your .htm files. You need to make sure the pictures are in the cache, otherwise you will not see them when you view the page off-line.
If you'd like to see how someone created a page, but don't want to save it, use the "View," "Source" option in your browser (in Internet Explorer, this can be done by right-clicking on a Web page). This will show all the hypertext "tags" and "anchors" that control the page. If you're using Internet Explorer, you have a second chance to save it at this point because the viewer it uses is Notepad, which can open and save files independently.
You can open and
save .GIF and .JPG pictures with any browser, but you'll need a
picture-handling utility to modify them. Microsoft Paint is not designed
to open all popular graphic file formats offered on the World Wide Web,
so you'll need something like Paint Shop Pro (PSP) from JASC, Inc. PSP also comes with a picture browser that generates small, thumbnail examples of all the pictures in a folder, making it easy to find the one you want. You can get PSP as shareware from the JASC, Inc. World Wide Web page. Be aware that shareware means you are expected to pay for using this product after your trial license period has expired.
All .htm files have
the same basic format:
- <HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>
</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
</BODY>
</HTML>
You can keep this on your hard drive and copy it when you want to start a new document. The name of the home page goes between the two title commands, and all the text and pictures go between the two body commands. You should save your file with an .htm extension so your browser will realize it's a hypertext page.
How do you compare the .htm file in Notepad with the finished product in your browser? Easy. If you have Internet Explorer, use the "View," "Source" command to open Notepad. From Version 2.0, Internet Explorer offers the advantage of opening on the original .htm file, not the cached copy. This means when you save the edit and return to Internet Explorer the change is there without a refresh. If you have another browser, open a copy of Notepad manually and run it alongside your browser. Every time you make a change to your .htm file in Notepad, save it, then use the ALT+Tab key combination to switch applications and the refresh button in your browser to see your handiwork.
If your browser always wants to launch a dial-up connection when you click on its icon, change the setting in "Options, General Preferences," and Startup to open with a blank page. If you're using Internet Explorer, just click on the Stop icon when the program opens and before it dials out.
Always edit all your .htm pages and their associated pictures in the same subdirectory or folder. That way you can use relative as opposed to absolute addresses. For example, to place a picture on your page, you only need the name of the picture <IMG src="[unarchived-media]"> not the complete address <IMG src="/view-pcpress_n/http://www.anynet.com/~yourname/yourpix.gif">. Naturally, you'll want to use your own pictures on the page. Many photofinishing stores can now put pictures on diskettes or Photo CDs. If you have a CD-ROM drive, choose Photo CDs because there will be a wider choice of picture formats to work with, as well as a simple editing tool with the Photo CD viewing utility. The pictures will need to be converted to .GIF or .JPG formats.
Don't be afraid to use some of the latest .htm extensions, such as the watermarking option available in Internet Explorer. To create a watermark, just add BGPROPERTIES=FIXED inside the <BODY> command.If your background picture file is "bluesky.gif," the command will look like this: <BODY background="[unarchived-media]" BGPROPERTIES=FIXED>.
If you don't want to take the time to learn how to use HTML and instead just want to put World Wide Web pages together using a standard word-processor, you should get Microsoft Internet Assistant for Word. Available online for users of Microsoft Word, it is a free add-in that allows you to convert Word files to HTML documents quickly. For more on this, access the article online from the November/December issue of Microsoft Magazine Online.
There are many other sources of advice on how to design interesting and attractive Web pages, but the best source is your own judgment. One thing to remember is that there is copyright on all Web pictures and graphics. Fortunately, many site owners have no objection if you ask permission to use them.
http://www.microsoft.com/magazine/current/covstory/tentips.htm (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)