Making a Statement: Creating a Home Page

Surfing the Net is entertaining, but eventually you will probably reach the point when you want to dive in and create your own home page. You might find that you have information you would like to share with the world about your hobbies or interests, or perhaps you would like to just create a file with your favourite links to take with you every time you go to the computer lab. Your teacher might even assign a hypertext research paper! Whatever your purpose, being able to create your own home page will give you the opportunity to become an active member of the Web community. For samples of home pages, visit the Creating Killer Web Sites Page.

Learning HTML

Web pages are written in HTML, Hypertext Markup Language. To see the HTML coding used on this page, click on VIEW on the top menu bar. Choose SOURCE or VIEW HTML SOURCE and take a look at the language used to tell the Web browser how to present the page. Commands are enclosed in HTML tags, and the text is placed between or after those tags. For example, if you wanted to italicize text, you would enclose your text within these tags: <I></I>. The first tag begins the command; the command with the / ends the command. If you click VIEW and SOURCE again, you will see this sentence enclosed in a tag that makes this sentence appear in bold print. If you know HTML coding, you can use even a simple program such as Notepad to write Web pages.

Do I HAVE to learn all of this HTML code just to write a Web page?

Several years ago, if you wanted to build a web page, you had to know HTML language. Now there are several good software products out there that require no knowledge of HTML. If you have Word 97, you already have a decent Web-authoring tool. Just create a document and then choose SAVE AS HTML under the FILE menu. Even if you use Word 6.0, you can download Internet Assistant and use that to create your Web pages. (If you do decide to download Internet Assistant, please read the Read Me file and other information carefully.) You can get the 16-bit version from Download.com (for Word 6.0 users) and the 32-bit version (for Word for Windows 95 users). You should also have Internet Explorer 3.0 or above to use the 32-bit version.

Another program you might already have on your computer is Netscape Composer, which is part of the Netscape Communicator Program. Composer is easy to learn and use if you are familiar with a common word processing tool. You can create pages from Netscape's Wizard, choose a template from a page of your choosing, or create your own masterpiece from scratch.

A very popular program used to construct Web pages is Front Page, which is an easy-to-use program with lots of nifty features. Claris Home Page is also a good Web-authoring program to use if you are not familiar with HTML coding. These programs are easier to use than some of the other Web authoring tools because they are WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors. If you are planning on constructing more than one or two Web pages for your classes, then you probably will want to consider purchasing some kind of HTML editor. Be sure to get the academic price from your university or college bookstore if you want to purchase a personal copy.

For other HTML editors, visit the TU COWS software site. At TU COWS you can see a review of the product, including specifications and prices, and download the software to your computer for an evaluation period. Be sure to check the size of the file and the price and purchase conditions before you download.

Can't I make a Web page RIGHT NOW?

If you want to make a Web page now, just click on the link to the sample home page. Download the file to your computer and open it up with Notepad or another text editor. Replace the text in brackets (and the brackets themselves), and save the file with your own filename. Now open your creation in your browser and admire your work.

Should I learn HTML?

A basic knowledge of the way HTML works is helpful, even if you never learn what all the coding means. It is like driving an old car. When it breaks down, it's helpful to know what wires to jiggle to get it up and running again. You can use it when you have to get under the hood and check for mistakes or to do something to the page that the program won't allow.

The HTML code is pretty easy to understand, and you can create a Web page by using a text editor such as Notepad. You will use tags to tell the browser what to display and how to display the information in the file. Notice that most tags come in pairs. The first tag (without the slash) indicates the beginning of a command, and the end tag (with the slash) indicates the end of a command. The tags are not case sensitive. The basic structure of a Web page looks like this:

<HEAD>

This is where a description and purpose of the page is written. The material is not viewed on the browser. It is only used to document the intent of the page.

</HEAD>

Be sure to close the head with the end tag.

<TITLE>

Place the title of your page here. This title will be displayed as the title on the browser's toolbar.

</TITLE>

Be sure to close your title with the end tag.

<BODY>

This is where the material that is to be viewed through the browser will be written.

</BODY>

This tag signals the end of the material.

This tag signals the end of the html coding.

Now you try it. Open up your text editor and put these basic tags in a file (in the order they are presented here). Put a short title between the title tags (My Page), and write a short message between the body tags. When you save the file, be sure to add the .html extension or else your file will be saved in text. Open up your browser and check out your homemade web page!

If you want to get tricky, you can bold text by enclosing it with the tags <b> (to begin the command) and </b> to end the command. You can centre your text by using the centre <center> </center> tags. You can even make your text blink by using blink tags <blink> </blink>, but be sure to use this feature sparingly. It is fun to create but irritating to read.

Perhaps the most difficult thing to learn about writing a Web page on your own is that you have to "tell" it what to do. For example, hitting the Enter key to start a new line does not mean that you will see a line break in the final product. You have to tell the browser how to view the text. If you want a line break, insert a <br> (By the way, <br> is one of the few tags that does not come in pairs. Each time you insert the tag, you will see a line break. If you want your text to be larger, enclose the text in heading tags. The largest text is indicated by <h1> </h1> tags. You can make your text smaller by increasing the number. When you use heading tags, there will be an automatic line break when you end the tag.

One very important element in HTML is the code for hyperlinks (jumping points within Web pages). You know most of what you need to know to create hyperlinks. The HTML tag pair for a hyperlink is <a> </a>. There are two main components to a link. The first element is the URL of the document to which the link leads, and the second is the word (or words) to be set as a hyperlink. Here is an example of how to write a link tag:

This may seem a little complicated, but it is not difficult. The first line of the example above begins the code for a link. The letters and signs between the angle brackets represent a URL telling the browser the location of the requested document. The second line is the hypertext link that will appear in colour on the Web page. The link tag pair is completed with the ending link tag </A>. The user reading your page can then "link" to the site specified by the URL.

Open the page you completed earlier and add a link to your favourite Web site. Then add a few more features such as line breaks, bold text, and headings.

Here are several sites on the net that provide step-by-step HTML tutorials:

• HTML for the Conceptually Challenged by Paul Lutus has clear instructions that are easy to understand.
• Maricopa College's Writing HTML Tutorial is a very thorough tutorial on HTML.
• The Yale Center for Advanced Instructional Media Web Style Guide is incredibly comprehensive and is a terrific resource for Web designers and Web masters alike.

How can others see my Web page?

Many universities and colleges support student Web pages on their servers. Ask your instructor whether or not your school will host your Web pages. If your school does support student home pages, be sure that you follow any regulations or restrictions your school has in place. If your school does not host student pages, you have other options. Services such as GeoCities will host home pages for free.

A word of caution. . .

With a right click of the mouse, you can save almost any image on a Web page. You can download entire articles from the Net. It all seems easy, and perhaps it is just a little too easy to use other people's materials on your Web pages. It is important to realize that unless you have been told that materials are free for the taking, you should assume that those materials are under copyright protection and cannot be used without permission. If you want to use images or other materials for your pages, be sure to get permission from the owners, and be sure that the material actually belongs to them.