Once you have installed the Html editing software, you are ready to start
building your own website. The first thing to do is to get a handle on how
your new software works. (I.e. HTML editor). Most of them will come with a tutorial,
(usually in the help menu) and we highly recommend starting there. If a tutorial
is not available, use the help menu, or search for some online documentation of
your product.
HTML editor will let you insert images into the body of
a document, add and change text, and create hyperlinks to other pages. They
also permit you to reference a file to be used as a background image although
we recommend that you don't use background images anywhere that text may appear.
Most HTML editors allow you to insert additional HTML code wherever you like.
This is useful, in case you wish to add extra functions to your pages such as
a page counter, music or video clip.
Hyperlinks are words or
graphics on a web page that "link" to another web page or document.
To add a hyperlink, you simply highlight the text field or graphic, select the
hyperlink icon and specify the destination address (URL). You should specify the
full URL address.
Your main page should always be assigned the file
name "index.htm". Other pages on your web site can be assigned any
names you wish however keep them short and avoid using special characters. (e.g.
*,&, @). For simplicity, all web page file names should end with ".htm".
If
you have taken the time to learn the html language, you can write your webpage
code using a simple text editor such as WordPad or Notepad rather than using an
HTML Editor. WordPad is a utility program that comes bundled with Microsoft operating
systems (e.g. Windows XP).
A quick way to begin is to find
a simple web page on the Internet that you like and save it to your directory.
Copy the graphics from that same web page to your hard drive. Print off the HTML
code and see how it works! You can then make some minor changes to the HTML and
watch the results in your web browser (i.e. Netscape or Explorer). Don't forget
to save your program changes and "reload" your page in your browser.
This method is not recommended for everyone, but is a very good way to learn HTML.
There are plenty of good
HTML programming guides available on the Internet which explain the basic
syntax of the HTML language. Tools are also available to validate the
HTML that you write.
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