Creating your own web page - Part 1


· Links. These allow you to navigate (move) around a web site. A link can be a bookmark which is a link to the same page (just a different position), a link to another page on the same web site. A link can also take you to another web site or be a link to send an email. It is these "links" that create the Internet - a series of linked web sites.

· Background sounds/music. Another common feature - background sounds. These can have a bot of a mixed reception as some people enjoy them (and used wisely they can greatly add to a web page's appeal) or they hate them (specially very large sound files that take ages to download!)

· Frames. These are a special "areas" on some web pages (not all web pages contain frames). They allow different areas of a web page to be scrolled independently of each other. For example, you may see a list down the left side, main text in the middle with a web site / company name at the top. When you scroll the main section of the page, the list and name would remain in view at all times. A non-frames page would scroll down - just like viewing a document in your word processor.

There are more components that I haven't mentioned (Java, Active-X, streaming video to name a few - but these are more advanced components of a web page). The above list form the basic (and most) components of a web page.

Editing a Web Page

In order to create a web page it is wisest to use a web page editor. This program is for web pages what a word processor is for printed documents. It IS possible to use the Windows Notepad applet (and you often see sites with a "Made in Notepad" graphic), but for most of us (those who don't want to spend ages typing in HTML and prefer to keep our sanity), an editing package is preferred.

My preference is for Microsoft FrontPage 98 as this makes web page creation a breeze but you could use FrontPage Express (which is freely available from the Microsoft Site) or even Word (assuming you have Microsoft Office). In deed, many word processors will allow you to create html documents. There are also many fine shareware titles available. During this series, I will refer to FrontPage but if you use another program, don't

The copyright of the article Creating your own web page - Part 1 in PC Support is owned by Chris Cruickshank. Permission to republish Creating your own web page - Part 1 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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