A Few Tips

• Keep all of your web documents in one folder
• Each web page filename must have .html as the name extension
• Each image file must be saved in either jpg or gif format and be named with .gif or .jpg extension

1. Start Netscape. From the File menu, choose New, then New Blank Page.
2. You'll get an empty page.
3. Add text. You may copy and paste in text from another document. For instance, you can have a word processor open at the same time as Composer and can copy from an old document and paste into a Composer document.
4. To put blank lines between paragraphs, press ENTER.
5. To insert linebreaks, press SHIFT-ENTER (hold the Shift key down while pressing ENTER).
6. Save the document in Composer.

File naming hints
• Name your home page INDEX.HTML
• Give your file a simple name with no spaces, apostrophes, asterisks, or any other special characters.
• Use only lower case letters in the file name.
• The file name must end with .html, e.g., myfile.html
Remember to Save frequently after you have made changes.
7. You can preview the document by clicking on the Preview button.

Adding links
Highlight the text you want to make "hot" and click on the  Link button. Type the URL into the Link to: box or copy it from another source and paste it in. Make sure the URL is complete, e.g. http://www.beloit.edu.  To link to a local file, click on the Choose file... button to locate and select the file.

Adding an email link
To add an email link, proceed as above to create a link. In the Link to: box, type mailto:your_email_address.  Make sure the address is complete, e.g., mailto:dahlgren@beloit.edu

Adding colors
To set colors for the whole page, from the Format menu, select Page Colors and Properties. There you can select colors for the Text, Link, Background, Visted link, and Active link. To set colors for a specific piece of text, highlight the text and click on the Text Colors button (next to font size button). Make sure your colors have sufficient contrast.

Adding an image
To place an image on your page, place the cursor where you want the image to appear. Click on the Image button, locate the image file, then click OK. Use the Image Properties box to change the width and height of the image (and some other options) but be careful to maintain original proportions.

Adding a background image
To set a background image for the page, proceed as above to Page Colors and Properties. At the bottom of the box is the background image setting option. Click in the Use Image check box, then Choose File... to navigate to the graphic file you wish to use and click OK.

Adding a table
To add a table to your page, click on the table button or, from the Insert menu, select Table. The Table Properties box will appear and you can specify the numbers of rows and columns, border width, table width, and any other options you wish to specify. The table will be drawn on your screen and you can click in a cell to add data. To change table properties, click in the table,  select the Insert menu, then Table.