WFIC/Ameritech Beginning Web Page Workshop

The Web page creation process

Step 1. Plan your page(s)

What kind of page do you want to create? Professional? Personal? Departmental? For a course? For an organization? The style of the page and (obviously) the content will vary, depending on your purpose. If you're creating multiple pages, how will they link together?

Step 2. Gather your text, images, and links.

Text: You can enter your text directly into the web page or you can copy and paste from word processing documents you have already.

Images: Pictures and graphics in paper form can be scanned in using a scanner. You may also have access to a digital camera that will allow you to take pictures and place them directly on a floppy disk or download them to a computer. All pictures and graphics must be in .jpg or .gif format to be visible on the web. You can also copy images from the web (provided they are not copyrighted.) To do this, right-click on the image (just click if you're a Mac user), then choose "Save image as...", and then follow the dialog to save.

Links to other pages: Surf around and record the pages you want to use. You can cut and paste these addresses.

Step 3. Build the page.

Start with pencil and paper and sketch the way you want your page to look. Or visit other web pages and copy the HTML code of pages you want to emulate. Learn how to use your web editor to place images, links, and text where you want them. Save your page on your local hard drive, network drive, or floppy disk.

Step 4. Refine your design.

Most editors allow you to preview your page in a browser. Do this; the page often looks different in a browser than it does in the editor. Proofread your page. Make sure it isn't too cluttered. Make sure your links work.

Step 5. Upload your page(s) to your web server.

Using some kind of file transfer mechanism (AppleShare, FTP, Fetch), move your page from your local drive to the web server.

Step 6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 as needed.

This is actually a circular process, not a linear one. Once you've uploaded the page and can view it from anywhere in the world, view the page on different computers with different browsers. See what works and what doesn't. One advantage of publishing on the web is that pages are easy to change. If that color (or that image or that font...) doesn't work out the way you expected, fixing it is usually just a matter of replacing a few words.

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