Communication Studies - Internet Skills - Creating a Home Page

Why place information on the Web?

The World Wide Web is a quickly growing and exciting medium for communication. Not only can you search for information through it, you can also place information for others on it. People create their own web sites for many reasons. Often, a person may want to share their knowledge on a topic, create a convenient repository of resource links, and/or present information about themselves. It is very common for students and other people to make their resumes available through the Web. It is an easy way for prospective employees to find out about you in greater detail than might be possible with a printed resume. One caveat: information that an employer can find is information that others may find, too.

What do you need to create a web page?

  • Computer account accessible to the World Wide Web

Obtaining a computer account depends largely on your personal situation. Students enrolled in most universities, as well as the faculty and staff who work at them, are usually given accounts with both e-mail and web page creation privileges.

Another option is to use a commercial online service, such as America Online or RoadRunner. These Internet Service Providers, also known as ISP's, charge a monthly fee (which varies by ISP) for access to various features, such as e-mail, chat rooms, information resources, and accounts to create web pages.

  • Knowledge of HTML

    HTML, or HyperText Mark-up Language, is the tagging language used to create web pages. It is the set of codes that surround text in the web document you are building. These tags represent locations within the document, indicate formatting to be placed around specific text, and permit you to create tables, hypertext links, place images and more.

    An excellent starting place to learn HTML is Writing HTML: a Tutorial for Creating Web Pages This is a link to another web site , developed at the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction This is a link to another web site .
  • Software to create HTML files

HTML files are simple text files. One way of describing them is the phrase, vanilla ascii. They are created through the use of text editor software. They contain no formatting at all. HTML files always end with the file extension, html or htm. This distinguishes them from word-processed files, created using such packages as Word or WordPerfect. Word processed files contain special formatting codes embedded within the document that modify the look and placement of text. They will not be interpreted by a browser correctly unless the browser contains a helper application or plug-in for that particular word processor.

You may create these text files in different ways. The "cleanest" or "purest" way is to use plain text-editor software, such as Notepad (on a PC) or SimpleText (on a Macintosh). In this option, you type in the tags as well as the text that they surround. While this method gives you the greatest control over how your pages look, it it can be very time consuming.

You may also use an HTML editor. HTML editors are software developed specifically to create web pages. The final product is a simple text file, but these editors often contain features similar to word processing software. The tags may be represented as buttons on a tool bar, and pop-up menus will guide you in the creation of hypertext links, placing images on a page, creating tables, and more.

There are two major types of HTML editors, visual and text. Visual editors, also called WYSIWYG or graphical editors, show you how your web page will appear in a typical browser, as you are creating it. Using them may minimize the need for really knowubg the HTML tags in depth (but it is good idea to become familar with how the tags modify page elements). Editors of this type also permit you see and modify the actual HTML codes that comprised the page. However, you should be aware that some WYSIWYG editors may often add superfluous code to your web pages and reduce the control that you have over how the page ultimately looks. Dreamweaver This is a link to another web site and Netscape Composer, the editor integrated with the Netscape Navigator web browser, are two examples of WYSIWYG web editors.

Non-visual HTML editors approach web page creation from another perspective. With this software, you type the text of your document and then select the HTML tag or feature you need from a series of toolbars. (Or, you can pick the tag/feature, and add the text.). To keep track of how your web page is progressing, you view it locally in a web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. Each time you make a change, just reload the page in the browser window to see the effect it had. Be aware, though, that different web browsers may display the same web page in slightly different ways.

  • Ability to move files to your account - FTP

In most cases, if you use an HTML editor, Notepad, or SimpleText, you will be creating web pages in your local computer environment. You will need to copy and move those files from your computer to the web server where your web account is located. The process of moving files from your local computer hard drive (or from a floppy diskette) to a remote host is called FTP. That stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP software allows you to connect to a remote computer and move your web pages from the local campus lab computer where you created them.

When you create web pages, you will use two types of files, text files whose file names end in .html or .htm and graphics or image files, whose file names will usually end in .gif or .jpg. The process for transferring them is the same, except for one thing. HTML files are of the type text, while image files are of the type binary. The FTP software allows you to select the file type of each file before you start the transfer process. Just be sure to select binary for image files, word processed files, programs, and any file which is not an ascii text or HTML file.

  • Sense of design

Creating a successful web page requires more than just knowledge of HTML or access to the right sofware. It is necessary to organize the information on your web pages so that they are visually pleasing and consistent, easy to navigate and use, accessible by all browsers, and provide quality content. Practice really does make perfect. While you are surfing the web, look at how the web pages you visit are designed. There are many web sites and books filled with advice and how-to instructions.

Additional Reading

Burnstein, Cari. (2003, February 18). Viewable With Any Browser -- Campaign for a Non-Browser Specific WWW This is a link to another web site. Retrieved September 11, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://www.anybrowser.org/campaign/

Advice for creating web pages accessible by any web browser.

CNET. (2003). C|NET Builder.Com This is a link to another web site. Retrieved September 11, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://builder.com/

From CNET Central, this site provides tools useful to the web page developer, including information about web authoring, web programming, and web graphics.

HTML Goodies This is a link to another web site. (2003). September 11, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://htmlgoodies.earthweb.com/

Excellent source of HTML primers, tutorials, discussion forums, free images, and much more!

HTML Writers Guild This is a link to another web site. (1994-2003). Retrieved September 11, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://www.hwg.org/

Resources for beginning and experienced web page developers, covering web authoring, graphics, programming and more.

Kristula, Dave. (2003, August 15). HTML: An Interactive Tutorial for Beginners This is a link to another web site. Retrieved September 11, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://davesite.com/webstation/html/

Hands-on interactive lessons that guide you through the process of creating a web page.

Web Design Group. (1996-2002). HTML Help This is a link to another web site. Retrieved September 11, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://www.htmlhelp.com/

Collection of HTML resources covering tags, web design, development tools, links to additional resources, and a bulletin board system to ask questions.

Werbach, Kevin. (1995-2003). Barebones Guide to HTML This is a link to another web site. Retrieved September 11, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://www.werbach.com/barebones/

Handy guide to HTML tags categorizes tags according to function (e.g. lists, presentation, structure, formatting, etc.).

Information for Kent State Students

The Student Multimedia Studio (SMS) provides assistance to students who wish to create web sites and learn about other interactive media. Select "Student Multimedia Services" from the Quick Find menu. The SMS is located on the third floor of the Main Library, within the AudioVisual Services suite. Contact Gary Mote This is a link to another web site, at (330)-672-1851 to reserve time in the lab.