Web Page Tools

Web Page Pointers

1. Create a folder for your hard drive. Name the folder the name of your Website.

2. Keep everything you need for this Web page or Website inside this folder.

3. Create a second folder inside your first folder and name the second folder "images". Keep all of the images for your Web page or Website inside this images folder.

4. Using pencil and paper, sketch your Web page. Draw a large "viewer" rectangle. This represents the user's view in his/her monitor. What should the viewer see inside this viewer rectangle? Sketch the pictures and write in some of the text.

5. Type your text in a Word Processor. You can cut and paste it into your web page.

6. Collect any graphics that you wish to use and place them in the "images" folder that you created in your site folder on your hard drive.

7. Now, develope that layout into a series of tables. You may need to design tables within tables to get the exact view that you need. Make sure the graphics are a jpeg or gif format.

8. If you are planning a Web "site" and not a single page, create a graphic organizer of the pages and how they should connect.

9. Plan your color scheme. Dark text and light backgrounds seem to work best. However, some pages that have dark backgrounds and light text can have a nice look. Keep in mind that some systems will use lots of ink if the viewer needs to print a page that has a dark background.

10. Now you are ready to move to your Web Editor and create your Home Page for you Web site.

11. Create a table as the "viewer" table in your Web Editor. Make this table's width no larger than 600 pixels.

12. Create additional tables within the "viewer" table to match the design of your layout.

13. While designing this first Web page of your site, decide if this will be the basic layout for all of the pages. If so, save the first page in your site folder as a "template".

14. When you have finished designing your Home Page, save your first page in your site folder as "index". If you are using a Macintosh system, add the ".html" ending. If you are using a Windows system, add the ".htm" ending.

    1. Add the graphics and text to your page.

    2. Add any needed Anchors, Links, or Hyperlinks to this page.

    3. Save this page in your site folder as the "index" page.

    4. Preview your page in several browsers. The page may look great in Netscape Navigator, but not so great in Internet Explorer.

15. Repeat the process for additional pages. If you have designed a template, open the template and fill it with the new graphics. Give your new page a new name (not index) and save this new page in your site folder.

16. If you created a Website, add your Hyperlinks to connect your pages.

17. Save the pages.

18. Frequently preview your work in several browsers.

19. Publish your site on a web server.