Creating Web Pages
by Andy Rush

What is a Web Page?

A web page is a document that exists on the World Wide Web. It is actually a file, like a word processed document, that is written in special code called HTML (HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language). The main web page at a given web site is known as a home page. Personal home pages are getting as popular as the e-mail address. It can be your public "channel" on the Internet.

When we talk of a web page, we are referring to a document that is displayed in a web browser. Internet Explorer and Netscape are web browsers. Web pages can be as simple as plain, unformatted text, or they can use HTML, including images and hyperlinks. Web pages can also get very complex, containing such things as Java, Javascript, VB Script, Active X , animated gifs, Flash, forms, CGI scripts, and a whole lot more. For now we'll concentrate on the simple stuff.

So you want to make a web page?

In order to have a web page that the world can see, you need two things:

1) Your document - that's the thing made up of text, pictures, hyperlinks, scripts, etc.
2) Space on a Web Server that is connected to the Internet.

There are several easy ways to get started creating documents with a minimal amount of HTML knowledge. The easiest way is to use a program like Microsoft Word. You create a document as you would any word processing document. When you are finished, choose the File menu and select Save as . . . , then, in the Save as type window choose Web Page (.html), give the document a name and then save it. Word will also save any pictures that you placed in your document (they'll go into a separate folder).

We have a training session at Mary Washington College entitled Making Web Pages where we use Netscape Composer as our HTML editor.

Below are some links to get you started on learning HTML:

HTML Basics - You really should learn a minimum of HTML.

Other Resources:
NCSA--A Beginner's Guide to HTML Home Page
Basic HTML Tutorial(PageTutor.com)
HTML for Beginners
Introduction to HTML
Mary Washington College's Web Development

Internet & Web

Web Browsers

Creating Web Pages & Sites

HTML Basics

WYSIWYG Web Editing