Do-it-yourself web page
Here, I will give you an easy (?!!) step-by-step guide on how to build your own web page and a suggestion on how to upload it.
However,
if you intend to use an online web-based editor / hoster, such as geocities or tripod, then you will find they will supply templates to follow ; additionally, they tend to allow you to write your own script
Firstly, call up Notepad : START - PROGRAMS - ACCESSORIES - Notepad
On the white screen, type in the following format :
<HTML> ~ to tell the browser that we have an HTML document to view
<HEAD> ~ to state that we have a title for this document
<TITLE> ~ to say, here we have the title ...
your web page title ~ and this is it !
</TITLE> ~ to close the Title TAG
</HEAD> ~ to close the Head TAG
<BR> ~ to BReak a line (for neatness)
<BR> ~ and again
<BODY> ~ to tell the browser that we now have the main text part of the web page, including any pictures we might want to show
<CENTER> ~ an optional feature if you want to centre the text - note the american spelling !
<H3> ~ to present a heading, values 1 to 6
Type in your page heading
</H3> ~ to close the Heading TAG
Type in your text here, including <BR> >enter< <BR> to create white space bewtween the text to break it up
</CENTER> ~ to close the Centre TAG if you have elected to use this
</BODY> ~ to close the Body TAG
<BR> ~ to BReak a line
</HTML> ~ to close the HTML TAG
Now we need to start getting it from your PC to your web page ...
Click on FILE - SAVE AS in the Notepad header (above)
Choose the path you want this file saved on : for example, C:\HTML folder
... and make sure you save it with the .html suffix, by appending this to your chosen file name - Please note that the first page of any web site must be called 'index.html' for it to be viewed properly ; if this is not the case, the browser will list the web site pages which you can view by clicking on them
Now it's saved on your PC ... we need to get it to your hosted web site :
If you don't know any 'command line ftp' commands through your PC's MS DOS Command Line Prompt (and who does ?), then I would suggest a third party ftp [File Transfer Protocol] software.
With Internet Explorer, version 5 or above, you can use the browser window as an ftp client.
Simply type in ftp://username@server host name in the address bar where you would normally write a WWW address such as www.bbc.co.uk
You will need to check some of the settings with your Internet Service Provider, but the next screen will prompt for the user login name and password. This should allow access into the root, from where you will normally need to navigate into a folder that contains the website content.
There are lots of freeware and shareware products downloadable from the 'net - one such site is www.tucows.com, where you can grab a trial copy of 'Cute ftp'.
Once this trial period is up, you will get a purchase prompt box, with a 'close' button - clicking on the 'close' button will open up a limited, but working, version of Cute ftp
... assuming you now have Cute ftp on your PC, open this software.
Very probably a 'Site Manager' box will appear : here you can click on Add Site and you can type in the following :
'Site Label' ~ this is a user friendly name for your connection
'Host Address' ~ this is the server hosting your web site
'User ID' ~ this is your login user name
'Password' ~ and this is your login password
Make sure that 'Login Type' and 'Transfer Type' are defaulting to 'Anonymous' and 'Auto-detect' respectively
Alternatively, you can EXIT the site manager, go to the 'FTP' drop down menu (top left) and choose 'Quick Connect', and type in the same settings (each time you make a connection)
Click on 'Connect' ... and 'OK' ... and you will be taken to the root of your website - it may well have several sub-directories, and your ftp host server may require you to navigate into one of these (by clicking on the directory name) to place your HTML and your images
Cute ftp is a drag-and-drop software, whereby you have a split screen with which you can navigate thru your PC directories (for example, into C:\HTML folder), find the .html file you need to upload, click on it and hold down the mouse button, and drag a copy of the file across to the (sub) directory of your web site, where you can release the mouse button - this will upload the file
When finished, you will need to go to the FTP drop down menu and click on DISCONNECT and then EXIT
When modifying a lot of pages you will need to refresh the PC directory screen of Cute ftp : either choose REFRESH in the drop down menu, navigate up a level and then back down, or, using a Windows PC mouse, right click and choose REFRESH
... and that is it ! Phew ! Hard work ... but enjoyable ... and addictive !!
Go to your web site in your internet browser by typing in the http://www.- address in the address bar, and see the results of your work
For additional website building features, click here