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Setting
Up A Web Site
Web Site Toolbox
Web Hosting Considerations
Free and Low Cost Web Hosting
Search Engine Considerations
Web
Site Toolbox
There
are four important categories of tools:
There
are a number of tools available for web sites but I am only covering
a sampling primarily for the Windows environment.
Browsers
It
is understood that you will need a browser to view your site. It
is also a good idea to have multiple browsers so that you can test
your site and check if What-You-See is indeed What-You-Serve. If
not, can you live with the "degradation?" You could spend a great
deal of time crafting a beautifully designed page, only to find
it horribly rendered on other browsers. There are countless versions
and types of browsers; it would be difficult to test for all of
them. The giants are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.
I would recommend testing for at least these two. Both offer the
current version on their web site.
Note:
To see what your frames document is like in a browser that doesn't
support it, download a copy of an old version of NCSA Mosaic at
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/.
For older versions, ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Web/Mosaic/Windows/Archive/.
HTML
Editors
You
really don't need much to create a web page it all depends
on how complex you want your site to be, and if you want to code
HTML. There are many, many tools available. Here are a few options.
ASCII
Text Editor
If
you are the purist and want to code the HTML, all you really need
is an ASCII text editor such as Windows Notepad. If you can code
HTML, then you're likely more than a casual "netizen."
HTML
Editor
If
you want to code the HTML, but prefer a little more help in making
sure you have your syntax correct, a couple of popular editors are:
Word
Processor
You
can do quite a bit with a word processor that saves to HTML format
such as MS Word. It's a platform many of us are familiar with, and
it is WYSIWYG. MS Word can create a basic page with tables, backgrounds,
images and forms. Don't underestimate what it can do.
A
word processor is also a good starting point for composing articles.
For example, I use MS Word to create the content for a web site
newsletter. Using the Heading 1 style for the article titles allows
me to create the table of contents at the beginning of the newsletter.
Then I save to HTML and to ASCII text. I copy the HTML version into
Dreamweaver where I format and link the list of articles to the
titles. The text file is e-mailed to our mailing list. The list
of articles at the beginning of the message helps the readers filter
the newsletter.
WYSIWYG
Editor
Many
people would say that the best way to create a web page is by coding
the HTML since the WYSIWYG editors generate "sloppy code," where
sloppy code can be missing closing tags. I prefer a combination
of WYSIWYG and HTML coding. You can quickly be up and running using
a WYSIWYG tool, then fine tune the HTML code later with an editor
like HomeSite.
- AOLpress
AOLpress is a free editor for Windows. Don't let the name
fool you, it is not only for AOL. It helps you create some basic
pages, a little more than word processors, because it allows you
to create frames. It has limits, so if you want to get fancy,
you'll still have to learn some HTML. It is known to create relatively
"clean" HTML. You can download it from http://www.aolpress.com/.
- MS
FrontPage
FrontPage has more features than AOLpress. It automates a great
deal for you and many people find it easy to use. Some of this
automation however, requires support for FrontPage extensions.
If you plan to use FrontPage you will need to check with your
web host to be sure that FrontPage extensions are supported or
avoid those features that rely on them.
FrontPage
at times creates HTML code that uses the Internet Explorer interpretation
of HTML. Internet Explorer is more forgiving, while Netscape Navigator
more closely adheres to HTML standards. As of June 18, 2000, according
to StatMarket, Internet
Explorer commands more than 86% of the international market. Back
in April 1999, the Internet Explorer had approximately 69%, while
Netscape Navigator had 30%. I would expect these two browsers
to still dominate 99% of the market, extrapolating, this leaves
Netscape with approximately 13%. Still a significant number. Also
in April 1999, 86% of all browsers were version 4 or above. So
test with both browsers using version 4 or above.
You
can download a trial version of FrontPage 2000 at http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/trial/default.htm
- Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver is a powerful WYSIWYG editor, and since it is not
directly linked with any browser, creates code that is more generic.
Some people find it difficult to learn, but I found it much easier
and prefer it over FrontPage. It is highly regarded, and is known
to create the cleanest HTML code of the popular WYSIWYG editors.
You can download a 30-day trial version from http://www.macromedia.com/.
There
are many other editors available other popular ones are:
Graphics
Editors
You
can use any graphics package you are comfortable with, so long as
it can save or export to .gif and .jpg formats, the most popular
image formats used on the web. Examples include:
You
can also use clip art, stock photos, etc. to add visual interest
to your site. For more links, see the DTP Resources page, http://www.isolns.com/dtp.htm.
FTP
(file transfer protocol) Programs
You
will need a way of publishing or uploading your pages to the server.
FrontPage will publish to the server, but if your web host doesn't
support FrontPage, the extensions required won't work. If you don't
use any extensions, then you can upload using FTP. For security
reasons, some web hosts have their own, restricted methods of uploading.
You can download an evaluation version of the following popular
FTP programs from TUCOWS (http://tucows.epix.net/):
WS_FTP, LeapFTP and CuteFTP.
That's
it, you have the basic tools to create a site. Next, you need a
place to host it. If you find yourself getting addicted and want
to dive into "webmastering" see the Online Resources page, http://www.isolns.com/online.htm.
Updated
29-Jun-2000
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