There are basically two ways to make a
web page. The first way is to create the page(s) offline and then upload them
to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) via FTP. The second way is to create
your web page(s) online using a Telnet program by accessing your UNIX account,
if you have one.
If you are creating your web page(s) offline,
do so in any text editing or word processing document. Make sure that when you
save your document, you save it as a "text", "plain text" or "text only" document.
Otherwise it will not be read properly by a web browser. Once you have created
your page(s), you will need to contact your ISP about how to go about uploading
them to your server.
Once you can access your account, you need
to make a new directory called "public_html". You can do this by typing:
mkdir public_html
After this, change your directory to this new directory called "public_html".
cd public_html
If you want to, you can make other directories, one for all the web pages that
you make, and one for all of the graphics that you have. Follow the same steps
as above to do this.
Next, you need to think of a filename for your page (this is not a title, but
what will be in the URL). A common filename for a main web page, is "index".
Once you've decided on this, add ".html" to the end of it. Then type (i.e.)
pico index.html
Of course, use your page's filename, instead of this one. Now, you need to
gain some knowledge of the many HTML commands. Lucky for you.Follow the index
below, to decide what to put on your page, and how to do it. Once you've gotten
started, exit your page. You can do this by pressing control-x. Then
you need to type:
chmod 744 index.html
Only do this with the filename of your page. You only need to do this the very
first time that you leave your web page. This command will make sure that nobody
else can delete your page. You will need to do this to any other pages that
you make in the future. Then, look at your page on the WWW. Lets say that your
server is "www.domain.com", your username is "username", and the name of your
page is "index.html". The URL would normally be:
http://www.domain.com/~username/index.html
Or you can also have a "Sub-Domain",for example: http://www.yourdomain.webhostdomain.com
There are many Web Hosts that offer you domains i.e 'com' 'org' 'net' etc,and
many Web Hosts that offer you sub-domains.
I have included a few sites which provide you with sub-domains,they are:
FreeServers! This is a very good host
,it offers both 'domains' and 'sub-domains'.
If you have made separate directories for pages and graphics, then you need
to include that in the URL also. Lets say that you made a directory for all
of your web pages, called "Pages". The new URL would be: http://www.domain.com/~username/Pages/index.html
Title
The first thing to put on your web page,
is a title. The title is what will show up in the very top of the window. Let's
say that your title is going to be "John Doe's Web Page", you would type:
<title>My Home Page</title>
In HTML, every command is surrounded by <'s, and >'s. And in most commands,
you need to tell the web browser when to end this command. You do this by putting
a back slash (/) in front of the ending command, as in above. Since HTML isn't
case sensitive, <title> is the same as <TITLE>, which is the same
as <TiTLe>. Next, you need to decide what you want to put on your page.
Text, links, graphics, and text fields, are just a few ideas. Follow the table
of contents above to decide how, and what to put on your page.
Text
Headings
HTML has six levels of headings, numbered
1 through 6, with 1 being the largest. Headings are displayed in larger, or
smaller fonts, and usually bolder. If you wanted to type "Hello", this is what
you would type for each heading, and what the outcome is:
<h1>My Home Page</h1>
My Home Page
<h2>My Home Page</h2>
My Home Page
<h3>My Home Page</h3>
My Home Page
<h4>My Home Page</h4>
My Home Page
<h5>My Home Page</h5>
My Home Page
<h6>My Home Page</h6>
My Home Page
Paragraphs
Whenever you have more than a sentence
of writing, you should have paragraphs. Personally, I don't see what the difference
is, but I do it anyway, because then I can find a certain spot better when programing.
To Make a paragraph of "This is a web page. How do you like what I've done?
Please e-mail me with any suggestions at y@y.com", type:
<P>This is a web page. How do you like what I've done? Please e-mail
me with any suggestions at y@y.com</P>
The outcome is:
This is a web page. How do you like what I've done? Please e-mail me with any
suggestions at y@y.com
Lists
There are two types of lists that you can
make in HTML, dotted, and numbered. To make a dotted list of: red, orange, green,
blue, purple, black, and brown, type:
<UL>
<LI> red
<LI> orange
<LI> green
<LI> blue
<LI> purple
<LI> black
<LI> brown
</UL>
The result is:
red
orange
green
blue
purple
black
brown
To make a numbered list of: red, orange, green, blue, purple, black, and brown,
type:
<OL>
<LI> red
<LI> orange
<LI> green
<LI> blue
<LI> purple
<LI> black
<LI> brown
</OL>
The result looks like:
red
orange
green
blue
purple
black
brown
Forced Line Breaks
There are many cases in which you want
to end typing on one line, and start on the next. To do this, you can use a
simple HTML command. This is one of the few commands that you don't have to
put an ending command on. Let's say that you wanted to say "Hello, how are you?",
but with each word on a separate line. All you have to type is:
Hello,<BR>how<BR>are<BR>you?
The outcome is:
Hello,
how
are
you?
Horizontal Rules
Every now and then, you might want to have
a horizontal rule, or line in your page. Horizontal rules can be many different
sizes and lengths. You can also have the line be solid black, by typing NOSHADE.
Here are several examples of sizes and widths, and what the outcome is:
You may want to format some of your text
differently than others using text styles. There are several types of styles
of text that you can use: bold, italic, underline, strikeout,
superscript, subscript, teletype, and
text are examples. To do these styles, surround your text with the following
commands:
<b>, </b> for bold
<i>, </i> for italic
<u>, </u> for underlined
<strike>, <strike> for strikeout
<sup>, </sup> for superscript
<sub>, </sub> for subscript
<tt>, </tt> for teletype
You can also mix styles together like this!
Linking
URLs
When you make a link, you are making colored
text or even a graphic.When somebody clicks on this text, it will take them
to another web page, or possibly a certain section of a web page. Let's say
that you wanted to make a link from your web page, to Yahoo!. The URL of Yahoo!
is:
http://www.google.com
To do this, you would type:
<A HREF="http://www.google.com">What ever text that you want to be
colored goes here</A>
Sometimes, you might want to have a link
that will take you further down a page, or to a certain section of another page.
An example of this is the index to this web page. You click on the colored text,
and it takes you to that section. To do this, you need to do two things. The
first, is to make the link, and the second, is to make where the link will lead
to. NOTE: You cannot make links to specific sections within
a different document unless either you have write permission to the coded source
of that document or that document already contains in-document named links.
1) To make the actual link, think of a name for the certain spot. Let's say
you are going to call it "spot". If this certain spot is on the same page that
the link is, you would type:
<A HREF="#spot">Colored Text
Otherwise, you would add "#spot" to the end of the URL.
2) Now, you need to make where the link will take you. Go to the spot where
you want the link to take you, and type:
<A NAME = "spot">
Mailto Links
Most people like to have a link on their
web page that automatically sends e-mail to an address. If you want to do this,
and your name is Dan, and your e-mail address is a@a.com, type:
On almost EVERY web page on the net, there
is some kind of graphic. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you have AT LEAST one
picture on your page. There are mainly two kinds of ways to have graphics on
your web page. The first, is to use a graphic that is on another web page somewhere
on the web. The second, is to upload the graphic to your own account. Personally,
I prefer to use the upload method. If you are using the other way, there is
always a chance that the person who made that page will decide to delete that
graphic. Then a symbol with a circle, square, and triangle will appear where
the graphic was supposed to be, sometimes it will look like it has been torn
through the middle:
1)
To display a graphic on some one else's page, you need to find the URL. To do
this, I recommend that you have Netscape Navigator. Right click or click and
hold down on the graphic, until a menu comes up. Choose "View this Image". Then
, copy the URL that appears at the top of the screen, in the "location" box.
Let's say that the URL was: http://www.infhost.com/members/web/Images/pic.gif
You would type:
2)
To display a graphic that is in your account, all you have to do is type in
the filename. If you didn't make separate directories for graphics and pages,
then you just need to type the graphic's name.(i.e. <IMG SRC="pic.gif">
Alternate Text for Images
Some World Wide Web browsers cannot display
images. Some users turn off image loading even if their software can display
images (especially if they are using a modem or have a slow connection). HTML
provides a command to tell readers what they are missing on your pages. The
"ALT" attribute lets you specify text to be displayed instead of an image. For
example:
<IMG SRC="pic.gif" ALT="My First Home Page">
In this example, "pic.gif" is the picture of a sign. With graphics-capable
viewers that have image-loading turned on, you see the graphic. With a non-graphic
browser or if image-loading is turned off, the words "My First Home Page"
is shown in your window. You should try to include alternate text for each image
you use in your document, as it is a courtesy for your readers.
Animated Graphics
Some people like to put animation on their
web pages. It actually is not that hard. Here is some background history. Most
GIFs over the years have only one image per file. According to "technical specifications
from 1987", a GIF could have had more than one image per file, making it like
a slide show presentation and not a single image. However, most programs that
work with GIF are designed around the idea of one image per file. So the multi-image
aspect of GIFs was forgotten. In 1989, they added timing and various other abilities
to the GIF format, including transparency. Nobody used these new additions either.
Then the Web took off. Transparency and interlacing became features people wanted
to use and software companies began supporting those features. In order to have
animation on your web page, you need to download a program that was made to
fit more that one GIF in a file.
Background, text, and link Color
On most pages, you want to have a specific
color for the background, text, unvisited links, visited links, and active links.
In order to do this, you need to find the code number for the specific color
that you are looking for. Here is a HUGE list of code numbers, and here is how you
would display this in your page. NOTE: Type these ONLY right below your title.
NOTE: You must have the "#" sign before the actual code.
<body bgcolor="#code">for background color
<body text="#code">for color of text (all non-links)
<body link="#code">for color of unvisited links
<body vlink="#code">for color of visited links
<body alink="#code">for color of active links (while being selected)
You can also string two or more of these commands together:
Instead of having a solid color as a background,
you might want to have one graphic that repeats over and over to create a background.
Here are several places that you can go to find background graphics.
The text that you would type in for a background called "bk.gif" would be:
<body background="bk.gif">
Linking with graphics
Sometimes on your web page, you might want
to have a graphic that is a link. This is quite simple, since you just mix the
two commands of linking, and displaying graphics. Here is an example of a graphic
that leads to Yahoo:
You can also have a text link next to the graphic that leads to the same place.
Before you create an image map, you need
to make sure that your server supports them. Then, you can follow these steps.
First, you need to create an image. Draw a picture with sections that could
lead to certain places. Second, you need to create an image map file. There
are several programs that can do this for you.
Fill-out Forms
Getting Started
Fill-out forms let a reader return information
to a Web server for some action. For example, suppose you collect names and
email addresses so you can email some information to people who request it.
This processing of incoming data is usually handled by a script or program written
in Perl or another language that manipulates text, files, and information. If
you want to, you can write this program yourself, but I have no idea how to
do it. I would check with your server. I know that many servers have scripts
available for its users. Let's pretend that the one that I'm going to use is
called "fb.pl". This will send a response to your fillout form directly to your
email address. This script is not real, it is
just an example. Check with your ISP to see if they have built-in scripts.
Form Method/Action
The first thing that you type for your
guestbook is the Form Method and Action. This is where you enter the Perl script.
Most servers and Internet Providers have scripts like this that they provide
for you. Check with yours. You cannot have any kind of forms without having
a script. The address of the one that I'll be using is:
http://www.domain.com/cgi-bin/fb.pl. If you would like the response sent to
your email address, and the address is "y@y.com", you would type this for the
first two lines: