| |
Chapter 1: Getting StartedYou're only one hour away from creating your first home page. Before you're ready to do so, you need to review some of the history and terminology involved in the World Wide Web, so you have a much better idea of what you're in store for during the coming hours. You also will also need software on your system that can be used to create Web pages -- fortunately some is included in the CD-ROM that accompanies this book. The following topics are covered during this hour:
Home Page Creation: No Experience KneadedMost people take bread for granted. Aside from the Amish and uber-homemaker Martha Stewart, we don't readily manufacture our own bread and many of us couldn't do so if we had to. Personally, I know breadmaking involves flour plus some kind of milling and baking process, and I'm pretty sure that grain is involved. Beyond that, though, I'm dependent on the fine folks of Wonder, Mrs. Bairds, and other bringers of bread. As someone who uses the World Wide Web, you might feel about it the way I feel about bread: Web pages are created by some nebulous and probably difficult process before being offered for public consumption. You don't want the details even if you're crazy for the finished product. You might have seen some books describing HTML, the programming language used to create home pages. That exposure could have been enough to scare you away from the subject. "If creating a Web page requires programming and the mastery of unusual acronyms," you declare, "there are numerous things I'd prefer to do first. I have expensive elective dental surgery scheduled. The bathroom tile needs regrouting. There's a Pauly Shore film festival. I need to spend quality time with my in-laws up in Love Canal. Golf's on TV." However, save those excuses for a real emergency. You can create a home page without learning HTML or anything else resembling hard work. Just a Minute
With the use of page-creation tools such as Claris Home Page, Microsoft FrontPage, or Netscape Navigator Gold, creating your own home page is as easy as using a word processor. If you can print a nice-looking resume or the directions to next weekend's ToughLove support group meeting, you can make your own home on the Web. All it takes is a little bit of time -- 24 hours, say -- and some kind of home page creation software. (Actually, a computer helps too). The program you'll be using in this book is Claris Home Page 2.0 Lite, which you'll learn about later during this hour. Before then, you ought to take a look at the place most pages call home: the World Wide Web. Everything Is ConnectedAs someone with an interest in home pages, you probably have probably used the World Wide Web enough to be familiar with how it works. This brief review will cover some of the terminology because you'll be using it throughout the coming hours. New Term
Links make use of URLs (uniform resource locators), which are the unique addresses that identify each page. The name link comes from the ability to connect that all the pages on the Web. URL is short for uniform resource locator, but that's an intimidating way of saying it's an address. A URL indicates where a Web page can be found on the Internet, in the same way your mailing address tells where Publisher's Clearing House can find you when you win a million dollars. Some people say "URL" like a word rhyming with "pearl". Others call it by its letters, making it sound like some kind of government agency that wants to tax your Publisher's Clearing House winnings. URLs can be complicated-looking things, with all kinds of punctuation like slashes and tildes and odd acronyms, such as HTTP and FTP. You'll learn more about them as you create some of your own pages during Hour 3, "Adding Links to Other Pages." For now, a brief introduction is enough. The following are all examples of URLs that can be used in links: URLs can appear in several different ways:
If you know a World Wide Web page's URL, you can take a look at that page while you are using the Web. Figure 1.1 shows a Web page that presently has the URL http://www.big-brains.com/ironkids/Pages/home.html. It's part of the official IronKids Bread home page which can be visited using the URL http://www.ironkids.com.
Figure 1.1. An example of a Web page. The IronKids page shown in Figure 1.1 was loaded with a Netscape Navigator, a type of software called a Pages on the Web are viewed with browsers. New Term
The majority of Web pages today are viewed either with either the Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer Web browsers. Dozens of other browsers are being used, too -- some by people with special needs and others by people with bitter grudges against Netscape, Microsoft, and perhaps humankind in general. Many libraries use Lynx browsers because they display text and skip all the images that are contained on Web pages. This makes the pages faster to load faster, which makes it possible to use the World Wide Web on older computers. The text-only limitation also prevents images from appearing on-screen that would startle passers-by. The use of a text-only Web browser, such as Lynx, highlights an important point about the World Wide Web: You cannot create a Web page that will look the same to all the people who view it. This is one of the things that makes the Web much different than a medium such as the printed page. The appearance of your home page will vary, depending on the Web browser being used to check it out. Because Netscape and Microsoft browsers are so popular, most people creating Web pages try for the best possible appearance using those browsers. You'll receive tips on how to do this during the coming hours, along with some advice on how to make your pages useful for others as well. Home pages become a part of the World Wide Web when they are stored on a computer that's is permanently connected to the Web. As you'll see during Part VI of this book, "Home Page Publishing," there are many different ways to find a home for your home page. Many Internet service providers and online services, such as America Online, offer their subscribers a place for home pages, and there also are companies that offer inexpensive or even free Web page storage. Once you have put your own home page on the Web, it will have a permanent link that can be used by anyone who wants to view it. The home page for this book was recently put on the Web, and it has the following link: If you type that address into a Web browser's address or location field, you'll see the home page I created for the book using Claris Home Page 2.0 Lite. Caution
Ensnared in the WebA Web page can be made up of many different types of information: text, images, sound, programs, movies, and even 3-D worlds. There was a time when the Web was almost entirely text-based, and it was used primarily by scientists, computer programmers, universities, the military, and former MTV VJ Adam Curry. Coffee Break
Everyone else -- even the media -- started noticing the Web when it began featuring images and other types of visual information in 1993-1994. This revolution was sparked by the creation of the Mosaic Web browser at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Marc Andreesen, a student who was supposed to be doing something else, wrote the Mosaic Web browser to expand the kind of information that could be delivered through the World Wide Web ... especially image files. There's no documented indication of what images Andreesen had in mind, but Pamela Anderson Lee joined the cast of BayWatch in the same general time period. Draw your own conclusions. Image was everything. In a year's time, the Web changed from an obscure Internet service into a mass medium. Today, the World Wide Web offers so many different types of information that it's hard to figure out exactly what the Web is. In previous books of this kind, the Web was described as the world's largest encyclopedia. You could flip from one page to another by clicking a link, just as you could flip from Volume D's listing for Dallas Cowboys football team to Volume U's listing for urinalysis drug testing. However, the Web now offers audio, video, and much more. It's not like a book, or any other type of mass medium, any more or any other type of mass medium. This versatility might be one of the reasons you'd like to create your own home page. There are things you can deliver through the Web that would be cumbersome to do by other means. Some things are only possible only on a Web page. Another feature that appeals to many Web page creators is the global audience the Web offers. Once you put a home page up, it can be reached throughout the world. Your prospective audience ranges from Burbank to Burkina Faso to Burma. This global aspect appeals to merchants, who take to the Web with visions of selling their products all over the planet. It also appeals to publishers and others with information that's worth calling up on-screen. The Web makes it possible for anyone to get a message out to the world. Of course, there's no guarantee that the world will care. As you learn how to create a home page, you'll learn some tips that help you create a more interesting, visually appealing, and popular Web site. Although it helps, you don't need a good reason to put your home page on the Web. Because you can put Web pages online at little or no cost, you're the editor, publisher, and chairman of the board of your home page. Media critic A.J. Liebling once said, "Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one." Because you live during the age of the World Wide Web, you now own your own press. Trying Out Claris Home PageThe software you'll be using throughout this book, Claris Home Page 2.0 Lite, is included on the book's CD-ROM. Claris, a subsidiary of Apple Computer, creates software for both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh users. Version 2.0 of Claris Home Page has received accolades from the press because of its features, and the Lite version provides a chance to try the software for free before buying the full version at $99 retail. By using Home Page throughout this book, you'll be able to learn how to create your own home pages without learning HTML. Even if you decide afterwards to choose a different home page- publishing tool (or to learn HTML), the skills you're building won't go to waste. Learning how to use a Web page creator is like learning how to use a word processor. Once you learn one, you usually can usually pick up others in an afternoon. Claris maintains a home page for this software at the following address: This site is primarily for people who have upgraded to the full version, but there's some information related to the software's Lite version of the software. Just a Minute
Table 1.1 shows the minimum system requirements to use Home Page on Windows and Macintosh systems. Table 1.1. Home Page 2.0 Lite requirements.
Installing the Software To set up Home Page on your system, follow the instructions for your computer system in Appendix B, "This Book's CD-ROM." It's a simple process to install the software directly from the CD-ROM, and within five minutes, you should have a directory on your system containing Home Page and its related files. After Home Page is installed, run the program to make sure that it has been set up correctly. Once you get past the title screen, it should resemble Figure 1.2.
Figure 1.2. The startup screen for Claris Home Page 2.0 Lite. SummaryOnce you have a copy of Home Page 2.0 Lite installed, you're ready to stop talking about the World Wide Web and start making it a little wider. During the next hour, you'll create your first home page. Before the big hand on the clock moves to Hour 2, you can review the material introduced during this hour. Each chapter will feature a question- and- answer section, a short quiz, and suggested activities. Q&AQ: Most books about Web publishing teach HTML programming. How is it possible to create home pages without using HTML? A: It's possible to avoid HTML because software like Home Page does the HTML programming for you. As you use it the same way you would use a word processor, Home Page inserts the HTML commands behind the scenes. If you ever use a pull-down menu command on your browser to see a Web page's "source code," you'll see what HTML looks like. Q: I don't currently have an Internet provider, America Online, or any other place where I can put Web pages. Do I need to get a subscription before I can use this book? A: Not at all. You can view the Web pages that you create on your own computer without putting them on the World Wide Web. All you have to do is open the page with your Web browser and you can use it normally. You won't have to start thinking about finding a home for your home page until the last four hours of the book. Q: If most home pages call the World Wide Web home, what do the rest call home? A: Many companies are setting up their own private Webs, and the Web pages placed there can't be accessed by the general public. These private Webs are called intranets -- as opposed to the Internet -- and many companies are finding them an effective way to communicate. You might end up using skills developed from this book to create pages for a company Web site. Q: Do I need to be connected to the Internet while I'm working on the examples in this book? A: Not at all -- the only time you need to be actively connected to the Internet is when you're actually putting your pages on the World Wide Web, as you'll see during Hour 22, "Publishing Your Site." You will, however, be using the Web during many hours to visit real Web sites and make use of resources that are available for Web-page developers. QuizTest your knowledge of this hour by taking this brief three-question test. Questions1. What do you call each document that can be found on the World Wide Web?
2. Which of the following is not a reason to use a no-image Web browser, such as Lynx?
3. Who created Mosaic, the Web browser that helped to fuel the medium's popularity in 1993-1994?
Answers1. b. A link is used to connect one Web page to another, and a spider is a program that searches the World Wide Web collecting information. 2. c. Home Page can be used to create text-only Web pages, but it has supports for many features that aren't supported by Lynx browsers. 3. c. Today, Andreesen is an top executive at Netscape, where he continues to have a large role in the World Wide Web's future. ActivitiesThe following activities are suggested to expand your knowledge of the subjects covered during this hour:
|
