TCF389 Students Please Note:

There are a few elements of Joe Barta's helpful (and even amusing!) HTML tutorial that do not apply to our specific set-up. I've inserted comments in red about those elements and marked them with braces--which look like this: {}--and "TCF389:".

Please let us know if you're having any trouble with the lessons here.

And if you enjoy this tutorial, drop Joe Barta a note and thank him!

So, you want to make a Web Page!2.02 by Joe Barta PROFESSIONAL WEB DESIGN Also available: Table Tutor, Frames Tutor and Form Tutor.

Hello. My name is Joe and I'm going to give you a few simple lessons on how to make a Web Page. I must warn you though, this is for "all wet behinda ears" Newbies. If you're at all experienced at this sort of thing, you'll probably find this tutorial a bit of a yawner.
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You'll be happy to learn that it's really pretty simple. The basic idea is this... A web page is nothing more than a file, a HTML file to be exact. It's called HTML because web page documents have the file extension .html or .htm. HTML stands for Hyper Text Mark-up Language. (If you are unclear about this file extension stuff, then you really are newbie!! Take a quick detour for a few ramblings on the subject).

{TCF389: I would strongly encourage you to take this detour if you do not know what a file extension is. Files on the Web must be named properly or your Web pages won't work.}

	Joe,
	Just wanted to drop you a line to let you know how much I enjoyed your tutorials. After reading your tutorials, I bailed on my old web site which was done with *** and started my own from scratch with notepad. It was like crawling out of a 5 gallon bucket. I now can do exactly what I want.
		Thanks, Mike

Let's get started. First, if you have any of them fancy HTML editors and have an inkling to break em in now... forget it. The worst way to learn is to use one of those things. (Although there are a few that you will find helpful, they'll only help you once you learn the basics, so don't even worry about it now.) What's the best way to learn HTML?? Notepad. I know, I know, you got this 9 megabyte Wunder Wizzard that says it's gonna make putting up a web page as easy as scratching your head. Just trust me on this one. K? K. (If you're just looking for a super easy way to pop up a simple page then I'll save you some time and point you to Web Wizard)

{TCF389: Web pages can be created with any text editor (e.g., Notepad, Mac SimpleText, WordPad) or word processor (MS Word, WordPerfect, etc.) Many Mac users prefer BBEdit Lite, which is a (free) text editor similar to Notepad, for HTML creation.}

If you do use a word processor, however, you must be sure to save the file as pure text (sometimes referred to as ASCII in word processors) without any special formatting such as italics or boldface. In addition, most modern word processors will let you save a document as a Web page--using HTML. However, these save as HTML options are very buggy and usually filled with errors. I'd avoid them.}

Another tool you'll need is a browser to view your web pages. Netscape Navigator is what I strongly recommend.

{TCF389: Netscape Navigator is no longer the Web browser of choice. We'll be using Microsoft Internet Explorer for most of this class, but you may use Navigator if you prefer it.}

With that out of the way I can say with confidence that you are less than 5 minutes away from making your first web page! So.. off to lesson 1.

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***    I thought it was only fair to omit the name of the specific "Wunder Wizzard" that Mike was refering to.

I got a big old smile on my face when I found out that this humble tutorial earned the coveted 5 star rating from the ZDnet Software Library.