Web Page Introduction

You might begin by learning how to create a web page by

• directly creating html code using a text editor such as NotePad or WordPad
• using WYSIWYG editors like Microsoft Word, Excel or Powerpoint and saving the files as a web page
• using web page management tools like FrontPage, DreamWeaver and NetFusion
• ...and the list of options and tools continues to grow

A few aspects to think about when selecting tools and approaches follow. These may help you decide how best to approach the task at hand.

• Audience - Determine who your audience is - and how they will use the site and search for information
• Learn from others - A good way to learn html is to view the source of other good pages you find
• Web site management - Do you envision creating a few pages, or tens or even thousands of pages?
• Accessibility - ADA and W3C accessibility guidelines for access should be maintained
• User interfaces - Recognize that different people use different software and hardware to view the pages
• Software needed - Extended capabilities may require the people viewing your pages to download additional software
• Standards implementation - Standards are implemented differently by different applications
• Standards evolution - Standards are still evolving and there is not agreement on standards by all developers
• Projection quality - Color, font size, images that look good on your machine may not project well
• Relative and absolute links - Recgonize that you may move pages around - within your own site and to other sites over time
• Controlling the look - Decide what level of control you want over the display of your content
• Timeliness -Will you have primarily static or dynamic information, or both?
• Maintenance - What level of effort will you commit to maintaining the site over the long term?
• Disappearing links - Links to other sites can change with time
• Math notation - Do you plan to include mathematics notation?
• Copyright - Just because you found something good on the web - does not mean you are allowed to copy it

As you develop web pages, you'll find lots of wonderful resources on the web and in publications to help you learn how to develop and improve your web pages.

The look of a web page can have a tremendous impact on your audience. The time and effort to address the look of the site and the ease of finding information are directly related to the ease of use and the usefulness of your web site.