CREATE YOUR OWN WEB PAGE
RIVER BENDER - September, 2000
What is a web page? Basically it's a text document written in a special programming language called HTML, the acronym for hypertext markup language. Earlier one had to be an HTML programmer to create a web page on the Internet but today anybody can create one since software exists that will convert plain text to HTML language.
Should you have a web page? You probably should not have one if you're concerned about privacy because what you post on the Internet is open for the world to see. But if you want a good place to post photos for relatives to see at their convenience a web page is where to do it. There are other topics your personal web page might cover such as your bridge club, hobbies, special events, genealogy, sports, political opinions, artwork, antiques, favorite music or how-to-do whatever. The topics are limited only by your imagination.
Create the web page
OK, let's get started. First I should remind you that this short article can only provide some food for thought. At best it might get you past the notion that only computer nerds create web pages. Here's the process:
Let's assume for starters that your web page will have nothing more on it initially than perhaps a title that says "My Stupid Webpage." Later you can add things and change the name to "My Smart Webpage" but all you need to do now is type the title and save it as a .htm file just as you'd do in a word processor. Here's a few ways to do that:
You can use your MS Word processor or any other word processor that has a capability to save your file as a .htm or.html file. Or you can use MS FrontPage Express that comes with the MS Explorer browser, Netscape Composer that comes with Netscape's Communicator or any of the numerous freeware or shareware programs available.
Upload the web page
After you've created your web page and saved it with a file name that we'll call "default.htm." register it with your Internet service provider (ISP). Their web page may tell you how to do this or you may have to call them. As far as I know all ISPs provide customers with ample free storage space where your personal web page files can reside.
Next you'll need to upload the .htm file that you just made to your ISP. To do this, use the free application program in your PC called WS_FTP. If you don't already have it you can get it at http://www.coastalnet.com/software/95.htm.. When you bring up the FTP program fill out a "profile" for your web page. As an example, here's the profile for my personal web page at CoastalNet:
Profile name: dweb, Hostname: ftp.coastalnet.com (get this info from your ISP), Host type: Automatic Detect, User ID: cn1027, Password: xxxxxx, Local PC: c:\cug\dweb (this is folder path where you save your web page file), save the password and profile and click OK.
If you are dialed into your ISP the FTP program profile should now display your web page files on the left and the ISP files on the right. To upload your .htm file, select it and click on the arrow pointing towards the ISP files. You may need specific instructions from your ISP on exactly which folder to send your web page file to, in which case the buttons on the right side are used to change folders or directories at the ISP. For example, my web page files must go into the "www" folder at CoastalNet.
That's all there is to it. To access my web page I must enter the address below in my browser:
http://www2.coastalnet.com/~cn1027/
Note the little "tilde" character required by Coastalnet in the address that means "the directory of." There's nothing much at my web site currently because I use it only to post photos taken occasionally with my digital camera.
We've had to skip over the actual design of your web page other than the title. Perhaps in a subsequent article we can discuss some of the layout techniques. Suffice to say here that your web page can consist of numerous pages and thus numerous .htm files that can be accessed when the user clicks on a hyperlink on your main web page.