Web-site creation - Introduction

An introduction to web-site creation

For anyone ?

The internet and the Web are more and more accessible. So there are more and more home sites. Even a bad one can be interesting, because it may contain a link to a rich site So any contribution is valuable.

But can anybody create a site? If you only know how to click to move from one web-page to another, it would need a major effort. If you are used to using a text editor or office software, or to playing more complex computer-games, if you know how to organise your files, to copy and paste, to manipulate images, it would be easy, but you need to know that it can be very time-consuming. Luckily it is an enjoyable way of spending time!
Three different approaches are possible. It is a good thing to know the advantages and disadvantages of each one, before beginning.

The publication approach

Some word-processing software, such as Word, or desktop publishing software, such as Pagemaker, provide facilities for creating web-pages.

The advantage, if you use one of these, is that you know the environment. So you are quickly operational. It is even more handy if you are working from existing documentation (in format txt, rtf, doc...).

The disadvantages are not always obvious, but they may have many consequences. The main ones are these:

It is impossible to create frames, such as can be seen for example on this site, where the frame on the left is a menu. When there are not many pages, it is however easy to duplicate menus on each page.
It is impossible to personalise the pages, for essential things (titles, keywords...) and for possibly secondary items, such as animated images, forms, java applets etc.
Here you are the prisoner of the software. For instance you might create pages that look very good when viewed in Internet Explorer, in resolution 800x600. But using Netscape, or in 640x480 resolution, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise! And there are lots of users who still have such configurations, and they may well be visitors to your site...

The pure HTML approach

Here you work directly with a simple text editor, Windows Notepad for example, because HTML is also a pure text format. You have to know the HTML language, to know that when you type Yes!, the browser will show the text as Yes! written in bold (see the source of this page to verify...).

This means that you have to learn how to use HTML tags (and is one that puts the characters in bold). They are not very numerous, particularly if you stick to simple formats.

The most significant advantage is that you can use all the HTML functions. However, it is advisable not to use specific functions for Netscape or Microsoft (which with any luck will soon be a thing of the past!).
Another advantage is that you can construct more flexible pages, understood in all screen resolutions and in virtually all frame widths.
A disadvantage is that you have to learn how to do it first.
The creation of more sophisticated pages also poses some difficulties (where the other approaches provide more help).

This approach is good for somebody who is able to learn a language (and this is a relatively simple one), and for a site with a simple and efficient ergonomy. For these reasons, this is the approach I mainly use.

The HTML editor approach

Here, you use an HTML editor, such as Web Edit, Web Expert, Arachnophilia or Microsoft FrontPage. Some of them remain very close to the text approach described above. Some others involve a more sophisticated process.

An advantage is that you do not need to know the HTML language so well.
Another is that they provide, in many cases, means of validating coding, or visualising the site-hierarchy.
Another is that they provide assistance with creating sophisticated pages.
But the use of an HTML editor is sometimes complex.
Some editors such as Microsoft Frontpage impose their methods, and you lose control over the code
And I don't see the pint in selecting a text, then using the mouse to click on a bold format button. It is simpler in the end to write the tag direct...

And there are the mixed approaches...

Mixing these methods allows one to benefit from the advantages of each. It may also be worthwhile using some others little tools. This is what I did, on two occasions, and I explain how in the pages that follow.

Page written by Alain Beyrand 1997, on august, the 22th.

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