Web Page Design for Dummies

Web Page Design for Dummies - Where to Start?

The first place many people start is by using web design software, like Dreamweaver or Frontpage, because they are nervous about how difficult learning HTML will be. Unfortunately, most people quickly learn that web design software rarely gives you the ability to add precision and detail to your web page. The truth is, learning HTML is very easy to learn.

How a Website Works

Before you can create a web page, it's important to understand how a website actually gets published on the internet so everyone around the world can see it. A web page is nothing more than a text file saved as an ".html" file. After creating one of these files on your computer, you can upload them (by using special "ftp" programs, or file transfer software provided by your web host) to your web hosting account. Once an HTML file is saved on the web host, any web browser (like Internet Explorer or Firefox) connected to the internet can connect to your web host and view those HTML files. When an Internet visitor types in your registered domain name, their browser looks for the file saved as "index.html," which is the main page you've created for your website. Internet browsers expect HTML files to be formatted a certain way so that it knows how to display your pictures and format your text.

Formatting Your Web Page

In order for the web browser to understand where to place pictures and how to format and place the text on your web page, certain "tags" are used within the file. This sounds complicated, but it's actually wonderfully simple. A "tag" is actually a command for the browser concerning the text, image, or link that's enclosed by the tag. For example, let's say that you want to bold a particular word in a sentence. You use the "b" tag. In order to bold the word, you enclose that word or phrase within the tag as show here:

That makes the internet browser display the sentence like this:

When you're writing a paragraph, you may want to use italics, create headers, use a marquee with scrolling text, create a new paragraph, or insert a form. While there are newer methods to create web pages today using Web 2.0 tools and methods, the foundation of every web page is HTML, and internet browsers still focus on these basic tags to format pages. New tools like CSS or CMS assist designers with the creation and maintenance of pages, but HTML remains a core tool that anyone new to writing web pages should understand before moving on to more advanced tools.

• Review this comprehensive list of HTML tags you can use.
• Use the template at the bottom of this article to create your first web page.
• Follow the steps in this article to register a domain and set up your web host.

Adding "Cool Stuff" to Your Pages

Adding interesting content is important in order to keep visitors interested in your web page and coming back for more. There are a few basic elements that anyone creating their first web page should know how to add. These features will allow your Internet visitors to contact you via email, provide you with information via forms, or communicate with eachother using social networking tools.

Forms and Email: By using the "form" tag described at the link of HTML codes above, you can create a form on your website that allows visitors to fill out information. When they click the "submit" button, the information is sent to you through their default email software program. This tag is formatted as follows:

Forums, Blogs, and a Chat Room: When you sign up with a web host, you are typically provided with software options that have been preinstalled on your web server that allow you to create a forum, blog, or a chat room on your website. These social networking and collaborative tools vastly improve the experience that your visitors will have when they visit your website. If your web host doesn't include forum software, there are companies that offer free forum hosting without ads. There are [[Website Hosting Questions|similar software tools] that are also available to add blogs and chat rooms to your website.

Final Tips

Creating your own website can be a very rewarding experience, and having the ability to open up an HTML file in Notepad, and "tweak" the formatting so that the page looks exactly how you want it to, is very empowering. Understanding basic HTML provides you with the freedom to control exactly how your web page looks and feels to your visitors. In time, and with practice, you can become a web design expert.