Creating Homepages and Websites
Introduction
Making your own 'Homepage' seems to have become a trend for internet Savvy. Homepages and
Websites have become buzzwords. A homepage usually refers to a single page on the internet owned
by a single individual. These often are simple pages containing a little information about the individual,
but it does not have to be limited to this.
Websites on the other hand are a set of pages that are linked
together to convey some sort of information. Websites tend to be more professional than single
homepages. If you own your own company or are part of a business, you will eventually want to have
your business on the internet. This will enable your customers to learn about your services, products,
make educated descisions and possibly trade directly online.
HTML is the 'language' used to write homepages and websites. I use inverted commas because it is not
really a programming language. It is more of a series of special symbols inserted within a document
to produce a desired layout when viewed with a browser.
What's the big deal?
You may be thinking, great, I can get my webpage on the world wide web. Question: What are you going
to publish? Websites and pages have several uses. They can be used to convey information (daily news,
statistics, info on a topic), to offer some service (finding jobs, booking flights and hotels), commerce
(purchasing things online) and virtually any other application which may involve transferring information,
graphics, audio, software between people.
How To...
To create your own HTML pages, you will need to either learn HTML or use a software to produce HTML
pages. There are numerous guides online which show you how to write HTML pages. All you need is a
text editor like a DOS editor. The file is saved in an ascii format with a htm or html extension. You can
then preview the file with any browser. Finally you will need to upload your pages to a host computer.
Your internet service provider might allow you to do this. Otherwise, you may need to find a free hosting
service like Tripod.
Another alternative is to employ someone to design and maintain your website for you. This will save you the
trouble of learning how to design a proper website that suits your needs.
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