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Animated Gifs A gif is an image that is stored using the gif format. (The name means "graphics interchange format".) An animated gif contains more than one image in the file. When your browser displays an animated gif, the series of images is displayed sequentially, providing for a primitive type of animation. These Web sites contain information that explains all about animated gifs: what they are, how to make them and how to use them effectively. Web:
ASP Pages ASP (Active Server Pages) is a system that allows you to use programming to control the content of a Web page. To use ASP, you insert lines of a program, written in a scripting language, right into the HTML that creates a page. Or, for more power, you can use ActiveX controls within a development environment such as Visual Basic or Visual C++. ASP allows you to perform tasks such as creating Web pages dynamically, using cookies, manipulating text files, retrieving information from a database, and using session variables (a type of global variable) to pass values from one Web page to another. Web:
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Bad Web Site Design One of the best ways to learn how to do something well is to study what happens when people do it poorly. Here's a collection of links to Web pages that just do not cut the HTML mustard. Study them carefully, along with the commentary, and it won't be long before you are a better, finer Web page designer. Web:
Bandwidth Bandits The term "bandwidth" is used to describe the amount of information being copied from one place to another. For example, if many people visit your Web site, you might say that it is a high bandwidth site. If a particular site is rarely visited, you could call it a low bandwidth site. So what is a bandwidth bandit? When you design a Web page that has pictures and graphics, you normally keep the images on your Web server. When someone visits your Web page, his browser gets the images from your server. From time to time, you may see a picture or graphic on someone else's page that you would like to use on your own page. The proper thing to do is to download copies of the images to your own server (and, if you are dealing with original art, to ask permission). Some people -- the so-called bandwidth bandits -- do not copy images to their own server. Instead, they just point to the original pages within their HTML. This means that each time somebody visits one of the bandit's pages, the browser must impose on other Web sites to get the images. In other words, when a person points to other people's images, he artificially increases the demands on those sites and becomes a bandwidth bandit. Don't do this. Web:
Cascading Style Sheets HTML was designed to define the content of Web pages. In the original version of HTML, there were few ways to specify how that content should be displayed. Naturally, Web page designers want as much control as they can get over the exact layout of the page. Cascading style sheets (CSS) are an enhancement to basic HTML that allows you to have all the control you need. You can specify margins, colors, fonts, backgrounds, white space, and much more. You use CSS by attaching one or more style sheets to your HTML document. In order to create the final image, the browser applies each style sheet to the document. (The application of multiple style sheets to a single HTML page is called "cascading".) Here is a simple example of how CSS might be used. Say that a large company has several Web servers with many Web pages. There can be a general style sheet that is used for all the Web pages produced by the company. This will give all the Web pages a common appearance. A particular department might have a style sheet for all the Web pages they produce. Within that department, a Web designer could have his own style sheet. Thus, when you look at a Web page from this company, your browser might apply three different style sheets to render the final appearance of the page. Web:
CGI Scripts CGI stands for "Common Gateway Interface", a mechanism by which a Web server can process data that you enter into a form. The program that runs when you enter data is called a CGI script. These Web sites explain what CGI is and how it works. You will also find a collection of CGI scripts that you can use or modify. For discussion, you can join the Usenet group or IRC. Note: Creating CGI scripts requires programming skills. Web:
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Chat Facilities for Your Web Site What could be better than people all over the world visiting your Web site? People all over the world chatting on your Web site. Start your very own chat room today and see what your fans have to say for themselves. Web:
Color Charts There will be times when you want to control the colors on your Web pages as closely as you can. The best way to do so is to specify the colors numerically. Each specific color corresponds to a six-digit hexadecimal -- base 16 -- number. (In decimal -- base 10 -- our regular system, we use the digits 0 through 9. In hexadecimal, we use 16 digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E and F.) For example, when you create a Web page, if you specify the color "00CC99" you get a greenish-blue. These Web sites have tools to make it easy to find the color you want and its numeric code. Web:
Decorating Web Pages for Holidays It's a holiday, but are you ready? Sure you are, because you prepared ahead of time, using all this free holiday clip art, graphics and designs. Happy Web-day. Web:
Discussion Groups for Your Web Site Why not offer your visitors a chance to discuss ideas with one another? These resources make it easy for you to add discussion groups (also called forums or message boards) to your Web site. Aside from offering such services to the general public, you can also set up a private discussion group for your family or friends. The best part? Because it's on your Web site, you will be in control. Note: These resources are free, but your visitors will have to look at ads. Web:
Dynamic HTML Dynamic HTML (DHTML), an extension of regular HTML, can enhance the functionality of your Web pages. For example, you can layer multiple images on top of one another, make elements on the page interactive, and, using cascading style sheets, control the exact placement of all text and images. DHTML also makes it easier to write scripts and to manipulate objects. Web:
Frames Frames are Web page building blocks that allow you to divide a page into independent sections. Within each frame, you can control how data is to be displayed. These Web sites offer tutorials that will help you learn about frames and how to use them. Special request: Not everybody likes to use frames. Unless the nature of your data is such that it demands frames, please take the time to ensure that your Web pages work properly for people who choose to view them without frames. Web:
Free Web Site Hosting Would you like to have your own Web site? Of course you would. So where are you going to put it? Some Internet service providers will give you free space for your Web site. But if this isn't the case for you, here are some places that will host your Web space for no charge. Is there a catch, you ask? Well, of course. First of all, you will be limited in how much space you are allowed. Second, you and your visitors may have to look at a lot of advertising. Third, if you try to present objectionable material (such as X-rated pictures), you may be censored. Finally, your name, email address and any other information you volunteer might be used for mailing lists and telemarketing. Still, free is free. Web:
Guestbooks When someone visits you at your home, you know they were there. But when somebody looks at your Web site, you have no way of knowing that you had a visitor. Of course, one of the nice things about the Net is that it is anonymous, and you don't want to force everyone who goes to your Web page to tell you who they are. But it is nice if you have a way for people to leave you a message and for other people who visit to read the messages. To do this, you use what's called a guestbook. If you are a programmer, you can create your own guestbook facility. But it's much easier to let someone else do the work. Here are some resources that make it easy for you to put your own personal guestbook at your own personal Web site. Web:
HTML Editors for Advanced Users Broadly speaking, there are two ways to write HTML. If you are a beginner, you will probably want to use what is called a wysiwyg editor ("what you see is what you get"). With a wysiwyg editor, you enter your text, insert your pictures, and then manipulate the various elements until the page looks more or less like your vision of want you want. Behind the scenes, the wysiwyg editor works like an invisible robot, creating the actual HTML instructions, which are hidden from view. Wysiwyg editors are popular because they do not require you to understand the technical details of HTML. However, there are drawbacks. First, the HTML that is generated is bloated, junky and -- if you ever do want to look at it -- hard to understand. Second, because you can't control the actual HTML, you will be frustrated if you know exactly what you want but the editor won't give it to you. For this reason, people who are technically inclined and want complete control, usually choose to write their own HTML. I use a plain text editor to do the job, but many people prefer to use a special-purpose HTML editor. Such editors are more like assistants than robots, tools for smart people that offer an array of sophisticated features. The job of an HTML editor is to make it efficient for you to work directly with the HTML and to maintain it exactly the way you want. Web:
HTML Editors for Beginners To create and design Web pages, we use a complicated system called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). Unless you are a nerd, HTML is difficult to understand, so many people use an HTML editor (a special program) to help with the work. The type of HTML editors that are suitable for beginners work a lot like word processors. You enter the text, insert the pictures, and then use the HTML editor to decorate and lay out the page however you want. Once you are finished you "publish" the page by sending it to your Web site. Behind the scenes, the HTML editor handles all the technical details, so you can concentrate on the business of creation. Web:
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HTML for Advanced Users You're at a party and you have your eye on a hot prospect you've been dying to talk to. You stake your claim at the onion dip, knowing at any minute she will come over, because who can resist onion dip? Finally she does and you strike up a conversation, ready to talk about something meaningful. Then she asks, "Don't you find it terribly inconvenient that, when you get the rel and rev attributes mixed up within a tag, the relationships get all mixed up?" So what are you going to do -- tell her that women have trouble understanding relationships? Be prepared for situations like this by reading up on all aspects of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) before you go to a party. Web:
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HTML for Beginners HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a system that describes the various elements used to create a Web page. To make a Web page, you create an HTML file that contains data along with special instructions (called "tags") that tell a browser how the data should be displayed and processed. You then put the HTML file where it can be accessed by a Web server. When someone gives the address of that file to their browser, the browser will contact your Web server and request a copy of the file. When the file arrives, the browser will read the HTML and display the data appropriately. If the HTML tells the browser that your Web page needs extra files (such as images or photos), the browser will request those as well and display them on the page. (This is why you often see your browser make more than one connection to a Web server even though you are only looking at a single page. Each image must be retrieved separately.) HTML is complex and, to create really good Web pages, you need to spend some time learning the details and experimenting. Here are some Web sites to help you get started. How do you know which HTML beginner's guide to read? Look at a few and pick the one that makes the most sense to you. Web:
Icons for Fake Awards In the beginning, the idea sort of made sense: someone would look at a lot of Web pages and judge which ones were the very best. Those very best Web sites could display a special icon showing that they had achieved recognition, like a four-star restaurant mentioned in a guide book. What happened next should have been predictable, because it's a lot easier to give awards to other people than it is to actually do something creative on your own. The number of people willing to judge other people's work proliferated and, today, there are literally hundreds of awards on the Net. The whole thing has become rather silly. To help make it even more silly, here is a Web site that contains a whole bunch of icons for fake awards. Put one of these icons on your site, and you can thumb your nose at the entire award culture. Now, that's an idea that deserves an award. Web:
Image Maps An image map is a picture in which the various points correspond to URLs (Web addresses). When the image map is displayed on a Web page, the user can jump to the different URLs by clicking on different parts of the picture. For example, say you are designing a Web site to show specific information about each of the states in the U.S. You could use an image of the country that shows all the states, and then define an image map so that a person could jump to information about a particular state simply by clicking on it. The information in these resources will help you understand image maps, and show you how to create them for your own Web pages. Web:
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Meta Tags A meta tag is an HTML statement that you place on your page for one of three reasons. First, a meta tag can be used to store information about the document, such as the name of the author or an expiration date. Second, you can use a meta tag to make something happen to the page automatically, such as playing a sound or jumping to another page. Finally, you can use a meta tag to hold keywords that will be noticed and indexed by various search engines. If you would like to attract a lot of the "right" people to your Web site, learning how to use meta tags to catch the eye of the search engines can help a lot. Is it fun to use these tags? Well, as Will Rogers once said, "I never meta tag I didn't like." Web:
Promoting Your Web Site There are millions of Web pages on the Net, so how do you get noticed? These resources will help you get the recognition you deserve. Before long, visitors from all over the Net will be beating an electronic path to your virtual door. Web:
Tables Within HTML, you use tables to display information in rows and columns. Aside from using them to present data in a tabular format, you can also employ tables to create margins and to control spacing. These Web sites will teach you about tables, what they can do, and how to use them well. Web:
Transparent Gifs A transparent gif is an image, in gif format, in which one color is designated as being "transparent". When the image is displayed on a Web page, the browser will change the places where the transparent color is used to be the same as the background color. The effect is to create an image that fits nicely into the background. Making transparent gifs is easy -- if you have the right tools. Web:
Using HTML Well When you use HTML well, your pages look good and are easy to read. These Web sites will help you teach yourself how to use HTML well. There are lots of tips, explanations and links to tools. Most important, you will find examples you can use for your own Web pages. Web:
Web Authoring FAQ Before you create your next Web page, take a few minutes to read this FAQ. It contains practical answers to common HTML questions. I guarantee that when you read the FAQ, you'll find at least a few places where you will say to yourself, "So, that's how it works." Web:
Web Development Resources If you are a Web site developer, you have the difficult task of knowing everything and keeping up on all the changes. These Web sites will help you stay in tune with your colleagues and find the resources you need to do your job. Read about usability and design principles, compatibility, quality assurance, optimization, news and conferences. Find out about XML, VRML, Java, CSS, CGI, graphics, servers, and more. Web:
Web Page Backgrounds One way to spice up your Web page is to use a background. These Web sites provide lots of different textures and images you can use. Be careful, however, to exercise restraint. In most cases, anything unusual will look bad and be hard to read. Remember, even if a Web page looks good on your monitor, other people may not see it the same way you do, so be conservative. Web:
Web Page Counters Why be different when you, too, can have a counter on your Web page? (There are even cats on the Net who have access counters on their Web pages.) Here are some resources that tell you how to put a counter on your page and offer some great samples of counter digits. Web:
Web Page Creation Talk and General Discussion Once you start to create your own Web pages, you will realize how helpful it can be to talk to other people. This Usenet group is for discussion of topics related to creating Web pages. You can discuss HTML, design style, techniques, tips, and so on. Usenet:
Web Page Images: Graphics, Backgrounds and Clip Art If you want to dress up your Web pages, there are a great many graphics, icons, pictures and backgrounds available for free. However, please do not go overboard. I look at a lot of Web pages, and I can tell you that far too many of them are overloaded with superfluous graphics. Think twice before you put lots of images on your pages, and think three times before you use any background that is more than a simple color. As you use the Web, make a note of the pages you like the best, and use them to give you ideas for your own site. After all, why shouldn't your Web site be as cool as you are? Web:
Web Page Images: Photographs If you are going to say something, say it with pizazz -- and that's exactly what these resources will help you do. Here are photographs that you can use to create imaginative and attractive visual highlights for your Web site. Web:
Web Page Validation There are a variety of browsers used on the Net and they don't all work exactly the same. When you create a Web page, it's nice to check that your HTML will work well with various browsers. These sites contain Web page validation tools that can help you ensure that the HTML you write is as portable as possible. These tools are sophisticated and provide an in-depth analysis that would be impossible to do by hand. Web:
Web Publishing Resources With a good Web page editor, you don't have to be technical to create a Web page. All you need to do is type the text, insert some pictures, and keep moving stuff around until you think it looks good. However, if you would like to make your pages look even better, these resources will help you take your Web skills to the next level. You'll find HTML tutorials, a glossary, information about meta tags, color charts, forms, graphics, templates, style sheets, and more. Web:
Web Site Marketing Would you like to sell ad banners and generate revenue from your Web site? These Web sites contain serious information for serious marketers, but there are tips and resources for everyone. Actually, I think these resources should be entitled, "How to Make Your Web Site as Annoying as Possible". Please, please, promise me you won't use blinking banners, popup ads and frames with ads that automatically refresh themselves every thirty seconds. Web:
Web Site Polls Find out what your visitors think by putting a poll on your Web site. Polls are a great way to invite people to come back again and again. You can ask people what they think of an issue that relates to the topics covered by your Web site; or you could ask more general questions, such as what people think about the latest movies, sports teams or political happenings. One more idea: When you implement a new feature on your site, ask your visitors what they think of it. Web:
Web Site Postcards Snazz up your Web site by letting your visitors send custom electronic postcards. It won't be long before electronic postcards from your site will be electronic collectors' items, and people from all over the electronic world will be beating an electronic path to your electronic door. Web:
Web Site Programs Much of the tricky stuff you see on Web pages requires some programming. So why not get someone else to do the work? There are lots of pre-written Web page programs available for free on the Net. You may have to learn a bit of technical stuff, but once you do, you'll be in Web page heaven with tons of wonderful doodads that allow you to customize your Web site up the wazoo: access counters, password access controls, Web site search engines, email forms, calendars, calculators, tools for buttons, fonts, menus, tickers, and much, much more. Web:
Web Site Search Engines Once your Web site starts to get a lot of content, it's helpful to give your visitors a way to search for what they want. All they have to do is type in a word or two and, within seconds, they'll see links to the pages they want. Once you have a local search engine, you can integrate it into your overall design, and make your navigation aids simpler. These resources provide free Web site search engine services. Try them all and see which one you like best. Web:
Web Style Manual It is a good idea to learn something about design before you create your own Web page. Try reading this style manual, loaded with information on document design, navigation, site structure, Web page design, efficient use of the Web, design integrity, and much more. There is plenty of information for both beginning and advanced users. Web:
Webmasters Running a Web site requires you to be knowledgeable about a part of the world that never stops changing. Moreover, Web site management has a way of using all your time. Still, you do need to keep up. These webmaster resources will help you stay ahead of the newest trends. They also provide the type of resources you need, especially if you are a professional webmaster. In case you are the type of person who likes to join organizations, I have also included the Web site for the International Webmasters Association. Web:
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XML XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a meta-language that allows you to define your own markup languages. (HTML, for example, is a markup language.) In general, XML has the potential to provide wonderful improvements in the way we create Web pages. However, XML is complex and not yet supported in all its rich fullness by the popular browsers. If you like to live on the leading edge of Web page design, you'll enjoy learning about XML. Here are resources to help you, including a FAQ and information about standards, conferences and updates. Web:
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