These lessons, like my websites, will be very basic. I am not an expert web designer. What I do well, is create strong, solid pages that are pretty consistent between browsers. My references are my family site, Walker-Andrew, and this website. Please feel free to check them out. To see what your pages will look like when you are done with the lessons, Click Here. If this sounds like your idea of fun, then let's get started.

These are the things you will need:

Text Editor:

I use Notepad, available in MS Windows. If you are using a real word processor, like MS Word, you need to save your documents as a plain text document with an htm extension. If you save it as a word document, with a doc extension, it will not work. You do not need special Web Design software like MS Front Page or Adobe Page Mill to create fun & informative websites. We will deal with simple HTML code that is easy to learn and apply. My whole family website was coded in Notepad. Walker-Andrew

Content:

I provide the content for these lessons, but you could provide your own content, which might include long winded speeches, rants, raves, pictures, etc. What is it you want to say on the internet? I use my website to communicate with my family and friends. My friend Louis, from work, is a big local sports fan. His website theme is Chargers and Padres. Check out Charger Lou. Also try Tom's Web Design for an entrepreneurial slant and stock market stuff. I'm sure you'll like mine the best, but check these out for ideas.

Graphics Program:

You need a graphics program to manipulate your pictures or to create fancy text images for titles and things. Any program you use to view your graphics on your computer will work. I use ThumbsPlus (available as shareware) for viewing my pictures (graphics). I use Photoshop for picture resizing, and PowerPoint for building WordArt stuff. It's a wierd combination and I'm sure more complicated than it needs to be, but it works for me. Other programs you might use are, Adobe Photo Deluxe, Microsoft Picture It, Paint Shop Pro (available as shareware), Microsoft Picture Editor, etc.

Internet Browser:

I use Netscape Communicator and MS Internet Explorer. The neat thing about building a website is, you can build it all on your computer and view it all, just like it was on the Web, before you actually put it on the Web. That way you can catch most of your mistakes before the world sees them. As we build the pages, we will look at them and make sure all the links and pictures show up and work as expected.

Basic Computer Skills:

I am going to assume you have basic computer skills like, opening and closing files, saving documents, creating directories/folders, etc. I may bore you with some process explainations, or I might skip an explaination of a process you don't understand. Skip the explainations you already know and contact me if you need further explaination. Of course the best way to learn is to dig a little through the help files and try to figure it out on your own. If that fails, like it does for me often enough, email me here, HELP!

Let's Get Started!

by Craig Walker