To those who want answers to your Web questions:

I propose a solution. Getting on the World Wide Web should be easy and fun. More and more people want to put up a Web page, or search the Web for things they are interested in. When I was looking for help in my early days on the Web, I ran into over intellectual explanations, jargon-laced techie talk, and a few friendly people who made all the difference in helping me learn how to use the Web. Now that my business is established on the Web, I'm returning the favor by creating this newsletter to help others transition, keep up to date, and find out what is going on.

The Web is a mixture of commerce, art, marketing, HTML, and information. So what better place to begin than with your own Web page? This simple Guide to Creating Your Own Web Page will help you get on the Web. The first issue of the Web Letter is a free resource for you to use and includes material from my book, Secrets of Designing and Building Your Own Web Site. I call my site a Thoughtscape, a place for people to think and express their own ideas, their own creativity. So prepare to learn about the Web and let's hear what you have to say.

Welcome to the Thoughtscape of the Web Letter!

Peace
MDD
Michael Declan Dunn, The Web Letter

Thoughtscapes I

Thoughtscape is a word I invented to symbolize what the Web means to me. When I'm looking for particular information, such as my interest in wolves or stock market information, I'm acting out of my own interests, my own thoughts. But in my surfing, I run into many other viewpoints. Some I like and I continue to visit their Web sites; others I look at once and never return. On the Web, there are no rights and wrongs, no truths or fictions; there is only your viewpoint. What I like and don't like is unique to myself, but when I find others with similar interests and goals, then something new forms; a Web built on shared ideas.

The Web Letter will explore what Webs are forming, and assist others in creating their own Webs. The Web is a remarkable medium because it is based on live participation, interactions, and the needs of the audience. Unlike traditional broadcasting where you sit back and watch, the Web demands that you program your own channels, your own Web.

Learning to use the Web is like building your own Web of information, contacts, Links, and interests. While we may own the particular piece of writing, painting, graphics, or whatever, we can never own the ideas. That's where the thoughts come in, the sharing of ideas and the building of alliances based on mutual interest, goals, and shared experiences. Because the Web is live, the audience is always there.

In upcoming issues, we'll explore the Web as Theatre, the debate over HTML standards, To Netscape or not to Netscape, ThoughtSpace, and subjects brought up by our viewers. You can either come to the Web site and get a taste of what we are doing, or subscribe to the newsletter and share our thoughtscape, our Web. Either way, we are doing the same thing. Building our own Webs, one strand at a time. Tolerance, change, and adaptation are the keywords in this thoughtscape.

Each time we look at something, it changes from us trying to define it. The Web changes every day. This thoughtscape will be different tomorrow. Come for a visit to:

 
 
 
Getting on the Web

1. Be sure you have a fast enough modem

2400 baud and 9600 baud are too slow; they may work for email or text-only browsers, but it's not worth it.

14,400 baud (14.4): Likely still the current standard that is most often used. Slow access, but it works.

28,800 (28.8) baud: A faster speed one can access the Web with.

In the coming years, 28.8 baud may be the average standard. Be aware that statements about standards on the Web are always changing; if the cable and phone companies get together, speeds will improve dramatically.

2. Have the software set up to view the Web

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is the standard communication tool required for computers to hook up to the Internet. You also need a browser, the software which views the Web, such as Netscape, AOL's browser, Mosaic, or a number of others. On the Web, most people currently use Netscape.

PCs need a set of software called a TCP/IP stack. To run the Web, you'll need browser software, plus a TCP/IP stack consisting of: TCP/IP software; sockets software (Winsock.DLL); and hardware driver software (packet drivers). Many TCP/IP stacks are available for Windows, including shareware stacks.

Macintoshes often use software called MacTCP. You'll also need either PPP or SLIP software to hook up. These are loaded as control panels and extensions in your System folder.

3. Contact a local Web Provider and let them recommend the software

You want to set up an account with a Web provider, a company that gives you a local number to call and link up to the Web. Let them recommend the software and help you with installation. A simple hookup to the Web is called a shell account. If you are setting up a Web page, ask if they allow you to and how much room on the hard drive they give with your account. Most provide 1-5 MB, but compare pricing and ease of access. For many, commercial providers like AOL, Netcom, Prodigy, and CompuServe provide adequate Web hookups and will continue to improve. For those who want to explore the Web intensively, these Web setups may not suffice. Local providers are a good way to get more time, but make sure they are reliable. The only way to do this is trial and error, and asking others who have used the service. Check local newspapers or search the Web, there are many listed nationwide.

4. Be patient if the Web isn't working

This is a new medium and there are some pitfalls. The Web improves every day, so be patient.

Baud: Refers to the modem speed at which a user can view the Web. Baud rates basically means the transmission speed, or how fast information gets sent from the Web page to the person viewing it.

Browser: The software a person uses to view the Web. A browser reads HTML code and shows it to the viewer as a Web page. Viewers can choose from a number of different browsers to navigate the Web.

Content: Content is more than information on a Web page. The way it is delivered, organized, and shown together form content. Think of content as the foundation which holds the Web page together.

GIF: A graphic file type used as a means to distribute graphics to a wide audience. GIF is the current standard of the Web, since all browsers can view files in GIF format.

Hit: The number of times a file is accessed on a Web page. A hit actually measures total number of files accessed, so that all the graphics on a page (which are separate files), plus the actual HTML file, are recorded as hits.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): The language of the Web, HTML is a standardized code which allows people to structure text, graphics, and even sounds to be viewed on a variety of computer platforms.

Hypertext: Layers (i.e. pages) of linked content that are easily accessed and lead to related information. Hypertext is a term for the organization and delivery of information, made available through the structure of a Web page.

Inline Image: Images on the Web are called "inline" because to show them, the HTML code has to load the graphic file. They are never "pasted" onto a page, but are separate files told where to appear on the page by HTML code.

JPEG: JPEG files are the emerging standard of the Web. They provide better quality and colors than GIF files in most cases, having a more flexible way of handling images. But not all browsers support JPEG files.

Universal Resource Locator (URL): The address used by Web documents to locate files on servers. A URL gives the type of resource being accessed like this: scheme: //host.domain/path/filename . There are several schemes, or ways of viewing files available through URLs such as: file://, a file on a local server; http://, a file on a World Wide Web server; ftp://, a file at an FTP site; or gopher://, a file on a gopher server.

Web page: Refers to a single page on the World Wide Web, meaning a single text file. This file is defined by a beginning and ending HTML code which makes it a single file, with a name such as mypage.html, for example.

Web site: A collection of Web pages, or links, which together form a site. A site is a general definition for a collection of content, created to work both as a unit and individually.

World Wide Web (i.e, The Web): A means to link individual documents on computer servers worldwide and built with a standard Hypertext language, HTML, which allows text, graphics, and sounds to be linked.

Design of a web page begins from the perspective of the audience. What better way to start than by thinking of where you would go now if you were interested in the subject of your Web page? Begin with the target audience and work back to the design. Call it market research, storyboarding, whatever, just remember the audience is the one being appealed to. Some people create Web pages hoping people will catch on to what they are doing. A better method is to target an audience, design something that specifically interests them, and then establish a special look, feel, and presence. Start this by checking out what others are doing on the Web, then create your own approach.

First Impressions Matter

While exploring the Web, think about first impressions. In journalism, few people read beyond the first paragraph. A film's worth must be established in the first 5 minutes. Advertising is built on a simple, thought evoking headline. On the Web, everything depends on the home page, what techies call the Front End. Consider it the cover to a Web page; a good cover will entice people in to read and explore. What they see at the beginning must intrigue them, invite them into the scenery, until they want to become part of the scene.

Search the Web for relevant pages and sites. Define specific interests, ideas, links, whatever will give your page a personal look and feel. Think in terms of your interests and who you would like to visit. Is this for friends? Business acquaintances? Just for fun? All of the above? Go through the Web and add sites as bookmarks. Why did you add them? Was it the look? The content? Just because? Think about building your own Web, a Web of information that interests you. How can this interest be shared? The goal of exploration is reaching that defined target. Surf the Web to find that target, define it, then continue aiming and re-aiming to set your course towards something no one has tried. Begin as the audience and start with the end in mind, the creation of a special Web site. Work back towards the people viewing it and remember those things that interrupted your own discovery. Then remember those Web places where the stay never seemed to end because it was so fun. Define your target audience by becoming the target audience, then take the next step.

Save the Code of your Favorite Sites

Find a site that looks the way your want to, or does a certain HTML trick that you'd like to do? The browser software for the Web makes this easy by offering a "Save as Source" option in the menu. This can be found in most File menus; select "Save as" and a choice appears:

• Save as Text: Saves only the text on the screen
  
• Save as Source: Saves the HTML code and text on the screen.

You can also use your "View" menu on many browsers to view the source code in your own word processor, and save it if you like it. Don't copy someone's page, learn from it and adapt the code to your own style.

Browsers

The first step to understanding the Web is knowing how people view it. Before the Web, people viewed information on the Internet only as text. Browser is the term given to the variety of types of software that people use to view the Web. Most of the current browsers were designed around a software called Mosaic, which allowed people to view the Web with a graphic interface for the first time. Think of it like the evolution from DOS to Macintosh /Windows graphic interfaces; the Web moved us into a world beyond command codes to a point and click graphic interface.

Browsers are software, with their own special interface. Most provide a standard gray background, with hypertext links in color. Words or graphics used as links begin with a blue color, then change to another color (sometimes violet) when selected to show the person that they have already visited the referenced area. It is important to know that there are many browsers and that following certain standards make a Web site accessible to a wide audience.

The person using the browser can customize the page to look the way they want. They can adjust the font size, the colors of the text links, whether or not they see a background image you put in, or whether they want to see graphic images at all. Graphics on the web provide beauty, but if someone wants to research information, they may be more interested in the content than the look. This person may turn off any images on a page to speed up the process.

The best way to create your first Web page is to find an HTML editor. Most people begin with an HTML editor and after awhile learn enough code not to need them. HTML editors allow you to select text and then choose the HTML command from a menu or button; they insert the code before and after the words you choose. If you make an error, just cut and paste the code. If you don't mind learning code, it is simple to produce HTML code in any word processor, again as a text only file. It's best to begin with an editor and then outgrow it.

Graphics software is also important. The best software is Photoshop, which will allow you to manipulate images and photographs. Be sure to get software that allows you to create GIF files, reduces colors to 256 or 16 (since these are what the Web can support now), and also helps you create "interlaced" graphic files. "Interlaced" GIF files are useful when you have a large file (25K or more); it will seem to fade in while the Web server is loading it. On the Windows end, LView Pro and Paint Shop Pro are good shareware programs to have; on the Macintosh, Graphic Converter is excellent. Many good shareware programs are available on the Web, check out these sites:

Windows

OAK Software Repository for Windows tools
http://www.acs.oakland.edu/oak.html

Macintosh

Jon Wiederspan's Macintosh WWW Development Guide
http://www.uwtc.washington.edu/Computing/WWW/Mac/Directory.html

Hypertext is a word attributed to Ted Nelson, who in the early 1960s dreamed of creating a computer program that could keep track of paths of thinking. By tracing the thought through the branches created when approaching the subject, the computer might coach the person researching from the viewpoint of experience, providing a constant resource.

The problem with that dream is the reality that remembering everything someone did isn't the point; getting to and using the content is. That's what Hypertext can mean, creating a structure that anyone can approach, figure out, and find their way through. Hypertext has more to do with providing layers of information a Web that is understandable to others and linking those layers through HTML so that people can easily access the content. Many people on the Web believe that the technology is both the savior and inhibiter of their efforts.

HTML is a language developed to show files on a number of different platforms. It was not designed to be a desktop publishing tool. That doesn't mean you can't create elegant Web pages. The challenge comes in working within the confines of this language and creating expressions which many people can view. HTML was designed as a structural language, concerned with the placement of different elements on the screen. By elements we mean graphics and text primarily, but sound files can be used and even video will be available in the coming years. But for now it is a simple language that offers more architectural than textual tricks.

What you do with HTML is place links on your page to different parts of the page, like another paragraph. Or you can point to an entirely different file, or even another Web site that you like. You can also arrange an email link, called a mailto:, which when clicked will set up an email screen. Links often appear blue and underlined on most browsers; these are the central tools to creating a good Web page. Links enable us to go beyond words and images (you can make graphics Links the same way you do text) and provide the movement of the Web.

HTML code looks like this:

It begins and ends with a markup tag, or command, housed within a < and >. The code is concluded with a backslash in front of the same markup tag. That's all. Putting your HTML markup tags in capital letters, like <TITLE>Pagename</TITLE>, will help you find your code when editing. It is not necessary to do, but a good practice.

1. Use the Rule of LCD Publishing: Keep it Simple

LCD (Least Common Denominator): A good rule of Web design is to think about the slowest computer, modem, and link to the Web page a person may have. By designing for the weakest link, the best results are insured for the widest possible audience.

2. Keep your Graphics small

1. Keep them small (40 K or less)
   
2. Decorate, don't dominate a page with graphics. Use lines and buttons, avoid photographs.
   
3. Use black and white, or Line Art
   
4. Use GIF files if possible

   3. Design for the computer screen and slow modems.

   Keep your fonts simple and your graphics small. Text doesn't read well on screen, so keep it brief and spice it up with a few small graphics. Waiting for a graphic to redraw on the Web can make someone hit the Stop button. Let them get to your text quickly and easily. Make your main graphic fancy, but keep the rest simple.

   4. Invest your time in PR to make people aware.

   Get your site noticed by contacting the major search engines (Yahoo, WebCrawler, Lycos, etc.) on the Web and the numerous sites that distribute What's New on the Web information. Give people a way to find your Web.

   5. Continually upgrade your home page.

   This is electronic publishing; the medium is built to be changed, so don't settle for the same old thing. Show signs of life by updating your page and put a date on the page so it shows. By doing this, you challenge yourself.

   6. Focus on content, not technology.

   The illusion that this is a technology-driven market is a myth of the techies. Do you know how your television works? Of course not, it just works! The same approach applies to the World Wide Web. Technology should be an unnoticed factor. If they notice it, you're doing something wrong.

   7. Test your site out as often as possible.

   The best test of a site is ease of use; get friends to try it, ask people on the Web to evaluate, and put up a form that requests feedback. Don't put up a page of mistakes.

   8. Get your Provider to set up your Web page on the server.

   If you have to learn UNIX code, learn it slowly. This isn't difficult, but first time around get your provider to set up your page. After they show you what to do it's easy, but let them do it first.

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   A Web Page Plan
   The toughest part to creating a Web page is getting started. We suggest the following plan, which involves writing down a basic outline, printing it out as you would like it to appear, and saving the resulting file as text. Then take your HTML Editor and try to make it look like you want it to. Creating a Web Page is a process that involves revising your ideas; as you work with the medium, the first ideas you had may give way to a new viewpoint, a new way to organize. Work with a plan, but be open to adapting. Remember, keep it simple at first; once the Web Page is up on the Web, you can touch it up and add revisions. For now, just work on finishing the page and trying it out. Good luck!

   A. Set your Goals and Expectations

   Write down your goals and expectations for the Web page in a few sentences. Refer back to these after it is up. Adapt the page to your goals, or adapt your goals to the realities of the Web.

   B. Create a Storyboard, or Outline, for the Web Page

   The next step is to create your outline, the storyboard for your Web page. Use your word processor to bold headlines, add formatting, and indicate where you'd like Links. For instance, indicate a section and write "Link to relevant information", or put in a specific address of a site that is important. Also write down where you'd like to put graphics, or copy and paste them into the document itself. Print this document out and use it as a visual guide while creating your Web page. Understand that the graphic tricks of a word processor don't translate to the Web, but create a guide of what the page should look like. Follow this guide and adapt to the changes that will arise once you start working with it in your HTML Editor.

   C. Create a Text Only File for the HTML Editor

   After printing out your published page, save it as a text only document by selecting "Save As" in the file menu of most word processors. The option for text is included in virtually all of them. Save a new file to work on in the next Section. Use your printed version to guide you in the look. You should now have a Web Plan , a published page for the way the Web site should look, and a text only file to convert with HTML into a Web site. Take the text-only file into your HTML editor and add the code. As you work with the HTML editor, check your work in your browser. Go back and forth between the two to get an idea of the final product. Test it with other browsers if possible, but make sure that what you want is what is showing up on screen. When you are ready, send it to your provider. That's it!

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   Web Letter Links

   Creating Backgrounds and Colors

   With each issue we provide the links we've found most helpful for specific topics. This issue we provide links to creating backgrounds and colors. Consider these primarily a Netscape trick, although a few other browsers do support them.

   Using backgrounds and colors allows you to replace the standard backdrop of the browser. Backgrounds are graphic files you create, which are tiled across the screen. They should be extremely small, since they will be the first thing that loads and take time. Use them with caution with this command in the standard <BODY> markup:

   <BODY BACKGROUND="my.gif">

   Background colors can also be changed. Using RGB codes (called Hexadecimal code), you pick the color you want out of the 256 available. The advantage is that these load much quicker than a graphic backdrop; the drawback is in finding the right combination of colors to show on the screen. When changing the background color, consider that you must also change the text (for body text), link (for non-visited links), and vlink (for visited links) colors. Experiment and test colors before using them. Be careful of a background graphic that has too much texture, making text tough to read. Most of all, use colors with caution. While they may create a special look, they will look different depending on the monitor showing them and the system's color palette. Here's some sample code, which can also be used with a background graphic instead of a background color:

   <BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F0F0F0" LINK="#FFFF00" VLINK="#22AA22" >

   Text is light-gray on a black background color, links are yellow at first, and flashing blue-green when activated (VLINK). Don't worry, visit these sites and you'll find easy ways to work the code.

   Backgrounds and Colors

   ColorEditor for HTML:
   http://www.infocom.net/~bbs/cgi-bin/colorEditor.cgi
   This site uses CGI to allow you to test colors online. Check out your background color, or put in your own background, and test it with different colors for your text, linked text, visited link text, and active link text, all in one spot! Gives you the code of your choices so you can put your own Web page up with the colors you have tested.

   The Color Specifier for Netscape 1.1
   http://www.interport.net/~giant/COLOR/hype_color.html
   Another site which provides code and samples of what background colors will look like in Netscape.

   RBG Hex Triplet Color Chart:
   http://www.phoenix.net/~jacobson/rgb.html
   Excellent resource; shows colors and code to create those colors on one page.

   Netscaped Backgrounds, Colored Text, Etc.:
   http://www.vms.utexas.edu/~mhutch/aboutpg.html
   

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   The HTML Web

   As you prepare your outline,
   remember to build your Web Page
   as the center of information that
   everything revolves around

   
   

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