Four Ways to a Web Page

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There are four basic ways to get a page on the Web. Look at the options below to decide which one is for you!

1. Use the editor on a free hosting service

What it is: Web hosting services like Geocities or Angelfire usually come with Web-based visual editors to help you build your Web site with a minimum of coding.

Pros: Easy! Probably the fastest way to get your page on the Web - select a pre-made template, plug in a graphic or two of your own, type your text, and you're good to go.

Cons: Restrictive and unoriginal - you are often limited to premade templates, with limited options for changing them. The Web-based applications can be slow and sometimes unreliable. When your Web site is done, you won't know much, if anything, more, about what makes the Web work than you did when you started.

User Profile: You don't want to bother with learning HTML - at least not yet. You care more about what's in your page and having it look basically OK than having absolute control over it.

2. Use Netscape Composer

What it is: Netscape Navigator includes this tool to help you build your own Web pages. It includes both a visual editor and an HTML editor.

Pros: Netscape is free and is already installed on most computers. (Download Netscape if you don't have it already.) Composer lets you have both the advantages of making a page graphically and by hand. You can build your page and test it on your computer without being connected to the internet.

Cons: Make sure you're in the right environment! It's easy to start typing HTML into the graphic editor - which doesn't work. The graphic editor also has fairly limited options, so if you want to get advanced, you'll need to use the HTML source view. Once your page is built, you will need to upload it to your server.

User Profile: You may not be ready to go all the way to HTML yet, but you want a little more freedom than your Web host can offer. Or, you want to take advantage of a rare free host that doesn't have pop-up ads but also doesn't provide a built-in editor.

3. Write your own HTML

What it is: Use any text editor - or the HTML editor on a hosting service - to type in your own HTML, the code used to build Web pages.

Pros: You have ultimate control - anything goes! The equipment is free, and usually already on your computer. You will develop a real skill and know the secrets behind the Web. You could be surprised - HTML isn't hard to learn!

Cons: You will have to learn HTML, and find or make your own graphics. If your site is very large, keeping internal site links updated can get overwhelming.

User Profile: You are curious, have a sense of adventure, and want the pride of having done it all yourself.

4. Use a Web development environment such as Microsoft Front Page or Macromedia Dreamweaver

What it is: These applications are made to help you build your Web site. They include combined visual and html editors, including features such as color-coding the tags and automatically putting up the closing tags for hand-coders. They also include site management tools.

Pros: This kind of tool gives you a lot of control, while still being easier than coding by hand. If you are managing a large site, features like Dreamweaver's automatic link updating are a life saver.

Cons: These applications are not cheap - and usually, the cheaper applications are not so good. You can easily use just the visual editor and still never learn what makes a Web site work.

User Profile: The applications are for the serious user, whether you're a hand-coder or want to use the full toolkit. If you're expecting to be working on your site for a long time, or if it's going to be big, applications are the way to go.