What is HTML?
The abbreviation HTML stands for HyperText Mark-up Language. It is the name for the language of commands that can be included in a text file to instruct an Internet browser how to display text, images and other web page elements.
For example: HTML code defines the colour, size and font for the text.
The main HTML commands work on all browsers, however some of the more advanced features either do not function or work differently on different browsers. The two main browsers in use are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.
The principal advantages of HTML is that it has been designed to work on different platforms (Windows, Mac etc.) and it allows you to link to other documents on any web site.
This information assumes you will be using basic HTML editing software. Whatever software you decide to write your web pages with you should still find this information useful.
How do I start?
First you need your own connection to the Internet through an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
It's likely you already have this, but you may want to consider a broadband connection as you may be transferring relatively large files / amounts of data that could take some time on dial-up services.
You need somewhere to host your web site, that is the remote server connected to the Internet that will store your publicly available web pages. It is best to choose a host early in the process as the facilities they offer (and any restrictions they may impose) may affect how the site is written. Your ISP will often offer web hosting services.
Hopefully you will have someone keen to do the actual design work. They will need to be familiar with the type of software used for word processing or desktop publishing as web design software will be very similar. They will need to gather together all the text and images for the pages and then create a basic page template for the web site.
How much will it cost?
Designing and maintaining your own web site need not cost much.
Early versions of the Windows Operating System included a basic HTML editor (FrontPage Express), recent versions of Netscape Navigator include the HTML editor Netscape Composer. There are lots of HTML editors and word-processors that you can use to create and edit HTML. If you're feeling really brave and creative you could write the HTML from scratch using a plain text editor like "Notepad".
There are many free and paid web hosts that may vary from only providing a small amount of space (from 5Mb) to offering lots of space, e-mail addresses and more.
Buying a domain name for your web site can be quite reasonable, from about £8 for two years for a ".co.uk" domain. Some Web Hosts even include a domain registration fee in their hosting charge.
Transferring your web site files to your host server is the only other possible cost, but if you have a broadband connection all your data transfer is included.
Too Much to cope with?
Don't panic! I'm happy to give assistance and even design complete sites. You can E-mail me webmaster@cwu-ccc.org for information.