Required Tools

What does it take to create and view a web page?

Languages that drive the Web, such as HTML, JavaScript and Cascading Style Sheets are all written in simple ASCII text. The magic in each language is using the correct syntax and saving the file with the proper extension. To create and view a web page you need two things:

  1. An editor to write the HTML code
  2. A web browser to translate the HTML code and display the results

Let's start with types of editors.

Types of Editors

Editors come in three flavors:

  1. Text editors
  2. HTML editors
  3. WYSIWYG (What You See If What You Get) editors

The editor you choose will depend on your computer's operating system (Windows, Macintosh or UNIX) and also on your HTML skill level. My recommendation is to start with a text editor and work your way up to a WYSIWYG  (What You See if What Get) editor.

Text Editors

HTML Editors

WYSIWYG Editors

Types of Web browsers.

The browser you choose will depend on YOUR AUDIENCE.  If you are publishing to  an intranet you can be reasonably sure that your audience uses the same browser. However, if you're publishing to the Internet, you can't be sure which browser will be used to download your pages unless you've done a lot of research.

Terms you should know before getting started

HTML
The "HyperText Markup Language" is the code that is used to define a web page.
 
ISP
An "Internet Service Provider" provides telephone dial-up services which allow you to connect to the Internet with your modem. For home use, the rates range from $19.95 to approx. $25.00 per month, which usually includes a small storage area you can use to store a personal website.
 
WHP
A "Web Hosting Provider" provides web hosting services (some also provide dial-up services for an additional fee). Most will allow you to park your domain name for a small annual fee. Some will register your domain name for you. Most WHP's provide web hosting services for personal and business use. Expect to pay anywhere from $20 to over $50 per month for web hosting.
 
Internet
The physical world wide interconnection between computers and their resources using TCP/IP.
 
TCP/IP
"Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol" is a communication protocol between computers that wish to "talk" over a physical connection. It defines the rules on how they communicate. TCP/IP is the method by which all computers talk over the Internet but it works equally as well on a LAN (local area network).
 
IP
"Internet Protocol" is the protocol that sends packets of data over the Internet.
 
IP Address
An "Internet Protocol Address" defines were an IP packet is going. Often to somebody's computer over the Internet. Your domain has an IP address.
 
Domain
An Internet Web Site identified with an IP address.
 
Domain Name
The name of a Web Site that is mapped to an IP address using a URL.
 
URL
"Universal Resource Locator" is the address of any resource on the World Wide Web. It often refers to a Web Page but it can include almost any file that can be found on a server connected to the WWW. Think of URLs as postal addresses for the web.
 
FTP
"File Transfer Protocol" is the protocol used to transfer files from one computer to another over the Internet. It is what you use to upload your files to your web server.
 
BROWSER
An application you use to view web pages. Currently there are three popular browsers: Netscape,  Microsoft Internet Explorer and Opera (free and very fast). Regardless of which browser you choose, it should be version 4.0 or higher.

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