Hands-On Self-Training: Lesson 1
Construct a Web page from an existing Web page

One of the great beauties of Web pages is that it is very easy to create a page or add functionality to a page by copying from another Web page.

Though a Web page as you browse it looks like a formatted document, there's code behind the scenes to handle the formatting, linking to other Web pages, and so on. You can see that HTML code in your browser by making a menu choice to View, Document Source. And you can copy the HTML code, as HTML code, to a file on your local PC, where you can then edit that code to suit your own purposes.

Now "editing code" may sound a little programmer-like and scary, but it's really not hard and it really requires no new, complicated software tool to accomplish.

An HTML file is an ASCII text file. You can consult a dictionary to get clear what that is, but the gist is that HTML employs the simplest, most universal file format around.

So to edit HTML code, all you have to have is an ASCII text editor. Notepad in the Windows environment will work just fine, as will edit in the DOS command line environment.

If you work here, it's very likely that you work with WordPerfect, and that wordprocessor software will also work to edit HTML code. The only hassle here is that you will have to tell WordPerfect that your file is in "ASCII (DOS) Text" format every time you open it or save a version.

There are various software tools that are specifically geared to creating and maintaining HTML code. Most of them are Windows products, and most make some claim to giving you WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) ease. As it happens, the agency has a site license for an outdated version of one of the major HTML editors, HotDogPro (the product of an Australian company named Sausage Software). If you want to use HotDogPro, ask your LAN manager to install it on your PC. The first time you run the program, it will present you with the opportunity to take a tutorial on how to use it (and the tutorial and online help will continue to be there for you to consult in further sessions).

If you want to use other HTML editors and authoring tools, you're on your own. Current favorites include HomeSite (powerful non-WYSIWYG tag editor) and Dreamweaver (powerful WYSIWYG editor). There is no one perfect choice for everyone, and anyway, what really counts is the HTML code you produce, not the HTML editor you use to create that code.

OK. Enough talk. Now try your hand at the steps outlined below.

• Run Netscape.
• Go down T-Net menus to T-Net Template.
• Look at HTML tags: Choose View, Document Source. (Click on the upper right X to close that window when you've finished looking.)
• Save the template as a file on your hard disk: Choose File, Save As. (You choose what directory to save it in and what name to give it. Leave file type as HTML.)
• Go down T-Net menus to T-Net HTML Guides page.
• Bookmark that page of HTML resources for future reference: Choose Bookmarks, Add Bookmark.
• Go to Sandia's Guide and get acquainted with HTML online help. (It's an an old guide but still sound).
  • Drag mouse over index and watch URLs change in status line at bottom
  • Note # (anchor to a specific place within a single document file).
  • Read about some of the commands.
• Now, open the file you saved using one of the editors discussed above.
• Fill in the blanks the template presents you with. (Look for underscores and remove them as you go.)
• Add a title; save the file as index.htm. (If you use WordPerfect, be sure to save the file in ASCII (DOS) Text format. By Web convention, index.htm (or index.html in the Unix world) is the name for the main or top-level HTML file in a directory.)
• View the result in Netscape: Choose File, View File and navigate your directories to specify the file you just saved.
• Do more building of the file—add content for the body of the document.
  • Make a list.
  • Bold some word(s).
  • Italicize some word(s).
  • Change spacing.
• Continue to make changes and view the changes. Remember to save the document after each edit, and hit the Reload button in Netscape to make sure you're looking at the latest version of your Web page.

Return to Hands-On Self-Training Web Authoring Exercise when you're ready to tackle another lesson. Or continue on to lesson 2.