Datasheet

24
Part I: Create a Web Page Today
not having someone else create it for you? The answer helps you determine
some important things about the page. The following list details the most
common reasons for people to get involved in creating a Web page:
 For work: More and more people are being asked to create Web pages
and Web sites as part of their jobs; for example, they use the Web to
communicate with people inside or outside their companies. But unless
you plan to be a full-time Webmaster, you need to balance the time you
spend developing your pages with the time you spend on the other
demands of your job. Be modest in your initial goals, and keep track of
each step in creating and modifying your Web pages so that you — or
the person who takes over for you — can refer to the records later.
 For fun: Fun sites are a good thing, and they are a lot of what makes the
Web worthwhile. But if you create your site for fun, you may find time to
work on it only after you spend time on other things, such as work,
school, and time with friends and family. So don’t be too ambitious in
your initial plans, or you may take quite a while to finish and publish
your page. (Many bloggers, for one example, now feel that they need to
be online 24/7 to keep up.)
 As a career move: So you want to be a full-time, or nearly full-time,
Webmaster, blogger, or eBay seller; or you want, in some other way, to
make the Internet or Web part of your career? In this kind of situation,
you can afford to plan an ambitious Web site that uses advanced tools,
tracks usage, and otherwise gets closer to the cutting edge of the Web.
To gain experience, create your initial Web page by using the accessible
and broad-based tools and approaches I describe in this book. Then
take your page closer to the cutting edge by using the more advanced
techniques described and taught elsewhere.
 Who knows? As famous baseball manager Yogi Berra once said, “When
you come to a fork in the road, take it.” You may not have a specific
reason for publishing on the Web, but that shouldn’t stop you. You may
figure out a good reason after you have a little Web experience under
your belt. Start simple, so you can score an early success in getting a
basic Web page up, and then go from there.
Don’t spend too much time on design
Designing a Web page is unlike designing any other kind of publication,
because you don’t have as much control over the precise appearance of a
Web page as you do with other types of publications. Different network
connection speeds, browsers, screen sizes, and font and other settings within
a browser vary so much that users can have very different experiences with
your Web page. Some people may (for example) bring up your page on a
personal digital assistant, laptop, Web-connected TV, or mobile phone.
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