Jumping into web development

The easiest way to start developing web pages is to jump in full force. Now that you know the basics of what tags are and how they work, it is time to start learning them. Learning to write HTML is like learning to swim: it is very hard to do either just by reading a book!

The only way to create effective web pages is to know your HTML tags inside and out. The only way to do that is to use them. You can study all you want, but unless you actually create a web page, you will not be able to see the effects, and learn the quirks in HTML that frustrate us all. Of course if you really get into it, you will find ways to exploit those quirks ... but more of that later.

How to get started? Many of you want to put up information for your respective offices and departments. Others have inherited responsibility for an existing site that is more or less up-to-date. If you can, don't start with your department homepage! Instead, build a web page for yourself first. It doesn't matter if anyone can see it, or if they ever will see it, but start out with something personal. You want your "newbie" mistakes to be seen by as few people as possible, and you certainly don't want to create a bad impression of the department as a whole. Even if the only person who ever views your personal page is yourself, from your hard disk, the learning experience will improve the quality of the pages that you produce afterwards.

When you first are working on your department home page, the question that must be answered is, "Is this draft better than having nothing?" Bear in mind that initially the correct answer to that question will be "NO!" As soon as the answer is "Yes!" you should upload the current version to the server and let Computer Services' Academic Technology Manager know that it is ready to be listed on the University Front Door pages.

As you continue to work on your page, the question to ask is, "Is this version better than the version on the server?" Again, often the answer to that question will be "No." Whenever it is "Yes," you should upload the improved version to the server.

When you are working on an official page, be very certain that you know who has the authority to answer these questions! You and your supervisor should develop a clear understanding as to the nature of modifications you should make and upload immediately without seeking approval (spelling and punctuation errors, for example) and what kinds of modifications require explicit approval in advance.

Some "spelling and punctuation errors" may actually be issues of meaning; be especially careful about this if the Web page's visible text is in a language that is not your native language.

There are four important pieces of information that should be included on every page:

  1. Your E-mail address. Make sure it is clearly visible in the text of your page, as well as having an E-mail link for those whose browsers can use it. For departmental pages, the E-mail address should be your account on the server, not your personal E-mail address.

  2. Your name, or at the very least an impersonal identification, such as "Registrar's Office Staff." You might well also want to include your postal address or phone number.

  3. The date the file was most recently revised. This helps people judge the likely accuracy of the information when they read it on screen and if the page is printed from a browser that does not put the current date on the paper.

  4. The URL of the file, for the benefit of those whose browsers may print the file with no URL or with an incomplete URL.

These four items can be combined readily into a standard "boilerplate" ending for your page, such as I have used below, at the end of this page.

Few things are more frustrating than trying to find someone through the web, finding their homepage and then - no way to get in touch. Remember, content is important, and even these four pieces of information will give you more content than a lot of pages out there. The E-mail address serves a dual purpose because it also encourages others to give you feedback on your web page. We will go into this more later, but feedback is the best way you can find errors. Trust me, people will point them out.

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Dick Piccard revised this file (http://www.ohiou.edu/pagemasters/class/html1/jump.html) on November 2, 2000.

Please E-mail any comments or suggestions to acatec@www.ohiou.edu.