Contents   Security: A brief overview of firewalls and FTP rights.   Graphics: Useful tips on graphics and programs.   Hex Values: Make your site color coordinated.   HTML: How to begin a simple site with HTML.   Multimedia: Include sound and animation on your site.   Name Your Site: Try this method to name your site.   Promotion: Learn how to promote your site on the Internet.   Scripts: Useful scripts for counters, guestbooks, etc.   Site Tips: Helpful tips that will encourage visitors to return. Security Security is important not only because there are curious prowlers online, but there are also technologically-advanced and knowledgeable people who may be able to gain access to your site or personal information. If you decide to become an administrator, it is a good idea to check all of your FTP rights and obtain a reliable firewall. When you check your FTP (File Transfer Protocol) rights, make sure that anonymous log-ins cannot interfere with any files or obtain access to any private directories. A firewall is a security mechanism that allows only a limited amount of access to your site from the Internet. Some firewalls only permit e-mail traffic through them, almost completely protecting the network from any outsider's attempt of attack. Other firewalls provide less protection by only blocking servers and IP (Internet Protocol) addresses that are known to be problematic to them. Although firewalls provide a higher level of security, they cannot completely keep any outsiders from obtaining your personal or business information. Beginner's Guide to FTP http://www.ftpplanet.com/ftpresources/basics.htm Simple yet very explanatory introduction. Hideaway.Net http://www.hideaway.net/ To protect and secure. Internet Firewalls: FAQ http://www.interhack.net/pubs/fwfaq/ Background information, design and implementation issues, how-to's, and other technical information. Graphics Graphics are an essential part of the aesthetics of a Web site. The most important rules about graphics concerning Web sites are: do not place too many graphics on your page, content is more important; do not place large graphics on your site because they will take a long time to load; simply resizing the graphic in the HTML file will not actually reduce the graphic or the time it takes to load. There are several challenges that beginners may encounter while creating graphics. Sometimes the file is invalid because it is saved as one extension, but the same extension is not selected from the list. For example, if you save a file as a .JPG be certain to select .JPG from the "save as type" list. If you try to the image as a .JPG but select .GIF from the "save as type" list, it will become invalid. Also, make sure that you correctly reference the location of the image file in your HTML file, otherwise the computer may not recognize your references to images in your HTML document. Backgrounds by Marie http://www.artistic-designers.com/bkgds/ Includes bordered backgrounds, notecards, and textured sets. Pain Shop Pro http://www.jasc.com/products/psp/ A program that allows you to create and optimize graphics and edit photos. Windy's Design http://www.windyWeb.com Offers a myriad of thematic backgrounds. Hex Color Values There are a few useful ways in which you can use hex color values to define your text, link, and background colors. TEXT COLOR: < FONT COLOR="BLACK" > < FONT COLOR="#00000" > To choose a font color, simply enter a hex value or color name into the color attribute. (Hex values are recommended because colors vary among browsers, and you want to make sure that your HTML code is specific enough that it is compatible with all the browsers.) In this case, the font color is black because the hex color value for black is 000000. There is also another way to define text color, which is mentioned below. ALL THREE: TEXT, LINK, AND BACKGROUND Using hex color value with other numbers enables you to change several aspects of the BODY tag. An example of a BODY tag including a white background, black text, and blue links is as follows: < BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#0000000" VLINK="#0000C0" LINK="#0000C0" > Replacing the hex color values with other numbers change the LINK and VLINK colors. The difference between link and vlink is that the link color is for unvisited sites and the vlink color is for visited sites. In this case, the link color is blue because the hex color value for blue is 0000C0, and the vlink color is blue because the hex color value for blue is 0000C0. Cyphen http://www.cyphen.com JAVA Script application that allows you select colors from a palette or have them specified in decimal (RGB) or hexadecimal form. HTML HTML is the acronym for Hyper-Text Markup Language. It is the most commonly used markup language because it is so easy to use and understand. With HTML, you can quickly and easily create Internet documents and make them accessible to the world. HTML enables you to control your page structure and layout with text and graphics. You can change font colors, specify headings, create frames, link to other documents, present images, and lots more. Because HTML isn't as advanced as other languages, it is the most common language of choice for Web publishing. Even if you aren't familiar with the commands of the language, you can always use an HTML editor that will write and compile the information for you. HTML files may be composed in almost any simple text-related program such as Write, Word Pad, and Notepad. As long as the program allows you to save the file with the extensions of .HTM or .HTML then you shouldn't have any problems. A Simple HTML Template: < HTML > < HEAD >< TITLE > Title Goes Here < /TITLE >< /HEAD > < BODY BGCOLOR="A COLOR" TEXT="A COLOR" LINK="A COLOR" VLINK="A COLOR" > < CENTER > < IMG SRC="IMAGE FILE NAME.EXTENSION" ALT="DESCRIPTION OF IMAGE" > < /CENTER > < P > [ ENTER YOUR TEXT HERE ] < /BODY > < /HTML > This is an example of what your HTML code should look like. Replace the blue lines with your own preferences and files. For example, for the tag < IMG SRC="IMAGE FILE NAME.EXTENSION" > replace your own existing image file information. If your image file name happens to be APPLE.GIF then replace the example with: < IMG SRC="APPLE.GIF" ALT="Apple" > Or, if you don't have an image at all, delete the whole command. Do not leave spaces between the command and the bracket, or the information will appear like it did on this page instead of being interpreted. Using the Source: Have you ever wondered how a certain trick or function was done on someone's Web page? Try looking at the source. In most browsers, you can look at the source by going to the menu bar, selecting View, and then selecting Source. If you cannot locate it under view, try looking for it under a different menu heading. Simple HTML Tags: Bold: < B > Text < /B > Italics: < I > Text < /I > Underline: < U > Text < /U > Typewriter < TT > Text < /TT > Mail-to Form < A HREF=MAILTO:Your E-Mail Address > Text < /A > Indent: < DD > Text < /DD > Page Break: < HR > Next Line: < BR > Skip a Line: < P > Multimedia Multimedia can be used on the Internet in a variety of ways. Most of the time it involves the use of browser plug-ins and scripts that you will have to download. Once you have downloaded the plug-in, make sure you read the help file to learn how it works. Three of the most common plug-ins on the Internet are Quicktime, Shockwave, and Crescendo. Quicktime enables you to play streaming videos online. Crescendo allows you to play MIDI files on your site, but it is not Internet Explorer compatible. Shockwave permits you to make an interactive site that may include polls, games, forms, and so forth. Crescendo http://www.liveupdate.com Add MIDI files to your Web site. Quick Time http://www.apple.com/quicktime/ Multimedia architecture used to store, edit and play synchronized graphics, sound, video, and music. Real Player http://www.real.com A program that allows you to listen to Real Audio files over the Internet. Naming Your Site Naming a site is much like naming a child, it must be done with care and consideration. It is an essential element of your home page because it often sets the tone and theme of the page you're creating: it is possible to base your whole home page on the name that you choose. Furthermore, if you have a unique site name, you will probably receive more visitors that someone who uses the title "______'s home page". Creativity and theme are very significant because they make your site distinctive and special. For the convenience of my visitors, I have created a site namer. Select an adjective on the left for the description of your site, and select the noun on the right for the type of site that you're creating. Randomly choosing adjectives and nouns is also a neat way to establish a name for your site. Select Description: Abandoned Aberrant Abiding Abnormal Abridged Abstract Absurd Acidic Advanced Alluring Aluminum Aluminium Amazing Amusing Angelic Appalling Artistic Astonishing Astounding Astral Astronomical Atrocious Awesome Baleful Banal Basic Beatific Beautiful Beguiling Bewildering Bizarre Blessed Bright Brilliant Brittle Buried Captivating Casual Catchy Caustic Cheerful Curb Civilized Comprehensive Concise Condensed Continuous Celestial Celtic Centrifugal Charming Conspicuous Classic Classical Classy Clever Cloudy Comfortable Comforting Complex Comprehensive Cool Crazy Creepy Cryptic Crystal Cultivated Cyber Daring Dashing Dark Dazzling Descending Divine Delicate Dreamy Eccentric Egregious Elaborate Elegant Elizabethan Elysian Empyreal Enchanted Enigmatic Entertaining Environmental Ethical Evil Exciting Exotic Exquisite Extensive Extraordinary Fab Fabulous Famous Fascinating Fantastic Fantasy Flagrant Foggy Formal Formidable Fortuitous Futile Frozen Genius Gleaming Glittery Glowing Graceful Groovy Guilty Harmonic Haunted Heavenly Hidden Holy Helpful Hopeful Ice Illusional Inept Informal Interesting Jovial Joyful Keen Legendary Little Lil' Lively Logical Lovely Lucky Luminous Magic Magnificent Marvelous Memphis Mistaken Modern Mysterious Musical Mystic Natural Neat Nifty Offensive Olympian Orderly Organic Oriental Original Open-Minded Peaceful Personal Pleasing Pleasant Political Politically Correct Popular Positive Practical Puzzling Rare Remarkable Remote Renown Retro Romantic Sacred Sad Safe Sassy Secret Serious Sly Spiritual Splendid Sophisticated Shiny Silly Snazzy Strange Stunning Suave Sublime Sunken Submerged Super Superb Supernatural Swampy Sweet Swell Transcendental Unforgettable Unique Victorian Victorious Virtual Vivacious Wicked Wonderful Wondrous Select Type: Abode Academy Acre Acres Adventure Apartment Aquarium Bar Barn Bench Book Box Bridge Cabinet Cafe Cavern Carnival Cask Castle Cathedral Center Centre Closet Club Condominium Corner Country Court Curb Cyclorama Empire Farm Festival Firm Forest Fortress Gallery Gaol Gate Guild Hideaway Hideout Hill Home Home Page Hut Inn Journal Jungle Kerb Kingdom Labyrinth Lair Land Library Lounge Manor Mansion Meadowland Meadow Meadows Mountain Museum Nest Notebook Oracle Palace Parlor Parody Party Place Plane Planet Piazza Porch Prison Rain Forest Realm Residence Room Safe Sanctuary Sand Box Satire Scroll Sea Shop Shoppe Site Solarium Sphere Stairway Suite Tavern Temple Tent Theater Theatre Tower Toy Box Treasure Treasure Box Treasures Tree House Valley Veranda Waterfall Web Woodland World Another idea is to create a parody. If the subject is well-known, the allusion may strike your visitors as being creative and humorous. Promotion Web site promotion is an important factor of your site's popularity. It will increase the number of hits you are receiving and increase your ranking in the search engines. Until recently, promoting a Web site was very difficult because submit-it forms were not created. Now that they are available, however, the process is much easier than before. Apply for as many online awards as possible. Once you begin winning awards, your site will be recognized and you will receive more visitors. Register your e-mail address and Web page with online directories. These directories are known as the "Yellow Pages" of the Web, and allow people to find your site just by searching for their personal interests. Perhaps the most important tip of all: list your site with search engines. It may take a lot of time to do this, but you will benefit from it. Advertise with banners. There are many banner-exchange systems online that will place your banner on several other sites, but only if you agree to place their banner on yours as well. Exchange links with other people. E-mail people and ask them if they would like to exchange links with you. Most of the time this works, but make sure that the person you are e-mailing updates their site regularly. Otherwise you won't receive many visitors from their site. Use meta tags to increase your rank in the search engines. Add your site to free-for-all link pages. Most of the time they don't work, but it's worth a try. Use sites such as Submit-It.Com to get listed with several search engines at once. About two weeks after you have done this, check your status at Did-It.Com. META Tags: Use the following tags in your HTML document to increase traffic from search engines. < meta name=description content="Describe your site here." > < meta name=keywords content="List the keywords of your site here." > Scripts There are servers that offer free space and e-mail, but generally do not have great support, aren't up all the time, and only provide a certain amount of space. In other words, they aren't 100% reliable, but it is better than not having anything at all. If it's support you need, find a server that isn't free to obtain more availability. As for utilities such as guestbooks and counters, you have to host them on your site or sometimes another site will host them for you. Remember that if you want to run PERL (Practical Extraction and Report Language) script or any other advanced script on your site that you will first need a CGI-BIN (Common Gateway Interface). A CGI-BIN enables advanced scripts to run online that wouldn't otherwise work. Bobby: Validation http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp Validate your site's HTML code. Extreme Tracking http://extreme-dm.com Allows you to add a counter to your home page. Hitbox Counter http://www.hitbox.com Keeps track of your visitors and where their location. HTML Goodies http://www.htmlgoodies.com An extensive guide to HTML and interesting tricks. JAVA Goodies http://www.earthWeb.com/index.html Offers an introduction to JAVA and hundreds of JAVA scripts. JimWorld http://www.jimworld.com If you can't find it here, then you probably won't find it anywhere else. Net Mechanic http://www.netmechanic.com Validate your HTML, check your site's loading time, check your spelling, and much more. PERL CGI Programming FAQ http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/cgi/appa_01.html Guide to CGI programming World Wide Web. Site Tips One of the most common questions on the Internet is, "How do I start my own site, and what should I put on it?" Before you consider what you are going to do with your site, you must understand that there are many should and should-nots when it comes to designing a Web page. Although I did not focus on the rules of creating a home page, I have listed a few very important tips. These tips will probably be more useful to those who have already started their own home page. Try to create a theme for your site. For example, on my former introductory page the theme was about transcendentalism and spirituality. I chose the title "Deanna's World", the painting Starry Night, and an excerpt by Ralph Waldo Emerson to supplement the theme. After you've created a title, everything else seems to fall in place. Remember that everyone's screen resolution is different, so make sure that your site is compatible with all of them. Do not create a site that only consists of graphics because it will take too long to load, and visitors may become uninterested in your site. Pages that consist of too many blinking phrases are difficult to read. Try to use another way to grasp the visitor's attention. Do not over-use large fonts because it is not aesthetically pleasant. Make sure that all of your codes are compatible with both Netscape and Internet Explorer. Your site may look one way on Netscape and a completely different way on Internet Explorer. Make sure that your foreground and background colors are compatible.