Welcome.. This section is devoted to WEB PAGE PUBLISHING.. It will take you from beginning HTML and JavaScript.. With some Java.. And I will try to keep it simple.
You will need a good editor ... The one of choice for me is AOLPress and it's free. I have tried others and AOLPress ... is easy and it works... if you are reading this then you already have a browser.. So once you download AOLPress you are set. (Download Press) < This is the program I used to do these pages ( Is a site only if you have your own domain.. )
After you get it downloaded ..install it and play with it for a bit ...once you become familiar with how it works then you are ready for the next step ... If you have done web pages before ... but want to know "How do they do that" .. Now would be a good time to drop me a line for the "How do they do that page."
OK ..Were ready ... THE FIRST thing in doing a web page or any page is good design. You want the reader to be able to follow what your trying to say.. Second you want your reader to STAY on your page. You can't do this if your page is loaded with banners. One it is a distraction from what you are saying, Two .. Banners are very strong suggestions for a reader to leave. So if you had anything to say .. you didn't get to say it.
Also when you first start out ..resist the temptation to load your page with "Web Art".. Remember if someone comes to your page it's not to see another bouncing balloon or construction sign.. it is for what you have to say.. If you have a nice background use it as long as the print is easy to read.. Some backgrounds have borders these are good also .. if you need a divider use them .. if you have pictures that help you tell your story use them. But don't just stick something on a page because you think its cute. Start out simple and build, As you get the feel of it you will develop a taste in design.. One last word on this.. Have you ever seen a full one page add in a magazine with just one thing on it and a word or two ... Nuff said...
HTML Or Hyper Text Markup Language was first used for interactive presentations.. then the web found it.. From there it has grown to what you see and use today... It has been kept simple and very basic so it will be easy to use.. To add more function to html, NetScape introduced LiveScript.. LiveScript being an extension to html ... This name was later changed to JavaScript... JavaScript IS NOT Java... JavaScript runs from your browser just as html dose.. so you don't need anything extra to run or write it. And the combination of html and JavaScript can make a page jump ... Later I will go into the differences between JavaScript and Java ...
Tags are how html formats a page ... they set the body .. place paragraphs ... set fonts .. load in pictures ... set links ... They do all of the simple things you need to make your page.. In this example I am going to use <TAG> to mean any tag you can use.. There are two types of <TAGS> the first kind works like putting ( around ) just where you want it to work at.. say you wanted to center a line of text.. you would bracket it with a center tag like this..
<CENTER>THIS TEXT IS CENTERED</CENTER>
Notice the / in the ending tag .. this closes it and is needed ... for this kind of tag..
The next kind of tag .. needs no closing ...they are the paragraph <P> tag .. break <BR> tag and Rule <HR> tags ( line across page).. For the most part AOLPress takes care of tagging for you ...however there are things like setting your font that you have to do .. so it is best to know some html ... I will cover these html tips ...NN....
OK ... lets get the feet wet .... This part will be about fonts... if you travel the net you have noticed the same font on almost every page.. this is because it's the default font and you wont find many places that tell you how to use a different font... you can use any font you want as long as there is a copy of it on the server with your page.. So the person viewing your page will have access to it if they don't have it...
The font tag looks like this.
<FONT SIZE=-1 FACE="comic sans MS, arial, helvetica">..Text you want on page </FONT>
This is the font tag I am using on this page and this is what it looks like ... The size is set to -1 and the face or font to three choices this is the common way to do it if you don't know if the viewer has the font ... but and they don't tell you .. YOU can put the font on your server with your page ..then you only need to reference one font with FACE=...AOLPress will not put this tag in for you .. you will have to type it in ... here is how you do it ..open a new page in AOLPress .. don't do anything ... then just type something on the page .. after you get it typed open Tools on the top bar of the screen ... click on Show HTML .. This will open the html text editor and let you work with the code on the page ... this is what you will see.. I have put the tag in yellow to show you where it goes .. and that is it ...you then close this page by clicking the X in the upper left corner and when ask to apply say yes ..
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<!-- Created with AOLpress/2.0 -->
<TITLE>Please title this page. (Page 1)</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<P>
<FONT
SIZE=-1
FACE="comic
sans MS">
The Text you typed
</FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Have you ever been to a page where the text or pictures just go every which way .. OR have you tried to do a page and just couldn't get things to stay where you wanted them .. Well this is where tables come in.. You use them to keep things put... and after you get things where you want them... you make the border vanish.. I use a transparent giff to set width .. it is a small one that doesn't take up much space.. but then stretch it with attributes... The index below is an example of spacing held with this giff...
I have been ask about playing midi files on web pages, there are a couple of ways to do this. The simplest is to use this short bit of html. You need both lines, one is for Internet Explorer the other is for Netscape.. if you are running AOLPress when you come out of the html editor you will get an error for the Netscape html just ignore it.. These lines will play your song once.. IF you want it to keep playing add to EACH line loop=true. You will also need to go your FTP page and upload your midi file(s). On AOL you get there using keyword MYPLACE.
<EMBED SRC="yoursong.mid" autostart=true hidden=true>
<bgsound src="yoursong.mid" autostart=true hidden=true>
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