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There must be fifty ways to make a Web page. Mel might use HTML. Dave might try a little Shockwave. Mr. Cleaver might use Dreamweaver. and Clive might do it with GoLive, Rip might write some JavaScript, as Phil makes it with PageMill. While Ferd might export from Word, a sage would try FrontPage. Just pick a tool and try.

The Web page has become the fastest-growing, most universal, and easiest to use method for distributing information. Everybody's computer can open web pages, they are small and compact, and they can travel easily over networks. Teachers are turning all their learning materials into Web pages to make them easy to find, easy to retrieve, and easy to use by students. Perhaps you've thought about doing it yourself, but haven't known where to start. So just how do you create a Web page in the first place?

One of the easiest ways to make a simple Web page is with Microsoft Word. Word is familiar to many - you probably use it everyday - and its most recent versions (Word 97, 98, 2000, and 2001) include a simple Save as Web page or Save as HTML menu item. So with a few instructions you can get started at creating a simple Web page with a program you already know well. No need to make any further purchases. Try this:

What you are going to do is to create a standard Word document, add a few hyperlinks, and then save it in HTML (Web) format. Follow these steps:

1. Enter the text.

Type the text of your page as in a standard Word document. You may also paste text from other sources. If you are entering URL's (web site addresses), it's best to copy and paste them from the browser, since it's quite difficult to enter these strange strings of letters and symbols accurately from the keyboard.

As you enter the text, avoid using certain characters that do not translate well to the Web:

• Don't use the Tab key.
• Avoid quotation marks (use italics for book and article titles).
• Don't enter a string of spaces.

At this point, it's a good idea to save your work so far as a standard Word document, with the .doc filename extension.

2. Make hyperlinks.

Many Web pages include hyperlinks, blue words that link to other documents on the Web. Once your text is entered, it's time to create those links. Here's how:

• Select the word or phrase you want to link from.
• Choose Hyperlink from the Insert menu.
• Enter (or paste) the URL of the link. It should be in the form http://web.server.net/document.html
• Click OK.

You will see the link turn blue, indicating that this word or phrase will link to another document on the Web. You can create as many hyperlinks as you want from a document.

3. Format as necessary.

Use standard Word editing and formatting tools to make your document look that way you want:

• Font, size, and style. You may adjust these as necessary, but remember that any non-standard forts will not display properly for most viewers of your Web page. It's best to stick with standard fonts such as Times, Helvetica, Arial, Georgia, or Verdana, which most computers and browsers can handle. The size, style, and color of the text will translate well to the Web.
• Alignment. You may center, left-align, or right-align the text. But don't justify both right and left; that will not translate to the Web.
• Lists. You may use the standard Word tools to create numbered and bulleted lists ; these will translate directly to the Web.
• Tables. Simple tables created in Word will translate well to the Web, but complex table styling and formatting may not.
• Please avoid: multiple columns, adjusted margins, text boxes. word art, graphics, and tabs. These will not translate well to the Web.

4. Save as Web page.

When all is entered, linked, and formatted, you can save the page in a format suitable for the Web: in Hypertext markup Language (HTML). Here's how:

• Choose Save As HTML or Save as Web Page from the File menu.
• Enter a proper filename. A proper filename contains only letters, numbers, and periods - no spaces, no slashes, no funny characters. And the filename must end with .html or .htm.
• Save the file in a place on your computer where you can find it again easily. (Later you will copy this file to a Web server.)

5. Test with browser.

To see what your page will look like to viewers on the Web, you need to open the file that you just saved with a Web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. Here's how:

• Open your browser.
• Choose Open File (Explorer) or Open Page in Navigator (Netscape) from the File menu.
• Find the web page file you just saved.
• See what it looks like in the browser.

You will notice that its appearance is not identical to the Word document. That's because the browser interprets the HTML code in a slightly different way than Word. As long as your page is useful and readable, it's OK. But if it appears unusable, you'll have to go back to Word, fix it, save it again, and test it again in the browser, until you get it right.

6. Distribute the page.

Once your file appears acceptably in the browser, you can distribute it in several different ways:

• Save it on a floppy disk and distribute it to others.
• Attach it to an email and send to others.
• Post it to a file server on the network, and tell the others where it is.
• Post it to a Web server, so that others can view it through the Internet. There are several ways to do this, depending on the nature of the server and where you are sending from. Your school's webmaster will provide further information on this process.