Unit 6-1 Web Page Creation Strategies

After completing this unit, you will be able to:

• Explain the three basic approaches to creating Web pages.
• Know when to use an HTML editor, an HTML translator, or a WYSIWYG tool.
• Understand how HTML editors work, and be able to find HTML editors on the Web.
• Realize how HTML translators can save time when you need to create a Web page from a word-processed document, a spreadsheet, a database, or a presentation.
• Learn what WYSIWYG stands for and understand the concept of WYSIWYG editing.

Reading

Read chapter 15 of the Internet Literacy textbook to study the concepts covered by this unit.

Online Activities

This unit covers the three basic approaches to creating Web pages. After completing it, you will know when to use (1) an HTML editor, (2) a WYSIWYG tool, or (3) an HTML translator. The following activities will help you master these concepts.

• An editor that lets you create Web pages by working directly with HTML tags is known as an HTML editor. The advantage of creating Web pages with an HTML editor is that it gives you more control over the Web page than WYSIWYG editors and HTML translators, which create the HTML for you. The disadvantage is that for less technically-inclined authors, editing HTML tags can seem tedious and time-consuming. In addition to the HTML editors featured in your textbook, there are dozens of others you can find out about by following the links to the Yahoo list of HTML editors at the Interlit Web site.
• WYSIWYG editors let you create Web pages by typing your text directly on screen, where it appears exactly as it will look on the Web. To change a font, size, color, or other text attribute, you select the text you want to change, then click a button or icon that makes the change. Never do you see the HTML tags, which the WYSIWYG editor inserts into the document automatically, depending on what you do with the WYSIWYG controls. In the Web page creation tutorial part of this course, you will learn how to use the WYSIWYG Web-page creation tools that come with either Netscape Navigator or the Microsoft Internet Explorer.
• If you've got an existing document that you want to turn into a Web page, the most efficient way to create the page is with an HTML translator. There are HTML translators for WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint. The translators are free, and you can download them by following the links to HTML Translators at the Interlit Web site.