How to Set Up a Web Home Page
Summary:
Advice from a 'classic' resource page written in the mid-1990s
Answer:
Note: This page was written in the mid-1990s and is no longer
current. The general advice is probably still useful, but the named
resources may well have changed their focus or altered in other ways. --Ed.)
There are three basic steps to putting up a web home page.
Step One: find space.
Step Two: fill it.
Step Three: make an announcement.
Step One
Web space comes in three flavors: free, cheap and expensive. Paying
top dollar is no guarantee of top quality. Getting free space
is a matter of convincing someone to do you a favor. The Internet
remains a friendly place and there's still a lot of good will
going around. It helps if you can persuade the right person that
because you are an information provider you will attract people
to your host site. Hence, they will benefit from increased traffic.
Here are a few places that offer free space (and sometimes web
page design and creation) to nonprofits:
- www.envirolink.org -- Envirolink (environmental organizations only)
- impactonline.org -- Impact Online
- members.tripod.com/~jpsp1/sites.html -- Pennycook's list of free space
- www.reliefnet.org/ -- ReliefNet (International Relief Organizations only)
- www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/
Internet_Presence_Providers/Free_Web_Pages/ -- Yahoo's list of free space
Would you rather not depend on someone else's generosity? There
are several places to look for leasing space:
- www.hypernews.org/HyperNews/get/www/leasing.html -- HyperNews list
- yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/
Internet_Presence_Providers/ -- Yahoo's list
Step Two
Web pages are written in a simple programming language called
"HTML" or "HyperText Markup Language". Some firms that provide
space also help you convert paper content to html documents. They
will probably charge you too. Some people are able to learn the
basics of HTML in a couple of hours. To do it yourself, consult:
- www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html -- HTML Primer
- info.med.yale.edu/caim/StyleManual_Top.HTML -- Yale's Web Style Manual
Probably the best source of information about html is online,
starting with the HTML Primer above. However, paperback books
can be warm and comforting, especially if you need to start a
campfire on a rainy day. A good book devoted just to HTML is:
Teach Yourself Web Publishing With HTML In a Week
By Laura Lemay
Sams Publishing
201 W 103rd St.
Indianapolis, IN 46290
$25, 1995
An even better source for general information about not just web
publishing, but also gopher, ftp, lists, etc., is:
Managing Internet Information Services
By Cricket Liu, et al
O'Reilly & Associates
800-889-8969
email: mailto:order@ora.com
$29.95 1994
A book with many good URL references is:
HTML Sourcebook
Ian Graham
John Wiley & Sons, NY
$29.95 1995
Step Three
There are now a few places where you can submit your URL to several
major directories at once. One is www.submit-it.com. Another is addurl.com. Don't forget that participating in newsgroup and list discussions
with a brief signature that includes your URL is a good way to
spread the word about your site.
If you want an excellent general introduction to the Internet,
get a copy of this:
The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog (2nd Ed.)
By Ed Krol
O'Reilly & Associates
800-889-8969
1994 (reported out of print 1/1/2002)
Written by Cliff Landesmann, sometime in the mid-1990s; reposted 8/15/06 -- PB
