Website Tutorial
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Homepage providers often make it easy for you to open an account, but they may not offer much help after that. Or maybe they just don't think of Macintosh users when designing their help. In any case here is a tutorial on creating and managing a homepage.

Other tips

1. You can create divisons (like this left column) in your website by using an invisible table. In Claris HomePage just press Command-Shift-T.

2. You can create a cool background by creating a wide graphic with a height at around 1 pixel and setting it as the background pattern. Do this by pressing Command-J in HomePage.

3. A good way to learn new tricks is to look at the document source for your favorite website.

4. Create cool graphics in ClarisWorks by using gradients and changing the perspective of an image. This is how the MacOpSys logo was created.

5. Avoid using frames if possible. They take up a lot of screen space and make it difficult to link to other pages. Some frames may also remain on the screen after someone has left the website.

 

Here is a simple guide to starting with nothing and ending with your very own website.

 

Step 1: First, you need to open a free account with a homepage provider. You may go to GeoCities to do this. I will assume that you can figure out what to do there.

If you would like a site that doesn't force you to advertise for them try Digiweb

Step 2: You should now begin designing your homepage. To do this you will need a program to help you. I suggest Claris HomePage which can be downloaded here.

Step 3: To create some original graphics and animations for your site you should download Graphic Converter and Gifbuilder both of which can be found at MacDownload.com

Step 4: To get your site online you should first be sure that your main page is titled "index.html" or "index.htm". Then you will need the application called Fetch which can also be found at MacDownload.com

Configure Fetch by typing "ftp.geocities.com" in the first line then your name and password on lines 2 and 3. Press return to connect and select "Put file" to upload.

Step 5: Go to your favorite search engines such as WebCrawler or Yahoo! and register your site. You should also go to LinkExchange to do some banner advertising and get free counters for your pages. Other good ways to advertise are to put your website address in your email and newsgroup signatures.