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BUILDING SITES; Your guide to the Internet with CAROL VORDERMAN It's so easy to create your own web pages.


MANY readers have written to ask how they build their own Websites.

There's a little bit of Web space out there on the Internet for everyone but not many people make use of it. The Internet Service Provider Internet service provider (ISP)

Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password.
, ClaraNet, says that only about ten per cent of its customers make use of the free Web space allocated to them.

Your Website can contain information about anything you want. You can use it to advertise your business or simply to display photos of your family so that relatives abroad can see what you've been up to.

Most ISPs will give you free web space - anything from 1Mb to 25MB. Some even offer unlimited free Web space. To find out how much space you have and where it is, follow the instructions on your ISP's Website or phone their help desk.

JACKIE COOPER Jackie Cooper (born September 15, 1922) is an American Academy Award-nominated actor, Emmy Award-winning TV director, and TV producer. He was a child actor who managed to transition into an adult career. Biography
Early life
Cooper was born John Cooper, Jr.
 found that it's all easier than you might think and needn't cost a thing.

carol@@@'s diary

YOU'RE gorgeous! Thanks for all your e-mails and all your suggestions. After our feature on finding stuff on the Net, quite a few of you have written to me to recommend your favourite search engine, Ask Jeeves Noun 1. Ask Jeeves - a widely used search engine accepting plain English questions or phrases or terms
trademark - a formally registered symbol identifying the manufacturer or distributor of a product
 at www.askjeeves.com.

If you haven't tried Jeeves, give him a whirl. You can ask him questions and he'll find the answers. Most obliging o·blig·ing  
adj.
Ready to do favors for others; accommodating.



o·bliging·ly adv.
.

This week the Net has been busy. With the big swings on the Stock Exchange, lots of people are trying to see what's happening to their shares or pension schemes. Anyway, I managed to find some good stuff - even if it did mean my having to wait a bit.

MY MOTHER is taking this Millennium Timebomb thing a little too seriously. She has been reading a book called Timebomb 2000 written by a husband- and-wife team called the Yourdons.

They are sure that the year 2000 is going to be hell on earth - telephones, electricity, water, transportation, even the TV systems are going to break down. Mum is so convinced they're right, she's already stocking up on candles, matches and oil lamps.

Yesterday I asked her what she wants for Christmas and she said: "An electricity generator." What kind of mother wants a generator for Christmas? Why can't she settle for chocolates or a Barry Manilow This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.
You can assist by [ editing it] now.
 CD? Where do you buy a generator,anyway? How am I supposed to wrap it?

Mother, if you're reading, how do you fancy two tickets for Michael Flatley Michael Ryan Flatley (born July 16, 1958 in Detroit, Michigan) is an Irish-American step dancer from the south side of Chicago. His parents were from County Mayo and County Carlow. As a child, he moved to Chicago - the city which he considers his home town.  instead?

This potential problem with the year 2000 is known as Y2K See Y2K problem and Y2K compliant.

Y2K - Year 2000
 in the computer industry. If you are a believer, then go to www.2k-times.com for lots of info. If you are a sceptic, then you can try www.angelfire.com where they say: "On January 1, 2000, all the freaks will be disappointed that hellfire and damnation did not ensue, and freak out freak out Substance abuse A verb, popularized in the US in the '60s–to experience nightmarish hallucinations including by LSD or a similar drug. See 'Bad trip.', Flashback.  even more." I hope they're not calling my mother a freak.

ON TUESDAY I was at the BT-sponsored Innovation In E-business Awards (electronic business or business done via computers).

There were people selling ski clothing at www.fatface.com, a Land Rover See LANRover.  specialist at www.mansfield-motors.com who gets orders from all over the world and a revolution in television available over the Net called NMTV which is on www.silicon.com.

I think the chief executive was only about 25 years old.

Incredible stuff, but I felt sorry for the woman who came on stage to collect her glass trophy, dropped it and then burst out laughing. She was from the Surrey Police Surrey Police is the Home Office police force of the county of Surrey in the south of England

The force is lead by Chief Constable Bob Quick and has its headquarters at Mount Browne, Guildford, Surrey.
 Authority. What a star.

I GET a lot of letters from people who want a job in telly. A good starting place for this is the BBC's site: www.bbc.co.uk/jobs.

There are loads of ads for jobs ranging from sales posts to commissioning editors. One up for grabs is Compliance Viewer.

It's part-time and all you have to do is watch TV programmes and say if you think they're fit for broadcast or not - and yes, you get paid for it. A TV critic with real bite.

The first TV review I had was 16 years ago when Countdown first started. It said: "If Countdown was music, it would be a mixture of country and rap - or complete cr*p."

So if you do become a Compliance Offer, be kind and remember who suggested it in the first place, won't you?

THANKS to Heather Worth of Derby for my favourite Internet gag of the week: Why are computers male and not female? Because you have to turn them on to get their attention, a power surge An oversupply of voltage from the power company that can last up to 50 microseconds. Although surges are very short in duration, they often reach 6,000 volts and 3,000 amps when they arrive at the equipment. Power surges are a common cause of damage to computers and electronic equipment.  knocks them out for the night and size does matter. If you don't agree, then e-mail me at carol@mirror.co.uk.

THE BASICS

ALL Web pages are written in a computer language called Hyper- Text Markup Language markup language

Standard text-encoding system consisting of a set of symbols inserted in a text document to control its structure, formatting, or the relationship among its parts. The most widely used markup languages are SGML, HTML, and XML.
 (HTML HTML
 in full HyperText Markup Language

Markup language derived from SGML that is used to prepare hypertext documents. Relatively easy for nonprogrammers to master, HTML is the language used for documents on the World Wide Web.
), a set of instructions which tells a computer how to display text and pictures.

There are hundreds of places on the Internet that will give you information on how to build a Website, even if you're a complete beginner. Type "HTML guide" into any Internet search engine, and a long list of Web-page resources will appear on the screen.

But you don't have to be an HTML programmer to build a good Website. If jargon like HTML brings you out in a cold sweat cold sweat
n.
A reaction to nervousness, fear, pain, or shock, characterized by simultaneous perspiration and chill and cold moist skin.
, don't worry. There are many other software programs available that do all the coding for you.

Some of these are so easy that all you need to do is choose a background colour, picture and text placement, and click.

Some software programs and HTML tools are free to download from the Internet itself at shareware sites, such as www.shareware.com and Tucows tucows.cableinet. co.uk.

Others, including Microsoft FrontPage Microsoft FrontPage (later full name Microsoft Office FrontPage) was a WYSIWYG HTML editor and web site administration tool from Microsoft for the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. It was part of Microsoft Office application suite from 1997 to 2003. , can be bought from your local software supplier.

Pictures, sound and moving images can all be built into Web pages too. There are sound and image archives on the Internet that you can download or you can make your own.

For example, if you have a scanner you can turn photographs into computer images. By using a digital video camera you can create your own mini Web movies.

Designing your page

THERE'S a lot to consider when building your page. It's a good idea to map out what you want to put on each page, and work out how the pages will link together.

Ask yourself these questions:

How long will it take long to download? The more pictures you have on one page, the longer it will take for visitors to download.

Will there be a contents page?

Will other pages link back to the contents page?

Take a look at lots of other Websites first to get an idea of what you want to achieve.

GETTING ONTO THE WEB

ONCE you have completed your Web pages they have to be put on your own Web page storage area on the server - the computer owned by whoever provides your Internet access See how to access the Internet. .

This is done using a File Transfer Program (FTP FTP
 in full file transfer protocol

Internet protocol that allows a computer to send files to or receive files from another computer. Like many Internet resources, FTP works by means of a client-server architecture; the user runs client software to connect to
), such as CuteFTP (Windows) or Fetch (Macintosh).

FTP is a method of transferring files from one computer to another. FTP programs can also be found at the shareware sites mentioned earlier.

PUT IT TO THE TEST

ONCE you've built your site, there are a couple of ways to check how well it works.

Type your URL URL
 in full Uniform Resource Locator

Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program.
 into a form at WebGarage (www. websitegarage.com) and it will test your Website for things such as loading time In airlift operations, a specified time, established jointly by the airlift and airborne commanders concerned, when aircraft and loads are available and loading is to begin.  to working links.

The Validator (validator.w3. org) will check your site a page at a time. NetMechanic (www. netmechanic.com) sends out a robot to check for dead links and bad HTML tags.

GET YOURSELF NOTICED

ONCE your site is completed, you'll want to register it with search engines such as Yahoo! or Infoseek so that people will be able to find it.

At the search engine's home page look for a link called something like "submit a site" and then follow the instructions.

Different search engines have different ways of letting you describe your site but, generally speaking, they work by looking for Looking for

In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with.
 key words.

Some search engines will allow you about 30 words to describe your site; others will let you use 200 - if you can think of that many.

You can register with all the search engines individually, but there are certain services that will for no cost register your name and company to several search engines in one go.

Try Submit It! at www.submit-it.com.

READY TO TRY HTML?

IF YOU want to be able to do more with your site, you will eventually have to learn HTML.

For more details on building a Website and for good HTML reference guides, try:

The Web Design Resource Site (www.pageresource.com) has tips for everyone from beginners to advanced Web-page designers, plus free visitor counters and guest books you can pick up and use on your own Websites.

The beginner's guide to HTML at the National Center for Supercomputing at the University of Illinois University of Illinois may refer to:
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (flagship campus)
  • University of Illinois at Chicago
  • University of Illinois at Springfield
  • University of Illinois system
It can also refer to:
 offers to explain everything you have ever wanted to know about HTML (www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/ Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer. html)

NO FREE WEB SPACE?

IF YOUR ISP (1) See in-system programmable.

(2) (Internet Service Provider) An organization that provides access to the Internet. Connection to the user is provided via dial-up, ISDN, cable, DSL and T1/T3 lines.
 doesn't include free Web space in the deal, or if you don't have your own Internet account, you can still get free Web space from online communities such as Geocities which are funded by selling advertising space.

Geocities (www.geocities.com), which calls itself the largest community on the Web, offers any Internet user Internet user ninternauta m/f

Internet user Internet ninternaute m/f 
 11Mb of free Web-page storage, and supplies the tools needed and technical support.

Geocities members can use the Intel Web Page Wizard to add graphics, multimedia and animation to their site.

Angelfire (www. angelfire.com) is another online community which offers free Web page and member services.

Although Angelfire offers only 5Mb per person, it has a Basic Editor which builds a Web site in around 10 minutes.

Even easier is the WebSpawner site (www.webspawner.com/members.html).

Setting up a very basic Web page with WebSpawner takes just six steps.

You simply enter a headline, choose one of seven background colours, type in the text, add links to other Web pages, add your e-mail address See Internet address.

e-mail address - electronic mail address
, then choose a name for your site and nominate a password.

The most basic Web page, consisting of only the headline, text and links is free.

If you want to include anything else - such as images or your e-mail address there's a monthly registration fee of US$4.99 per month - so I wouldn't recommend it.

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE

HTML: Hyper-text mark-up language. Tells a computer how to display text and pictures.

SHAREWARE: A way of selling software on the Internet that lets you try it before you buy it.

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Pronounced "wiz-ee-wig." It refers to displaying text and graphics on screen the same as they will print on paper or display on a Web page. : What You See Is What You Get (jargon) What You See Is What You Get - (WYSIWYG) /wiz'ee-wig/ Describes a user interface for a document preparation system under which changes are represented by displaying a more-or-less accurate image of the way the document will finally appear, e.g. when printed. . Programs which show you on screen exactly what your page will look like.

TAGS: The bits of code used in HTML to transform a document into a web page with links to other files and pages.

Kiss of life kiss of life
n.
Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
 for rock fan

CASE STUDY 1

WHEN rock fan Paul Finn started his own Kiss website he never expected a personal thank- you from frontman front·man  
n.
1. also front man A man who serves as a nominal leader but who lacks real authority.

2. Music A leading singer with a group.
 Gene Simmons For the actress, see Jean Simmons. For the rockabilly singer, see Jumpin' Gene Simmons.

Chaim Witz (חיים וויץ), (born August 25, 1949 in Haifa, Israel), better known by his stage name Gene Simmons
.

His hard work was also rewarded with an interview with former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick.

"He was really cool and answered all my questions via e-mail," says Paul.

Paul, 24, from Corby in Northants, launched his own tribute site in 1996 after finding all existing sites originated in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. .

"I hated the geeky image that the Net had at the time but I saw it as a way of getting the latest Kiss news as and when it happened - something you could never do with magazines.

"I looked at some other existing websites, found out how they had done it and to start with, I wrote the HTML codes from scratch. Now I've got Microsoft Front Page which costs about pounds 90," says Paul.

"Even if you're a complete beginner, it makes building a website really easy. It's just like using a word processor.''

Paul registered his site with Yahoo and Alta Vista See AltaVista.

(World-Wide Web) Alta Vista - A World-Wide Web site provided by Digital which features a very fast Web and Usenet search engine.

As of April 1996 its word index is 33GB in size.
 and then e-mailed other people with Kiss websites.

"They put on links for me. Since then I've looked on quite a lot of other search engines and my site has come up so I guess a lot of the search engine robots have found me themselves.

"At first I had just 5Mb of free web space from Demon Internet Demon Internet
Demon Internet is a British Internet Service Provider. It was one of the earliest ISPs, one of the UKs first, especially targeting the "dialup" audience starting on 1 June 1992 from an idea posted on CIX by Cliff Stanford of Demon Systems Ltd.
.

"That's gone up to 15Mb now but I still haven't used the first five. If you're only doing graphics and writing, your web page won't take up much space."

Putting music on your pages can take up more space. A few sites recently reproduced whole albums, but according to according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3.
 Paul, it caused problems with the band over copyright. Paul now spends about five hours a week updating the site.

"I've made friends with Kiss fans all around the world and Kiss's record label Mercury Records Mercury Records is a record label currently headquartered in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. In the US, its name and logo were now only used on back catalogue, country releases, and re-issues until recently.  sends me new albums to review as well as stuff to give away in competitions."

PAUL'S TIPS

If you see something you like on someone else's website, such as good graphics, e-mail them and ask them how they have done it. Most people are more than happy to share info.

Invest in a flat-bed scanner - you can pick one up for about pounds 70. They are easy to use - just like a photocopier photocopier

Device for producing copies of text or graphic material by the use of light, heat, chemicals, or electrostatic charge. Most modern copiers use a method called xerography.
 and I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed)

"Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party.
 how I managed without one.

KISSin' UK is at http://www. strutter.demon. co.uk/kissinuk

Tapping it into the net

CASE STUDY 2

WHEN Vasco Wackrill met the Manchester United players in Munich recently, he was too shy to tell them about his United website. But they can read about his trip if they visit the site.

They will also be able to brush up to paint, or make clean or bright with a brush; to cleanse or improve; to renew.

See also: Brush
 on the words to United songs and chants and read pages criticising Leeds fans, David Mellor
For the industrial designer, see David Mellor (cutler).


David John Mellor QC (born 12 March 1949) is a British Conservative politician and barrister, broadcaster and journalist.
, Arsenal, Alan Shearer and anyone else who doesn't play for the Old Trafford club. Even poor Zoe Ball comes in for some stick.

Vas, 23, started his site a year ago and it has attracted 12,000 visitors from as far afield as Malaysia and New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. , as well as plenty of abusive e-mails from Leeds fans.

"I set up my site because a lot of the other United sites on the Internet aren't much cop," explains Vas, a student from Preston, Lancashire.

"Even United's official homepage is rubbish. I wanted to put my opinions to people and produce something with more insight than 'Aren't Beckham's legs gorgeous?'

"I had an Internet Connection at home with Global Internet who were the cheapest at the time and I got 3Mb of free web space. That's not much but it's enough because my site is mainly text. There aren't many pictures or anything fancy so I don't need much space.

"I used the editor that came with Netscape Navigator browser which makes it dead easy to build your site - it's just like using a word processor.

"Then to transfer the data, I downloaded an FTP program off the Internet. It's amazingly simple to do and you don't need any real computer knowledge to do it."

VASCO'S TIPS

PUT some content in your website to make it worthwhile for people to visit.

Too many sites on the Net are nothing more than fancy graphics.

GET a counter to show how many people visit your site. My service provider, Global Internet, gave me a bit of code for the counter and all I had to do was fill in a few blank spaces.

Visit Vasco's Man United homepage at www.users.globalnet.co.uk/vas

SMARTER SEARCHES

SEARCH engines and forward slashes could be a thing of the past, thanks to the latest version of Netscape's browser.

Netscape Communicator 4.5, released this week, features Smart Browsing - a combination of a browser and a search engine.

Instead of having to type in a long URL to go to the site you want, you'll be able to get where you're going just by typing in a key word.

If the word you type in matches a URL exactly, it will display the page. If it doesn't match directly, it will give you a selection. The What's Related option will also throw up a list of sites related to your query.

If it can't find a site that's related, the Smart Browser will automatically put you into a search page.

The preview release of Communicator 4.5, which incorporates the Netscape Navigator for Web Browsing and the e-mail package Netscape Messenger, is available for download now at http://home.netscape.com/download/.

If you're using Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Netscape are also offering a free "tune-up" for the Explorer browser at the same address - a small plug-in will allow you to take advantage of Smart Browsing and a host of other Netscape services

Whichever browser you're using, you can also visit Netscape's other new baby, Netscape Net Centre. Net Centre is what the Americans call a portal site - a free home page where you can access areas of interest like news, investment, sport and entertainment. Its big plus point is lots of local UK content.

Netscape promise that, if you're trying to find out what's on at the cinema in York, it won't tell you what's playing in New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
. It uses familiar partners, including Excite, Lycos and UK Plus, but Net Centre pages have been designed to be easy to navigate and fast to download.

"It saves you time and therefore money, which we know is particularly important here in the UK where you pay for your online time," says Netscape's Linda Lawrence.

Other new Netscape features include Smart Downloads, Resumable Downloads and Flexible Roaming.

With Smart Downloads, each time a new product is launched, they'll provide you with just the piece that you need to upgrade. If the line goes down while you're downloading anything, Resumable Downloads will pick up where you left off when you reconnect. Flexible Roaming lets you use your e- mail, calendar and address books from wherever you are - at home, work or in a hotel on business.

You can find Netscape's Netcentre at www.netcenter.com/uk.

The address spells "center" the American way - but Netscape promise they're working on that too.

MOVING house? Check out www.UpMyStreet.com.

Type in your postcode postcode
Noun

a system of letters and numbers used to aid the sorting of mail

Noun 1. postcode - a code of letters and digits added to a postal address to aid in the sorting of mail
postal code, ZIP code, ZIP
 and UpMyStreet will show you a graph comparing how house prices in your area have moved in the past four years.

You can specify house type and compare prices with the national average or other postcode areas. Designed by AZTEC Internet Ltd, who also designed the BBC website, it's priceless.
COPYRIGHT 1998 MGN LTD
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 1998 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

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Title Annotation:Features
Author:Vorderman, Carol
Publication:The Mirror (London, England)
Date:Oct 15, 1998
Words:3117
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