You can use the sample Web pages and templates in this folder to create a set of documents for your personal server. You can also use these files as tools for learning HTML (hypertext markup language), the set of codes that Web browsers recognize and translate into formatted documents.
The files provided with Mac OS Personal Web Sharing include the following:
As you work with the sample files, it's a good idea to leave them in their original folder so that the links between files are not broken.
Two views at once: A good introduction to creating Web pages is to view a page in two different ways. You can open the page in your browser in one window and open the same file in SimpleText or another text-handling program in another window. That way you see the HTML codes and their on-screen results.
The figures above show a portion of the "personal" template in a browser (upper figure) and in HTML text (lower figure). You can study the text codes and see their effects in the finished document.
Copy-and-paste-efficiency: When you identify the HTML for a feature or an entire page layout you like, you can substitute your own text and graphics for the original content. Of course your new content may change the look of the page somewhat, depending on the size of images and the amount of text you use.
Borrowing is painless: When you find a Web page you like while browsing, you can copy its source with your browser. For example, in Netscape Navigator you open the View menu and choose Document Source to save the page's HTML as a SimpleText file.
Tables for page layout: One quick way to create columns on a page is to define a table in HTML. (Many Web page-creation programs, such as Claris Home Page, include simple table construction tools.) You can vary the width and height of cells in the table to accommodate your text and images.
Hidden text: Tables often display cells containing text differently from cells without any content. To assure that all cells are alike, you can put "hidden" text in empty cells. Simply type a phrase, select it, and make it the same color as the background.
Naming files: Use file names that reveal the file's content or that indicate which other files they are connected to. For instance, you might name image files with a short form of the Web page on which they are used and a number to indicate their order among images on that page.
Spotting files: To identify the major types of files for your Web content, you can color their icons. Using short designations as part of the file name can also make each type of file easy to spot. Many people use "html" at the end of a name for text files with HTML coding, for example.
Checking content: One essential step in creating Web content is checking your page frequently in a browser. Or better yet, in several different browsers. Each browser has some quirks of its own, and you can learn to work around them by checking your work as you develop and refine your pages and images.
For more tips and comprehensive references about Web content, visit the sites that are sources of information on Web design (noted in the document "Using Personal WebSharing.html").