Home Page Construction Set

[Gratuitous HPCS Image]

HOME PAGE
CONSTRUCTION SET

"HTML is the LEGO (R) set of the '90s" -- Eric

What's

(January 14, 1996)

INTRODUCTION

"What's the secret to creating great World Wide Web pages?" This question is probably the Holy Grail of the Internet and is one that people ask me often. I have long toyed with the idea of putting together a document containing advice and relevant tools and materials. The Home Page Construction Set is the product of this idea; a guide to give you the building blocks to learn the "secrets" of Web authoring.

This is not meant to be a beginners' guide to authoring Web pages (see CWRU's HTML Tutorial, Point's "I Want My Own WWW Home Page," and, for Georgia Tech students, "Creating WWW Pages" to learn the basics). Neither is this a place to look for tips on how to construct cutting edge "hacks," like animation. Nor are these pages intended to be complete or even remotely comprehensive.

It is a collection of resources and tips I think Web authors, from novice to advanced level, can incorporate into their pages to make them more attractive and readable while reducing errors and loading time. These pages are filled with things that have helped me as a Web author and hopefully will help you. In a time of rapid Web growth, it is important to remember that you can put anything you want on the Internet...but no one has to read it.

ERIC'S TIPS FOR WEB AUTHORS: How to create high-impact documents with low-impact on the Web

WEB AUTHORING DOCUMENTATION AND RESOURCES

Composing Good HTML (Version 2.0): Newly revised, this guide points out the common errors in HTML writing and good practices to adopt. (Caution: 90 Kb)
Creating High-Impact Documents: A page from Netscape describing GIF interlacing, image resizing, and other essential tips.
Elements of HTML Style: Along the same lines as my tips pages, here are some good formatting ideas to adopt.
HyperText Markup Language Specification Version 3.0: The official HTML 3.0 draft specification, with descriptions and syntax of all HTML tags.
Macintosh WWW Resources: Most Web-related authoring information has been focused on Unix- or DOS-based machines, leaving Mac users in the dark. But this page brings together all of the resources a Macintosh author will need.
Netscape Navigator Extensions to HTML 2.0: The arsenal of the 1994-95 Netscape Revolution on the Web. Note that several of these tags are now obsolete or discouraged.
Netscape Navigator Extensions to HTML 3.0: Unlike Navigator Extensions 2.0, these tags more closely adhere to HTML 3.0 proposals. But Netscape is still trying to push the envelope with their new HTML 3.0 proposals.
Pointers to Pointers: A list of places you can announce your new pages to the world.
Style Guide for Online Hypertext: Some good mini-essays on Web style from the W³C.
Thalia's Guide for WWW-providers: A metapage of pointers to Web docs and widgets, with an emphasis on advanced things, like CGI, format conversion, and HotJava.
Transparent Background Images: A simple step-by-step tutorial (with visual examples) on how to make your images transparent.
Tips for Web Spinners: A former Cool Site of the Day, this page is full of information. In fact, I think it's too full. It has links to everything under the sun rather than focusing on a few good resources. That's not bad, but you do have to do quite a bit of sorting yourself. Bob Allison also has an expanded and heralded version of Web Spinners, called The Web Masters' Page. (Caution: over 85 Kb). Everything under the sun plus everything in the universe is linked to from there.
Yale C/AIM Web Style Manual: This manual, while most appropriate for organizational standardization, includes many helpful and illustrative examples.

And if you can't find what you are looking for here, there's always the tried-and-true:

Computers: World Wide Web index from Yahoo.

TOOLS AND WIDGETS

giftool 1.0: This utility, which runs on Unix and MS-DOS systems, makes the job of interlacing GIFs and creating transparent images a snap.
Mapedit: Thomas Boutell's WYSIWYG imagemap creation utility for Windows and X-Windows which can create both client- and server-side imagemaps.
The Mozilla Print Gidget: A nifty on-line HTML to PostScript converter from Netscape.
QBullets: Add these neat, free mini-icons from MatterForm Media to add functionality to your pages. If you haven't visited lately, there are a few new QBullets in the collection...

WALLPAPER

Notes on Backgrounds...

H's Backgrounds: 30 background tiles to pollute browser windows.
Iain's Textures on the WWW: Two dozen homemade background textures by Iain Anderson in Australia.
Julianne's Background Textures: About 500 background images, from the normal to the bizarre.
The KPT Backgrounds Archive: A short tutorial on how to create seamless background textures with Adobe Photoshop as well as a few unique backgrounds.
Normal Textures: Natural and nice-looking backgrounds from The Enhanced for Netscape Hall of Shame.
Pattern Land!: Yet another page devoted to Netscape backgrounds...

HTML CHECKERS

Notes on Proofreading and HTML Checking...

UniPress WWW Weblint Interface: Check your URLs using this WWW front-end to Weblint v.1.012.
Weblint Home Page: Get more information about Weblint and download a copy of this syntax-checking perl script.
WebTechs HTML Validation Service: This relocated service checks your HTML vs. HTML 2.0, 3.0, Netscape, and HotJava standards.

Postscript (Notes & Credits)

Last Modified: January 21, 1996
/ Eric Sasaki
esasaki@nyx.net (feedback welcome)