On your mark.......... get set.......... go! You're off on a fun experience in creating your web site. Ops.......... before you go in the wrong direction, lets review a few things that you will be doing.

1. Create a new folder in your hard drive. Put all files for your project in this folder or in folders that are in this folder. By doing this, you will simplify the creation of links to your individual pages and graphics. For more information about this, see the Organizing Files page of this site.
   
   
2. Choose a theme. Your web site is like a book. It needs a theme to tie your ideas together and tell an interesting story. See the Choosing A Theme page for suggestions about choosing a theme.
   
   
3. Identify your target audience. Millions of people surf the web, and you won't be able to attract all of them. You must identify and characterize those whom you want to attract to your site. The Target Audience page discusses this.
   
   
4. Begin planning the layout of your site. Think how you want your site to look. What text might you write to describe your theme? What graphics might you want to emphasize particular points? From the artistic viewpoint, how do you want your site to look? Not only will your site convey written information, it will present a picture of your ideas. In addition, it will convey a picture of you, because your personality will be involved in the creation of your site.
   
   

   You will  find it helpful to sketch the layout of your pages, showing the approximate placement of text and graphics.



5. Get graphics. Begin thinking about the graphics you want in your site.  To get graphics, you can scan pictures and photographs that you own, In addition, you can create original graphics. If your site is not a commercial site, you can download graphics from other web sites; be careful, however, that you do not violate copyright law.
   There are three graphics formats that are supported by browsers.
   
   

   	jpg files are used for photographs. They allow millions of colors, thus allowing for shades and hews. They can be highly compressed, but the compression is "lossy", meaning that picture quality is degraded with compression.
   	gif files are used for simple drawings, such as icons, in which there are sharp boundaries between colors. gif files are limited to 256 colors. The compression used in gif files is copyrighted by Unisys, and Unisys is attempting to collect license fees from persons who use gifs.

   png files are new and are replacing gif files. png files support millions of colors, have better compression than gif files, and have "lossless" compression. png is an open standard and  isn't copyrighted.

   
   Remember: to download graphics, put your mouse cursor on the graphic you want and click the right button. Then enter the path to your folder; the graphics will be downloaded to that folder.
   
   
6. Consider what pages you want in your site.  Usually, the home page is brief and general and introduces your site.  It links other pages in your site that give details about your theme. That is, you divide your theme into categories and have a separate page for each category. Each page is a HTML file that has a .htm or a .html extension. The home page should be called index.html This type of site organization is typical of second-generation sites.
   
   
   
   
7. For ideas about organizing your web site, see the Organizing Your Site page.
   
   
8. Begin becoming familiar with the editor program you will use to insert text and graphics into your pages.  You are free to use any editor that might be available to you.
   
   
9. Study the issues relating to Browser Compatibility. Think about the people you want to attract to your web site. Are they students, faculty, or staff members? Are they people not associated with any college? What browsers are they likely to be using? Are they likely to have the latest versions of their browsers? Are they predominately of a particular age or ethnic group? How familiar with the Internet (and with computers) are they? What colors should you use?
   
   The answers to these questions will help you decide how to design your pages and how much new technology to include in your pages.
   
   
10. As you design your site, study the concepts taught in this site. Other sites that teach design principles are  Creating Your Own Web Page and Create It ~ 101
    
    
11. Locate a server that will host your site. Most Internet Service Providers will host small, non-commercial sites for their clients. In addition, there are companies that give free web sites in return for being able to place advertising on those sites (some don't place advertisements).

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