Lesson 03

Lesson 03

Let's Get Those Tools

There are two ways to Design Websites:

1.With a Text Editor such as Notepad (Mac Users will use Simpletext).

2.Using an Authoring System, (a.k.a. WYSIWYG or What you see is what you get editor) like Microsoft Front Page and Adobe Page Mill. I will be covering the pro's and con's of Authoring System's in a future lesson. This lesson will only explain how to access Notepad to create HTML files.

This tutorial is designed to teach you how to design your source code from scratch, without the help of a WYSIWYG editor and using only a Text editor. For purposes of this lesson, you will learn how to use Notepad, which should already be installed on your system if you have Windows. You will also learn how to create a new folder to keep your newly acquired collection of HTML files in.

Let's Get Notepad on our Desktop -

Since we will be using Notepad quite often during these lessons, it would be a good idea to have quick access to it for all future lessons. Please follow these steps with me to Create a Shortcut to Notepad on your Desktop:

1.Click the Start Button on the Bottom Left hand side of your Windows Taskbar.

2.Pick 'Files and Folders' from the 'Find' menu.

3.Make sure that the 'Name and Location' tab is selected. Under the 'Named' text field, type notepad.exe

4.Click 'Find Now'

5.Once Windows lists the file in the Display box below, click the 'Stop' button to the right.

6.Now, take your mouse and left click the Notepad file in the display box to select it. It should look blue now.

7.Now, right click this same file and choose 'create shortcut' from the drop-down menu that appears.

8.Windows will display a dialog box that says, "Windows Cannot Create a Shortcut here. Would you like to create a shortcut to your Desktop instead?"

9.Just choose yes, and Windows will take it from there.

10.You did it! Just take a peek at your Windows Desktop, and you will see a "Shortcut to Notepad" with an icon at the top. You will be using this throughout the rest of this tutorial.

Also: Repeat the same steps to put Windows Explorer on your Desktop. You will use this to create folders later. The procedures are the same as above except on step three, you will replace 'notepad.exe' with 'explorer.exe'.

You can also access Windows Notepad by going to:

Start --> Programs --> Accessories --> Notepad

An Alternative -

If you ever get tired of the limited features of Notepad, you may choose to purchase a High Performance Text Editor called Note Tab Pro (don't confuse with Notepad). For only $15.00 - $20.00, you can purchase a great one here:

http://www.notetab.com

This Text Editor has many more features such as special character libraries, the ability to copy and paste and work on unlimited files at once (an invaluable feature) and many more features. I'm addicted to Note Tab Pro and use it for all my HTML coding.

A Necessary File Uploading Utility -

To Properly Upload your files from your local hard drive to a server, you will need to download special software called FTP Client software or an FTP Utility. The best one currently on the market is WS_FTP Pro 6.0. You can download a 30 day trial version for purposes of this tutorial for free. Even if you decide to purchase it, which I would highly recommend, The price is under $40.00. You will be using this constantly once you start maintaining a Website, whether it be a personal home-page or a business Website. To download your free trial version, simply point your browser here:

http://www.ipswitch.com

Once you get here, just click the try now button. You will be given detailed downloading instructions from there.

Assignment -

1.Make Sure Windows Notepad and Windows Explorer are properly accessible from your Windows Desktop.

2.Check out the Notetab Website at http://www.notetab.com. Spend some time there and get an idea of and compare the features of that text editor to Notepad.

3.Download a trial version of WS_FTP Pro 6.0. For these lessons, it's just important to have it installed on your system.

Concept Check -

1.What are the two methods used to create HTML files?

2.What program would you use to upload files?

See ya in Lesson 04!