Thank you to NSU for providing free web space to NSU students. If you're affiliated with NSU somehow and you want to sign up for free web space, visit http://arapaho.nsuok.edu.

I was able to put up the first page for this website very quickly, thanks to the Internet. I downloaded a template from Steve's Templates. I then changed a few minor details, added some photos to the About Me page, and that's about it! If you want to learn the basics of HTML, try HTML Goodies. HTML Goodies has some good basic tutorials to get you started, and you can search the website if you have specific questions about HTML. If you are already familiar with HTML, you might find the Master Page of HTML Goodies a useful resource. I've been told that W3 Schools has some very good tutorials, but I haven't tried them myself.

I use Microsoft Notepad to edit HTML directly. Notepad is standard on all Windows systems, I think. You can then save the file with the .html extension, and when you want to edit the page, you just right click and select "Open with, Notepad". Once you have your first page created, you can copy that file for the rest of the pages. It might be more correct to save each page as a .doc or .txt file. I don't know. But the way I'm doing it is working, so I'm not changing anything. If you follow the "Microsoft Notepad" link, you will find links on the page that direct you to the Notepad app on your own computer. The paths are right, except that the person who made that web page put one too many forward slashes in each URL. So, you'll need to right click on the link and "Copy Shortcut", then paste the shortcut into your URL field and delete one of the first three forward slashes. (Or, you could just open the Notepad using your Start button like most people do!)

Images online don't need to be bigger than 72ppi. Anything bigger takes more server space and takes longer to download, but won't look any better because computer screens aren't capable of showing the image any better than 72 ppi. Also, most photo type images should be jpg and most logos and things like that should be gifs. Another thing to consider is that most images should be no more than about 400x300. (ppi is how many pixels per inch are shown, meaning how detailed the image is; the term "400x300" is how many pixels tall and wide the image actually is.) Different websites will tell you different sizes are best. I figure a 400x300 image is large enough to be seen, and it will fit into most program windows. Experiment and see what you think. Also, the more color depth you leave in the photo or image, the more memory it takes up. Black and white may even be good enough for some images, and will take much less time to download and much less storage space on your server. So what program can you use to change the ppi, image size and type? I'm sure there are some very good programs if you're willing to pay for one. Myself, I use IrfanView, which is a free download, and works fine for me.

On a website of this size, it may not be important to compress the HTML that makes up a web page, but I started doing it anyway. I don't know a lot about it. A few of my pages were printing out part of the HTML code, and any code after that was ignored. An HTML compressor will take out all unnecessary spaces and returns (which don't show up on the web page anyway), and other items too. You can tell the program what to take out. Be sure to choose the "Create Backups" option; if you don't, you'll find it difficult to edit in HTML after compression. I edit the backup--which isn't compressed--then I re-compress. I am using a freeware download called Absolute HTML Compressor. After using Absolute HTML Compressor, all of my pages are now loading correctly. To see the difference between a compressed HTML file and an uncompressed file, view the source code of this page (uncompressed) and another page on this website. Using Internet Explorer, you can just right-click on this web page and select "View Source".

I use Google as my main search engine. In fact, that's how I found the copper "Mathematics" title bar--I used Google Image Search. I also use the Google Toolbar because it makes it very easy to search within any website, or to use the Google Translator available at Google Language Tools, or to use most Google features. If you aren't using Google Toolbar, I suggest you check it out. No, I don't work for Google.

Once you've created a web page, you have to post it online. Some sites, like Yahoo's Geocities, have web pages through which you can post your own pages. But for most web site posting, you'll want to use FTP. If you're an NSU student, you can use WS-FTP, which is provided free when you sign up for your free Arapaho web space. Myself, I use CoffeeCup Free FTP. I've been using it for a while and haven't had any problems with it, so I haven't bothered to try WS-FTP. If you've tried both and know of some features that make one program a lot better than the other, please e-mail me and let me know.

If you have any questions about making a very simple website, send me an e-mail. I'll be glad to give advice if I have the time and the knowledge. It's free advice, so take it for what it's worth! If you're looking to build a professional website, I wouldn't be the guy to ask.