Hey TL,

A very basic introduction to the dynamics of web design, a virtual glossary of basic web vocabulary.

Forgive me if any of this is obvious, as I'm thinking it through as I go along and am frequently consulting my bible on this, Creating Web Pages for Dummies.

To begin:

Websites are broken down into "pages" and each page can scroll down or across infinitely. Usually, however, sites are designed to that the viewer only need to scroll down (like this page) and not across much, if at all. The trickiest thing about putting a site together is that you have no idea what computer is being used or what version of the three browsers (AOL, Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Explorer) are being used and so sometimes a page can look different from computer to computer. Unlike film, you don't have total control over what the audience sees, and much less the order in which they see it.

The second page of your website that you encountered, the page with the moving dragon, is the home page for your site. The first page was just me being dramatic. This is just another one of the "pages" on your site.

To recap:

your browser is AOL

Your domain name is www.tina.landau.name

Your URL address is http://www.oocities.org/tinalandau

Your site is currently on the server geocities.yahoo.com

But if you wanted someone to check out your site you would just give them the domain name. WAY easier. That is, once it's activated. Until then, the URL address works, no problem.

When you redeem your coupon, I'll show you how to directly access geocities to make changes to your site. In order to put this site where you can see it on your computer, I have created the pages on my computer and "uploaded" them to the geocities server. The changes are immediate. Basically, I'm renting space on some really big computer somewhere that anyone could access if they had the address. And of course, it's all password protected.

Not to get too far along BUT, you could from your computer download any of the files that I have put on the server so that you had them saved there as well.

And finally, a note about how files are saved. All "pages" for websites end in ".html" which tells computers to read them as web pages. So for example your home page is named and saved on the server as: index.html. This page is named designintro.html. There can't be any spaces when you save files for the web. Image files, however, have different endings: GIF or JPEG. They are just different kinds of image files, usually higher resolution images like photographs are JPEG and most everything else a GIF. The picture at the top of this page happens to be a JPEG, but there would only be a slight difference in how it looks if it were a GIF.

this is a link that goes to another page in your website

glossary

browser: a progam used to look at websites (AOL, Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer). These programs only allow you to look at websites, but you need an internet connection service to acess the web. AOL is an exception as it gives you all in one browser, email, and connection service.

website: one or more linked web pages acessed through a home page.

URL: a specification (web address) for identifying any file on the internet.

Web Server: a special computer that is connected to the Web that runs special software that enables the computer to provide information to web users. There are free-servers out there for anybody to sign up for, but they usually put ads on your site whether you want them or not. As a birthday present, you have been given a subscription to a server (geocities.yahoo) that doesn't have ads. As a future note, Earthlink/Mindspring give you FREE space on their server. AOL might as well. Usually your space is limited to a certain number of MegaBites (MB) in the same way that your computer has limited memory.

domain name: the name that represents the site to the outside world and works like a nickname to the URL address. You currently own "tina.landau.name." By typing in the domain name you have been automatically forwarded to your website, which is currently hosted on Yahoo's Geocities, and automatically taken to the URL address which is often longer and more complicated. Your actual URL address is: http://www.oocities.org/tinalandau. But what a drag for people to remember!

home page: a web page that you intend users to come to directly. If your website has multiple pages, then your home page usually serves as a guide to all other pages. It isusually named "index.html and is the first page that people are automatically directed to. In this website's case, I was being flashy, so your "index page" has the wicked witch announcement and your home page is simply titled "home.html."

link: a connection between two documents (pages) on the web. Links can be between pages within the same website or between websites.

56k: the name of a faster standard for internet access that is now used by most newer modems.

Note: There are a number of software programs out there that you can use to design websites. I currently use one called Dreamweaver, which automatically writes the HTML code for me. Now, really serious designers write their own Hypter Text Markup Language (HTML). It's a whole language in and of itself. But by the time that you and I have to master it, everything will have changed. Software is easier and quicker and more fun.