Building Elaborate Web Pages with Notepad

H ow can you create  elaborate Web pages by simply using Notepad and referring to an excellent Web-design reference guide? It's not only possible but many professional Web page designers use Notepad on a regular basis. As a professional Web designer, first I create a storyboard for each Web page for a site and then I reference online Web sites and printed reference guides for impressive code examples. Finally, I code each page using Notepad. I find that I have total control over the code. Plus, I have fun working with the code.

There are many advantages in using Notepad to key in the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). The more you know about HTML the more powerful your Web pages can be. Creating a Web page from scratch enables you to choose the best automated Web-tools, debug pages that won't work properly, select the best Web-related reference guides, and find the best Web-based sites with code examples.

There are many, excellent Web development tools on the market today. These tools have text editors, animated GIFs, sample code, and clip art that enable you to build elaborate Web pages in a very short amount of time. Some tools are better than others. Some tools are inexpensive and some are very expensive. With some tools, you can create only Web pages. While other tools enable you to create an entire Web site. If you have the experience of creating HTML pages from scratch, you will be able to identify which tools offer the age and controlling the layout of graphics and text. Web-page designers for some news rooms, such as CNN, are required to update their Web pages on the half-hour without the use of Web tools. It is very helpful to understand HTML code when you visit Web sites that provide code examples showing the latest HTML trends.

Knowing HTML enables you to maximize the use of code examples. As the industry extends HTML capabilities and moves toward dynamic HTML, the need to work with HTML tags, JavaScript tags, and Style tags increases. As with any other skill, after you learn master the HTML basics, you can build magical, award-winning Web pages in a short amount of time. The power of Web-page design awaits you and all you need is a handful of HTML tags, Notepad, and a browser.

Helen Lenane works as a Technical Publications Supervisor
at Kronos, Inc. and is also a Free-lance Web site developer