Making A Web Site Using Free Software

Does the idea of creating your own web site frighten you? Many people think it is just beyond them, it's just too hard. You may be surprised at just how easy it can be.

At one time you needed to have an understanding of HTML in order to build a website. Today there are software products that allow you to build a website without any knowledge of HTML. They are known as wysiwyg (what you see is what you get)HTML editors.

You don?t even need to get expensive software to do it. There is open source software available. Open source software is created by programmers all around the world who work together to produce software that anyone can use. Is software often rivals the paid versions of similar software. In other words. Because it is free does not mean it is cheap rubbish.

The free open source software I have used is called NVU (pronounced N-View). If you search Google for nvu you will then be able to choose a download that suites your operating system.

Making Use Of NVU

Let?s look at using NVU. NVU is WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get). It looks much like any word processor program but it does not work like one.

With a web page it is more than just print. There is artwork and the whole presentation is important. Getting started is often the most difficult part. Just remember that nothing is difficult once you know how. In this article I'm going to concentrate on getting you started.

The screen looks like a word processor and all the text features work the same as any word program. You can choose the font, size, bold it, and so on as you would in any program.

How do you place text and images just where you want them to be? The key to this is tables. The use of tables allows you to put anything just where you want them. If you need to place text next to an image, all you need to do is create a table with 2 columns. In one column you place the image and in the other you place the text.

You can also create tables inside tables. You are able to specify the width of the table in pixels or in percent. You can then center the table or have it locked to the right or the left. Creating a table inside a table will allow you have a box with its own content. Each table can have its own background color.

You can look at tables as the building blocks of the web page. These building blocks will allow you to set out your page to look as you want it to. Many of these blocks need to be invisible so that only the objects are seen and not what holds them there. You can do this by specifying the border as zero. This will mean that you table will not be seen.

This is the main thing you will need to master. Once you understand this the rest of the program will fall into place. In mastering this free software you are now able to use such programs as Dreamweaver and Microsoft Front Page as they are similar to use.