When you save your web page, I recommend saving it on a disk or in it's own file folder on your hardrive. This serves two purposes. It allows you to give it it's own file structure, which it will need when you upload it to your ISP or wherever your page will be hosted. All images should be stored in a file folder seperate from the text so that it can be clearly referenced. It also allows you to have a current back-up of your entire page in case a hurricane comes along and knocks out the server your page is hosted on and the entire thing gets dumped. (Trust me.)
Always check any links you put into the page after you put it in. If you didn't type the HTML correctly the link won't work. This creates a dead link which people find quite annoying.
If you can, check out how your page looks on more than one type of browser. I have checked out my page on both Netscape and Internet Explorer and on both a PC and a Mac. Your page won't look exactly the same on different browsers. For instance, the background on my "Beauty and the Beast" page. In Internet Explorer the background picture doesn't move when you scroll down the page. The text appears to scroll along it. In Netscape the background picture does what is called "tiling" and scrolls with the text; repeating itself until the text runs out. This is because Netscape doesn't support the "background='fixed'" command. These are things you have to take into consideration when you write and design your page. I love the fixed background on my B&B page so I left the command in for those who have Internet Explorer, but when I look at it on Netscape I just have to cringe and ignore the scrolling.
There are tons of sites out there full of free graphics for your sites. They have background sets, like the ones I used on my and Ian's pages, buttons, animated gifs, like the computer guys on this page, and all sorts of other stuff. Most, I would say 99%, are more than willing to let people who are just doing a home page type thing use these graphics for free in exchange for a link back to their site. It's kind of like reciprocal advertising. I used quite a lot of these kinds of graphics in the designing of my pages. But, I also used the link buttons supplied by the designers on the pages where I used the graphics so that the artists would be acknowledged for their work. Some unscrupulous webmasters don't do this and I really think it's a shame. I think it should be illegal, actually. If no artist asks for credit or supplies their name or link button I don't feel any qualms about using the graphic without giving anyone credit. However, I really think there is a special place in you-know-where for people who pirate other people's artwork.
I have learned a lot since I originally created this page. The first, and I feel most important thing for those of you who are newbies to web design, is that not only does the size of the monitor with which your page is being viewed matter, but also the pixel per inch setting. Hey, I told you I never attended a computer class, I had no idea. Here's how you tell what your monitor is set at. Click on "Start", "Settings", "Control panel", "Display", "Settings". Where it says "Desktop Area" in the center right side of the screen, that should say 600 x 800 or 1024 x 768. If it doesn't slide the control button until it does. These are the most common settings for monitors these days and you will be designing to be read by the greatest common audience. If it is set larger, your graphics will be too large to fit comfortably on the screen and appear out of proportion with the text. If it is set smaller, your graphics will be scrunched up to one side of the page with a lot of blank space off to the side and the proportion will be off the other way. What I have found the best thing to do with a page is to make sure that it views well at these two resolutions in at least IE and Netscape and then on the cover page of your site, put a phrase stating: "This site best viewed at "" resolution with "" browser" That way if people want to, they can make the appropriate changes to see it in its optimized format and if not, they will know why it looks a little funny.
