learning about web design

To make a presence on the Web, one needs to

set up a web server, which will host the content that the site has to offer to the wide

world outside. How well the site is received by viewers depends heavily on the kind of

content offered.

Content is one thing. Another important

aspect involved here is the type of presentation that one chooses to have. How attractive

and how intuitive is the web site going to be? This is an important question that one

requires to answer before setting up a site.

One probably needs to attend tutorials on

what color combinations need to be used, the type of fonts, the images one's site will

contain etc. But in addition to these, one also needs to learn about the basics of HTML

design. And this is where the Professional Web Design's package comes in useful.

The package, which can be downloaded from

is small-it is around 1.4 MB in size.

The self-extracting archive expands to occupy roughly 2.4 MB on the hard disk. One runs

the package by opening the file c:\webtutor\index.htm in his browser.

Since the whole package-essentially just a

collection of HTML files and GIF images-has been designed to run wholly from a browser,

the learning process becomes all the more intuitive. When one first opens the index file,

he triggers a JavaScript program, which opens a window with the main menu; anything

clicked here has its effect on the Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator's 'main'

browser interface.

By the way, if you are stuck with a browser

which does not understand JavaScript, don't worry-you are warned about the problem, and

given a detailed account on JavaScript problems. There is also a non-JavaScript index,

which one may find rather useful in that case.

One very good thing about the interface is

the neat organization-one has lessons for the newbie, which makes one well versed with the

basic design aspects. New users can also learn about what colors to choose, and even use

the built-in font viewer to get a feel on the type of fonts that are ideal for one's page.



The advanced user has some other goodies available to him-he can learn about tables and
their effective usage, and how he can use them successfully to spruce up his web page.

Other interesting topics include frames, with detailed hints on how to make them look

proper across different monitor resolutions.

The package also contains other

mini-tutorials on 'magic buttons' and implementing a rudimentary form of security with a

small pseudo password that can be used to keep nosey-parkers at bay. One can also learn

how to generate multi-link jump boxes and to align images. And finally, for those who want

to learn all about HTML, there is also a bare bones guide to HTML, which discusses almost

all HTML tags available.

Other goodies include Internet links to

update one's tutor, and resources which can help to complete the design, like background

images, bullets, sounds etc. And finally, one is also presented with a list of freeware

HTML editors, which one can use to further web page design.