Your Team on the World Wide Web
Putting together a web page for yourself or your team is not as challenging as you might think. The price - if you already have an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or access to the internet - is free!
We'll look at some of the basic items to include on your web site, and how to get your page on the web today through the services of About.com. Some of the benefits of using About.com include a support staff (reachable through email), servers on-line 24 hours a day, the ability to build your page on-line or to use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to upload your site, and on-line file management. You don't need to use the more advanced Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) code, but you can enter it on-line if needed. Sound difficult? It's not - the basic steps are outlined below. They are going to the server, registering for a page (this can be done instantly through About.com), building, then publish your page (or pages).
The first step is to locate a home for your page. About.com offers up to 10 Megabytes of space for your website. There are other free services in many locations across the internet. You may find that your ISP, school, or sponsoring organization (like a YMCA) offers web page hosting, too. Determine the parameters of your server (the home for your page); do you need to build the page on your own system, then upload it to the host server, or can you build it on-line using the host's system - essentially filling out on-line forms to make your page. About.com features a simple on-line system that lets you choose from many different templates, then pick themes, fonts and colors. You can even use HTML code - if you know it - on the About.com system.
At About.com, go to http://membership.about.com/pwp.htm to register, then follow the steps as directed on-line. You will choose a template, then complete a series of boxes or spots on your first page, called the index page. This is the first thing someone will see when they access your site. It should probably include:
- The team name
- Contact information
- An opening statement
- Links to other favorite sites
- Links to other pages (you will add these later, as you build them)
Preview it, make any changes, then publish it on the web!
You are now part of the internet. Write down the Uniform Resource Locator (
URL), which is just the web page address, obtained as you publish the page. The system will tell you what that is, but it will be something like: http://pages.about.com/matluebbers/index.html.Send the whole address to your friends, team members, me (swimming.guide@about.com) and anyone else that would benefit from the information you can now provide.What about other pages you would like to add and link to (connect to) from your cover or home page? Build and publish each page, note their URL address, then go back to your home page and add the links to those pages. Most word processing programs and even some swimming programs (like Hy-Tek) allow you to save reports in HTML format, ready to be uploaded to the net. What other pages might you want to add?
- Practice schedules
Welcome to the "information highway of the internet" - send me your team's URL and I'll add it to the club or school links page. For expert help on building pages, HTML, and other web publishing ideas, use these About.com Sites:
