Thanks to today's Web authoring tools and all the Web authoring resources on the Internet, you can create a great-looking Web site without knowing any hypertext markup language (HTML) code. Of course, if you want to learn the technicalities of HTML, there are plenty of places for you to turn for information. Click the links below to find out where to go and what to use to start a Web site. The next section, Creating a Web Site Part 2: Refining Your Techniques, will have you authoring Web pages like a pro.

• Getting a domain, or Web presence
• It’s easy with Microsoft FrontPage 2000
• Web tools in Microsoft Office 2000
• Creating fantastic Web sites with Microsoft Publisher 2000

Getting a domain, or Web presence

Before you can post a Web site to the World Wide Web, you need a unique address for the site. This address is your domain name. FDT's domain name, for example, is fdt.net, and the uniform resource locator (URL) for Microsoft's home page is http://www.fdt.net/.

Some Internet service providers set aside portions of their hard-disk space for subscribers' Web pages that require no domain registration. Check with your service provider to see if this is an option; it might be included in your monthly access fee.

What is InterNIC?

To ensure that each Web site has an address that no other site is using, domain names must be registered with the domain administrator. In most cases, this is Network Solutions. Network Solutions administers domain names ending in .com for commercial enterprises, .org for nonprofit organizations, .net for networks, .edu for educational institutions, .gov for government organizations, and .mil for military services.

How to register

You can search domain names to find out whether the name you want is taken and can register a domain name through InterNIC. The Domain Name Registration Services section of the InterNIC site provides detailed information about how to register and what is required before you can register.

Sites to visit

• InterNIC
• InterNIC Domain Name Registration Services
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

It's easy with Microsoft FrontPage 2000

Several Microsoft® products such as Microsoft FrontPage® 2000 make it easy for you to create your own Web site without any knowledge of HTML coding.

With the FrontPage 2000 Web site creation and management tool, you can easily create and manage professional-looking Web sites, using content—words, pictures, and more—that you already have in other applications.

Easily create great-looking Web sites

• Easy-to-use design and development features let you create professional and compelling Web sites without programming.
• Create frames and draw tables. Add rich, dynamic graphics to your sites using Microsoft Image Composer, Microsoft GIF Animator, and more than 2,000 image samples. Easily include powerful Web functionality by adding Java-based applets, ActiveX® controls, and browser plug-ins.
• Support for databases and Active Server Pages allows you to include database content in your Web pages easily and lets users perform dynamic database queries on your site, giving them direct access to the information they need.
• Incorporate Microsoft Office features such as background spelling checking.
• WYSIWIG (or “what you see is what you get”) fonts, Format Painter, and much more make editing Web pages easier than ever before.

Effectively manage Web content and site structure

• Comprehensive management tools let you quickly build and maintain well-organized Web sites. View your site's navigational structure, directories of information, hyperlinks, hyperlink status, or all files at once.
• With automatic hyperlink maintenance, you have the freedom to make changes without worrying about broken links. With site-wide thematic styles, you can easily update your site's look with the click of a button.
• Flexible collaboration features such as task lists and remote and/or local authoring let you work with others to create and manage your Web site.
• Create a Web site that works where you want it to work. Select the browsers, browser versions, and server platforms that you want your Web pages to work on, so you know what people will see when they view your site.

Seamlessly integrate existing content and familiar applications

• Seamless integration with existing content and with desktop applications you already have makes you productive from the start. And strong browser integration makes it easy to customize and view your Web site's content.
• You can effortlessly manage Microsoft Office 2000 hyperlinks and use familiar tools such as the spelling checker and thesaurus to ensure accurate, compelling Web site content.
• The power of FrontPage is now available on all popular Web servers running on a variety of operating systems.
• Add pizzazz to your site with improved graphics and formatting tools. You can even layer content with absolute and relative positioning.

Sites to visit

• Microsoft FrontPage 2000
• MSDN™ Online - gateway to essential resources for Web developers
• Style Guide for Online Hypertext - W3C's guide to presentation style and Web page etiquette

Web tools in Microsoft Office 2000

The Microsoft Office 2000 family of office suites includes sophisticated tools for word processing, spreadsheet and database management, presentation-slide production, and more. With Office 2000, you also get the versatility of an integrated suite of applications for creating effective Web sites.

What you can do

Office 2000 is fully compatible with Microsoft Web Publishing Wizard. You can download and use the wizard to post your site on an available Web server. Following are some of the additional applications available in select editions of Office 2000 that make the office suite a useful tool for Web authoring:

• Microsoft Word 2000 word processor allows you to create and view documents as they will appear on the Internet. Word provides custom templates to design Web pages and will save your documents in HTML format with the click of a button.
• Microsoft Excel 2000 spreadsheet gives you an easy method for linking a spreadsheet to a Web page so that viewers can see the data presented in its intricate, tabular format.
• Microsoft Access 2000 database management system will convert your data or reports to HTML so you can post dynamic, interactive database pages on the Web.
• Microsoft PowerPoint® 2000 presentation graphics program makes it possible to publish presentations on the Internet as Web pages, complete with animation and narration.

Create illustrations and edit photos for the Web using PhotoDraw 2000

Microsoft PhotoDraw™ 2000, provides photo editing and illustration in one easy-to-use program. The business graphics software helps Office and small-business users create custom-looking graphics to use in PowerPoint, FrontPage, Word, and Publisher, and on the Web. PhotoDraw 2000 provides illustration, photo editing, and text tools in one integrated product.

Sites to visit

• Microsoft Office 2000
• Download the Microsoft Web Publishing Wizard
• Microsoft PhotoDraw 2000
• MSDN Online - gateway to essential resources for Web developers
• Style Guide for Online Hypertext - W3C's guide to presentation style and Web page etiquette

Creating fantastic Web sites with Microsoft Publisher 2000

The Microsoft Publisher 2000 desktop publishing program makes it easy to create professional-quality Web sites, newsletters, flyers, brochures, business cards, and more. Publisher lets you choose from several Web site creation options:

• You can design your Web site from scratch.
• You can start with one of more than 2,000 professionally designed, customizable templates.
• You can let AutoConvert automatically convert another of your Publisher publications, such as a brochure or newsletter, into a Web site for you. Then make changes to the site if you want.

Create a unique site

Publisher has more than 10,000 high-quality clip-art images, 1,500 photographs, 1,000 Web-art graphics, 175 fonts, 340 animated graphics interchange format (GIF) files, 60 color schemes, and many other design elements to create publications that are one of a kind. You can apply the look you create for one publication to other types of publications, so it's easy to design a coordinated set of marketing materials—for print and the Web.

Sites to visit

• Microsoft Publisher 2000
• MSDN Online - gateway to essential resources for Web developers
• Style Guide for Online Hypertext - W3C's guide to presentation style and Web page etiquette