Let's see if I can provide some answers. Since I work on a Windows platform, I'll only mention Windows tools. Similar tools are available for the Mac and other systems.

If you want a few simple pages with a little text and a few pictures, you can create that with one of the freeware/shareware programs in an hour or so.

If you:

• want to have animated graphics,
• want to use feedback forms,
• need to reach a population with special needs,
• want to sell something from your site,

An example of pages I designed for people with special needs is the disAbled Student Organization at Kennesaw State University. The "Bobby" logo in the lower left corner of the pages indicates that the pages pass the Level 1 accessibility requirements of the w3c. This means that the pages have easy-to-use navigation, properly tagged graphics, and are compatible with text-to-speech screen readers. Designing and testing pages like this will take much longer than basic pages.

Volunteer work does have its rewards - where else could I get mobbed by a dozen 6-year-olds who all want to hug me?

1. What hardware/software do I need?
   
   • A computer capable of running a Web browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer.
   • An Internet account that provides space for a Web page and Internet access software, including the Web browser and FTP. There are sites such as Tripod, Yahoo, AngelFire, and GeoCities which provide free Web space for personal home pages. There are two drawbacks to the free pages:
     1. The service is supported by advertisers and you have little control over what ads appear on your page.
     2. You may be limited to a relatively small amount of Web storage space, typically about 5 megabytes. If your page is primarily text, this may not be a problem for you. If you want to display lots of pictures, you'll be happier with the free 150 megabyte account at topcities.com. TopCities has its limitations also: files must be less than 1 megabyte and it has speed limits on up/downloading (DSL/cable access won't make it go faster).
   • If you want to include your own images, you will need a scanner (or access to a scanner).
   • If you want to create images, you need graphics software capable of creating JPEG (.jpg), GIF (.gif), and eventually PNG (Portable Network Graphic) (.png) files. PaintShop Pro is about $100, or you can spend several hundred on Adobe Photoshop and other tools.
     
   
   
2. Where can I learn to make Web pages?
   • Find one you like and steal from it. In Netscape or Internet Explorer, click on View, Source to see the HTML (HyperText Markup Language) that created this page.
   • Check out the HTML Goodies home page and the Quick Tutor on the Aracnophilia site.
   • Buy some good books. "HTML Publishing on the Internet for Windows", "HTML for Dummies", "Teach Yourself HTML in [a Week|21 Days]", etc. (Preferably with lots of goodies on CD-ROM or disk ).
   • Make a friend of someone who knows just a little more than you do. I can usually be bribed with dinner (or almost any form of chocolate ).
   • Attend a class. Check for Web classes from computer stores such as CompUSA, ISP's (Internet Service Providers, such as MindSpring/Earthlink), community colleges, etc.
   
   
3. How do I create/edit a Web page?
   • I use the Windows Notepad editor (yes, very simple, very basic, no error checking, no spell checking - however, it's small and fast, and I prefer to check the pages I create in the browser that will be used). I also use HomeSite, DreamWeaver and FrontPage.
   • HTML editors, such as DreamWeaver, HomeSite, FrontPage, HotDog, HoTMetaL Pro, and Aracnophilia (this one is free!) have their pros and cons - you really have to work at it to create a non-functional Web page, but you may be working with a tool that doesn't understand the latest HTML syntax (more likely with the shareware and freeware tools). If you can forego the latest bells and whistles and just create functional pages you may be happy with one of the freeware or shareware HTML editors. Search http://www.shareware.com.
   
   
4. Where do you get the graphics?
   • Some I make, using Photomagic and Picture Publisher. PaintShop Pro it can probably do it all, or Photoshop can do more than the others combined.
   • Some I buy and modify (alligator background on the Addison home page), usually hundreds on a CD-ROM for $10 or less.
   • Some come from the Web. There are LOTS of sites that offer free, linkware (free if you link back to the source site), or inexpensive shareware collections of buttons, arrows, lines, clip-art, etc. These are samples from the QBullets collection. The dog is linkware from Laurie McCannas. The line below is also from the Web, but I don't remember where:
     
     
   • Some I get from the Web and modify: the brass plaque was a freebie from Stanford University (I think) and I added the text with LView.
     
     
   
   
5. How do you set the background color on a page (like this one)?
   How do you make the background of your graphics the same color as the page?
   How do I put an image in the background of my page (like the original Addison home page)?
   (At least a dozen other graphics questions deleted... )
   • Get the book "Creating Web Graphics" ($50) by Lynda Weinman, ISBN #1-56205-532-1. It's expensive and covers more things in more detail than you may ever want to know, but it's the easiest introduction I've seen to some of the harder topics. The book is aimed at graphics professionals and many of the examples are done using Adobe Photoshop. However, you can translate most (not all) of the examples to other tools.
   • There are also a number of graphics mini-tutorials and utilities available on the Web.
6. Where can I find .......?
   • Explore the Web maker's Encyclopedia, which includes a 7 day primer on writing your own home page.
   • Also try the search engines at Yahoo, Lycos, Google, or Altavista.
   • My sample visitor counter was free from http://www.digits.com. I like it because it gives just the count - no ads, no big banners, and the counter value can be hidden. If the counter is , what did you expect for free? Their commercial accounts (better service, more user info available, etc) start at $35 per year.
   
   
7. How much time does it take?
   • Quite a few hours to create the initial site. Several hours a week to keep up an active site, such as Addison Elementary School: updating the event calendar, adding pictures as they become available, verifying existing links, adding new links, etc. Since there's not much new activity on the school pages during the summer, that's a good time to verify links, make changes in page content or format, etc. By the way, Web pages are never finished: I started building the Addison site in September of 1995 (staff there picked up maintenance in June of 2000). This page was one of my more labor intensive creations (at about 12 hours), as it required locating and verifying the various sites and vendors referenced, and the links have to be checked occasionally, although some visitors do send email when they encounter a problem (Thank you!).
     There are also online services such as LinkAlarm that will check the links on your pages for free (first 100 pages) and thereafter for a fee (1 cent per page ;-). I think the penny a page is much better than spending hours manually checking a site such as Addison, which has more than 140 internal pages which are interlinked - plus dozens of external links. LinkAlarm also checks that any email links on the pages are valid.
   
   
8. Can you help me with ......?
   • That's a definite maybe . If you can work with question and answer format, I'm nearly always available. If you want more immediate feedback, then send and perhaps we can arrange to work by phone. Remember that I have a wife, two daughters, two sons-in-law, a granddaughter, I get "Can you fix my bike?" (and occasional "Can you come out and play with us?") requests from the kids in the neighborhood, and I'm usually either working or looking for work. Ergo, there's not a lot of free time.
   
   
9. Can I hire someone to create a Web page?
   • Of course - that's what capitalism is all about! Just be sure that you've seen samples of the author's work and that you have a written agreement about what you'll pay for what you get. You might also be interested in any awards the author's pages may have received (preferably in context with the site's message, not just for bells and whistles). You'll pay anywhere from $20 to $100 per hour for contract work (based on the author's reputation, experience, and demand, as well as local factors), plus a possible fee-per-picture for scanning. Some authors offer a flat-rate design service that gives you a page with some specified number of images for a fixed price. Not all Web authors publish prices, but Gibson Grafix does. What would Addison Elementary School's site, with more than 100 pages and hundreds of scanned images, have cost at Gibson Grafix's design rates? You'll quickly understand why so many non-profit organizations rely on volunteer labor .
   
   
10. Can I hire you?
    • Read the response to #8 again
    • and bring money - I charge $50/hour (discount for educational and non-profit organizations).
    • Translation: An hour or two spent with you to determine what you want/need in an informational Web page, time to create five pages with four or five simple graphics, and scanning a half-dozen pictures will cost you about $200-$250 and be ready to go online in 3 to 5 business days. I'll also help you choose a Web hosting service and upload the pages for you. What would the pages look like? Try two very different samples: template for a pub (this opens in a new window), and look at my portfolio. Catalog sales, user support, and other interactive pages will take longer and cost more.

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