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A web page can be a great way to connect with people, whether you're sharing photos with your family or announcing a great new product to the world. If you've spent any time "surfing the web," you've probably seen some pretty neat web pages, and some pretty bad ones, too. The thought of building a web page might be daunting, but here are some basic steps you can take to build a simple web page.

1. DECIDE ON THE PURPOSE OF YOUR WEB PAGE
The clearer a picture you have of what you want to do with your web page, the easier it is to decide how to lay it out. Are you going to display pictures from your last family vacation with cute captions below them? Maybe you're starting a blog about your hobby, or you're launching an online store to sell a product or service. Your content will help determine where to place the various design elements of your page to greatest effect.

2. SKETCH OUT YOUR WEB PAGE
Take a piece of paper and a pencil and draw the different elements of your web page. Include things like a header where your logo or the name of the web page will go, a navigation bar with links to other web pages, the size and shape of the content area, and a footer that contains a way for people to contact you, or other information secondary to the main content. Don't be afraid to borrow from other web sites that you like, and try out several different layouts to see what works best.

When you're done, you'll have what's called a wireframe a bunch of boxes that represent the actual elements that will eventually be your web page. It won't necessarily be pretty, but it will give you a good idea of how everything will fit together.

3. LEARN HTML
A web page is really just a simple, specially formatted text file. That formatting is called Hyptext Markup Language (HTML). HTML consists of tags that tell a web browser what to do with the text you saved in the file.

Learning HTML is highly recommended, whether you choose to build the web page by hand or use an application that gives you a graphical interface (see Step 4). The World Wide Web Consortium (http://www.w3.org ), the international organization behind standards for web pages, provides some great tutorials. I would also recommend the HTML, XHTML, and CSS Visual Quickstart Guide, sixth edition, by Elizabeth Castro from Peachpit Press. I cut my teeth on an earlier addition, but it remains one of the highest rated HTML help books on Amazon.

4. CHOOSE YOUR TOOL
There are two basic ways to build a web page, as I alluded to in Step 3.

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