Tools for Creating a Website

HTML

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the preferred format for web documents. For info on how to make an HTML document, try the following links.

General HTML How-To's:

• A Beginner's Guide to HTML - an intro in three parts. Provided by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).
• Comprehensive HTML Cross Reference from the Willcam Group.
• Introduction to HTML - explanations of the most important HTML elements and advice on their use. Provided by the University of Toronto.
• Advanced HTML Reference - a more thorough reference guide from Index Dot HTML.

Specific HTML References:

• A Beginner's Guide to URLs - an explanation of URLs, or "Uniform Resource Locators," the way links are made to network resources in HTML. Provided by the NCSA.
• HTML Special Characters - an index of coding for special characters (e.g., a copyright mark or an inverted exclamation mark). Provided by the University of Passau.
• Extensions to HTML 2.0 and Extensions to HTML 3.0 - additional HTML tags for more specific features (e.g., coding for square bullet points or horizontal line alignment). Provided by Netscape.
• En español - un tutorial para crear paginas WWW en español. Del Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction.

HTML Editors:

Use an HTML editor if you don't want to learn all the ins and outs of HTML code. HTML editors are software programs with a user-friendly WYSIWYG interface that allows you to create and edit HTML documents without having to actually know HTML coding. They look and function similarly to word processors, and they automatically create the code for you. They also allow you to view your document as it will look online. These are some HTML editors that Rice IT recommends:

• Macromedia Dreamweaver
• Adobe GoLive
• BBEdit

HTML validation services:

Instead of reading your HTML code line by line to check for errors, have an HTML validation service do it for you.

• W3 Consortium HTML validator
• Web Design Group HTML validator

Other Resources

Put images of Rice in your web pages:

• Rice Image library

Submit your website to major search engines:

• http://www.addme.com/
• http://www.1-hit.com/free-search-engine-submit.php

Use free counters to count the number of visitors to your website:

• http://freelogs.com/create.php

Use free web statistics services to track information about hits on your website:

• http://www.sitemeter.com
• http://www.extremetracking.com
• http://www.statcounter.com/

Check your website for broken links:

• http://validator.w3.org/checklink
• http://www.siteowner.com/badlinks.cfm
• http://www.1-hit.com/all-in-one/tool.broken-link-finder.htm

Preview your website for different screen resolutions and sizes:

• http://coolpagehelp.com/index.html?row2col2=resolution_test.html
• http://www.1-hit.com/all-in-one/tool.alignment.htm

Generate keywords for your site:

• http://www.1-hit.com/all-in-one/keyword-generator.htm

Find where your page ranks on Google and Yahoo:

• http://www.1-hit.com/all-in-one/tool.ranking.htm

Design your website using only web-safe colors:

• http://www.lynda.com/hex.html
• http://www.web-source.net/216_color_chart.htm

Read advice on how to design the best website layout possible:

• http://www.usability.gov/guidelines/
• http://www.webstyleguide.com/
• http://www.tinhat.com/usability/index.html
• Top Ten Mistakes in Webdesign

Make sure your website is fully accessable to individuals with disabilities:

• http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist

The Fine Print

Copyright issues should be a concern for every person who puts information out on the web. Anyone who publishes material online must be sure that they have a legitimate right to do so. The following links provide more in-depth information about copyright law and the web.

• http://www.lectlaw.com/inll/325.htm
• http://www.patents.com/weblaw.sht
• http://www.mlanet.org/government/positions/webcopyright.html
• http://www.cit.cornell.edu/computer/www/guidelines/copyright.html
• http://www.amherst.edu/library/depts/access/copyrightguidelines.html
• http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/rights/images.htm
• http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/webbuilder/copyright.html
• http://www.glamourmodels.com/resources/articles/070903.html

Please ask helpdesk@rice.edu if you need further assistance.