Web-site creation

Creating a web-site with a text-editor

My current method for creating web-pages consists of a "pure HTML" approach (as stated in the introduction), backed up by various other tools.

Preliminary elements

Learning HTML. It is easy to find books on the subject or information on the web (for instance the HTML Guide, in French).
A multi-documents text editor. Windows Notepad is not practical, because it is opened as many times as text is opened. Windows Wordpad is too cumbersome, because it has to work in RTF (rich text format). So I prefer the freeware NoteTab, very practical accommodating multiple pages. To get a copy, see our Pressibus Freeware site.
On the same site, you will find Arachnophilia, an HTML editor, useful for certain procedures.
Still on the Pressibus Freeware site, you will find BK ReplaceEm, two programs, which is also useful.

Pure HTML, using copy-and-paste facilities

I write HTML direct in NoteTab. All my pages are constructed on the same simple principles, so I just create an empty page by copying an existing page and removing the non-essential elements. Then I modify and add to it.

I add new titles or I introduce others elements/examples from others pages, by copying and pasting (Ctrl Ins - Maj Ins, or Ctrl C - Ctrl V), and I modify.

NoteTab allows one to create some macros (commands in the "clipbook"), and it is good at executing repetitive tasks quickly, or to have a quick help (by showing syntax) when using some useless tags.

I aim for the page to be as flexible as possible in width and resolution, and this is done using the simplest syntax. A wise precaution...

I go backwards and forwards incessantly between the editor and the browser, to add-test-correct.

Some conversions and controls

I use Arachnophilia as the "site analyser" to verify links (very useful!). I also know that it can help me to import tables.

Knowing how to do bulk changes

BK ReplaceEm is a search and replace utility that allows one to do bulk changes throughout a site. For example, to replace one colour by another, or to replace the spaces used in French before qquestion-marks with non-breakable spaces, so that there is no "!" at the beginning of a line.

The Windows search-function also enables me to find all the pages containing a particular character-string, so that I can make more more selective corrections.

Free !

In this way you are not the prisoner of a piece of word-processing or desktop publishing software or of an HTML editor. There are no pieces of automatic code to change, and there is no rigidity... You are only the prisoner of the HTML language itself....

Page created by Alain Beyrand on 22 August 1997.

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