Web Publishing
Introduction
Before the advent of the World Wide Web,
the means to share opinions and ideas with
others easily and inexpensively was limited
to classroom, work, or social environments.
Generating an advertisement or publication
required a lot of expense. Today, businesses
and individuals can convey information to
millions of people by using Web pages.
What is Web Publishing?
Web publishing is the process of
developing, maintaining, and posting Web
pages. With the proper hardware and
software, Web publishing is fairly easy to
accomplish. For example, clip galleries
offer a variety of images, videos and
sounds.1 A sound card allows users to
incorporate sounds into Web pages. With a
microphone, a Web page can include voice.
A digital camera provides a means to
capture digital photographs. A scanner can
convert existing photographs and other
graphics into a digital format. A video
capture card and a video camera can
incorporate videos into Web pages. A video
digitizer can capture still images from a
video (Thrall and Winters 46-68).
Web Page Standards
HTML
HTML (hypertext markup language) is a set
of special codes used to format a file for use
as a Web page. These codes, called tags,
specify how the text and other elements on
the Web page display in a Web browser and
where the links on the page lead. A Web
browser translates the document with the
HTML tags into a functional Web page.
Other Formats
There are several new web page formats that
can be used, in addition to HTML, when
publishing web pages. They include CSS,
XHTML, and DHTML. Brief explanations
for each follow:
Creating web pages as cascading style sheets
(CSS) allows for, “more sophisticated page
design than web developers have been used
to,….. (and to) simplify the process of
making web pages accessible to as many
readers as possible, regardless of the device
they use to read our pages” (Allsopp).
XHTML2 modularizes the web page code
according to specified Net standards so that
the page formatting is retained no matter
what platform it is viewed on, once the page
has been published (Webopedia: XHTML).
Dynamic HTML refers to new
HTML extensions that will
enable a Web page to react to
user input without sending
requests to the Web server.
Microsoft and Netscape have
submitted competing Dynamic
HTML proposals to W3C, which
is producing the final
specification (Webopedia:
dynamic HTML).
Web Publishing Tools
1
Many current software packages
include a clip gallery. Clip galleries also are
available on the Web or may be purchased
on CD-ROM or DVD-ROM (Zack, 9-24).
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2
XHTML stands for Extensible
Hypertext Markup Language (Webopedia:
XHTML).
Darlene Unrau
Web Publishing
Developing, or authoring, a Web page does
not require the expertise of a computer
programmer. Many word processing and
other application software packages include
Web page authoring features that assist in
the development of basic Web pages.
Microsoft Office 2000 products, for
example, provide easy to use tools that
enable users to create Web pages and
incorporate items such as bullets, frames,
backgrounds, lines, database tables,
worksheets, and graphics into the Web
pages (Shelley Cashman series ® Microsoft
Word 2000 Project 2). Web page authoring
software packages enable the development
of more sophisticated Web pages that might
include video, sound, animation, and other
special effects. Both new and experienced
users can create fascinating Web sites with
Web page authoring software.
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Conclusion
In today’s world a person can distribute a
message, product or service, to any other
person who might be interested, around the
world. This can be accomplished quickly
and easily by publishing a web page on the
Internet. Web pages can be much cheaper to
produce than printed publications, can reach
a far wider audience, and can incorporate a
variety of text, images, video, and sound
objects. Another important advantage of
web publishing is that pages can be changed
and updated more frequently than printed
materials. Also, by using web page
authoring software, the average person can
generally create a web page without a
thorough understanding of the programming
code. If you have a message that you would
like to share with a global audience, web
publishing just might be the answer for you.
Works Cited
Allsopp, John. “Cascading Style Sheets Reference: Everything You Wanted to Know About
Style.” The House of Style.
http://www.westciv.com/style_master/academy/css_tutorial/index.html (October 13,
2000).
“dynamic HTML.” Webopedia: Online Computer Dictionary for Internet Terms and Technical
Support. http://webopedia.internet.com/TERM/d/dynamic_HTML.html (October 13,
2000).
Shelley Cashman Series ® Microsoft Word 2000 Project 2. Course Technology. 2000: WD 2.5.
Thrall, Peter D., and Amy P. Winters. Computer Concepts for the New Millennium. Boston.
International Press, 2001.
“XHTML.” Webopedia: Online Computer Dictionary for Internet Terms and Technical
Support. http://webopedia.internet.com/TERM/X/XHTML.html (October 13, 2000).
Zack, Joseph R. “An Introduction to Clip Galleries and Digital Files.” Computers for Today,
Tomorrow, and Beyond Sep. 2001: 9-24.
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