By: Todd Wheatley
(c) IQ-2k   04-17-21

Building a website has become more complicated over the past twenty-five years. Though some basics still exist. A great many sites, for example, continue to use an HTML/CSS base structure. So if you want to give it a try (even without a web address) all you need is a laptop or desktop computer. Better still, you can see immediate results with a web browser. It's exceptionally simple to get started.

Instead of a word processor program like Microsoft-Word use a simple "notepad" TEXT EDITOR. The reasons for this are a little complicated and go all the way back to the first computer compatibility standards. When you save a file using a "notepad" program a dot txt (.txt) extension is created. Then you just need to change it to dot html (.html) for the browser to read. It's that easy aside from entering the correct computer code.

Any type of computer programming is like speaking a foreign language. Armed with some rules and a few words you can find your way to the bathroom or order a cup of coffee. Real conversation, however, takes work and a lot of practice. Like many knowledge related things today your progress will only depend upon effort and motivation. There's enough free online resources to get you all the way to the finish line. Consequently this article may help you get going or it may turn you away. It's all about motivation.

Personally I've held a fascination for computer programming from a very young age. I was 14 when the first microcomputer entered the market (1976). The first pocket calculators were becoming popular and mass marketed. By comparison, the new microcomputers were a luxury item. In fact any computer access was a luxury. As one of the top students in high school I had access to a MAINFRAME COMPUTER through a teletype. At the U.S. Air Force Academy (1980-1983) I had MAINFRAME access through a console. Exceptionally high-tech for the time. Very early (for my age demographic) I became proficient in mainframe languages: BASIC, PASCAL, & FORTRAN. Then with my first microcomputer access (1985) I collaborated on a software package to calculate earth moving volumes for civil engineering projects. That software design was coded in HP-BASIC. A language exclusively used in HP-80 computers.

At that time specialty languages existed for every brand of computer. Which limited the market to that specific brand of computer. Then came the introduction of the Intel chip and the MS-DOS operating system. Those standards were adopted by numerous companies and brought compatibility across platforms. SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY supercharged the microcomputer revolution. It also forced the disparate languages into extinction.

For me the thrill of victory in completing a large software package quickly turned into the agony of defeat. The software became instantly obsolete. After the pain wore off the marketing potential of MS-DOS compatible code brought dreams of glory. Such were the dreams as I reached completion of an operating system that took two years to code. The more correct term would be an OPERATING ENVIRONMENT since it operated on top of MS-DOS. Just before I finished the first version of Windows(r) came out. It too was an operating environment, but was sold as an OPERATING SYSTEM. Even though it operated on top of MS-DOS.

The instant popularity and market penetration of Windows(r) precluded competition. Fortunately I wasn't easily discouraged and produced CAProck (geotechnical engineering information system). With 10,000 bibliographic records it was more than three years in the making and met an untimely demise. Ultimately the market proved too small to earn a profit.

My next software package, AIR_base (an aviation information system), greatly improved the code of the ill-fated CAProck and had a thousand percent greater market potential. Just before it's release (Apr.2007) the sky was the limit. Or so I thought, being unaware of the coming market cataclysm. Not just the "Great Recession" that had already quietly begun, but the coming obsolescence of code written from 1987 to 2007. In other words everything I had written. Including my best work (AIR_base) that went obsolete the day it came out.

Late in 2006 or early 2007 Microsoft introduced a new standard and with it an extinction event similar to 1987. Given the string of commercial failures in software design I took a new path: nonfiction book writing.

My first writing attempt in the year 2000 shed serious doubt towards my writing ability and even now a writing project takes an extreme amount of effort. Eight years later I tried again and produced 109 pages of readable text. Failing to secure a publisher a year after finishing, I put a website together as a vehicle for self publishing. It was my third website in nine years and I wanted a more professional look. On the other hand I didn't want to spin my wheels learning another programming language. So like others of modest means I purchased a website package called "WebEasy 6" and selected a TEMPLATE.

My website now has more than 1000 pages. The first 5 pages were modified from the template. The CSS code has been the biggest help. However those five pages are the only ones with images. Over the past twelve years I've only learned enough to keep my website lean, and attractive. Yet totally unsophisticated. In 2016 I introduced a BLOG section which brought a need for graphics / images / pictures. Up till that time graphics had been unnecessary and too difficult to do well. Now it seems time to move forward and test my methods ... DR-KNOW ... "Learn Anything in No Time". Mostly I just want to add a few simple images. Just enough to enhance the content and not drive people away. But why stop there ... there's DROP DOWN MENUs, image galleries and more ... in other words, a real website. As usual the research has been posted on my TOPICs page .... click on the link below.

HTML-CSS website design


(edited 4-26-21, 4-30-21)


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