The first thing you will need to do is build an index page. This will be similar to a table
of contents. It tells the visitor to you site how to get around in it. It provides the
links to your major sections. We will look at that further in the last section, called
Organizing Your Site.
Let's look at how to use a CuteHTML page to prepare a page for the internet. Pull up Cute HTML
and it will automatically start with the header instructions and the closing instructions.
For something to appear on a page on the internet, you must give each item an instruction on
how it will appear. This is called the HTML code. The instructions are expressed with the
"lesser-than" symbol = < and the "greater-than" symbol = > so that anything between these
two symbols tells the hosting site that this is an instruction. Since we cannot use these
"codes" on this page, we will substitute brackets [ ] for instructional purposes and on our
Code Page.
The first instruction on the page is the [HTML] at the top and [/HTML] at the bottom of the
page. Whenever you tell it to do something, you will also tell it when to quit. So this just
states that we are going to view this eventually in HTML code.
The [Head] includes the title which will be displayed in the bar at the top of your computer
when you are on the internet. Look at the line above the URL line: Website.
This is your title. The next thing that is offered are the META tags. This is the system
for pulling up your site from an internet search. Some search engines seem to cater to some
categories more than others. You need to be specific because this is your index to the web.
You may not want to add anything to some META tags. On this page we are not because it is
for our teaching purposes only. You will want to register the main surname that you are
working on and perhaps the location of the family so people can access it either way. I
always fill in between the quotes, the keywords of my page. If you do not fill in the description,
the programs will use the first lines of your page.
Next is the body color. Cute HTML uses white with black font as a default. This is good
enough to get started with. We can add color later. So you are now finished with the
header that is not seen by the reader.
If you want to center your title, you will need to tell it to do that. The code is simply
(remember to use < and > instead of the brackets): [center] and [/center] with your title
in between the instructions. You can get two lines centered without doing anything else. If
you have three lines that you want centered, you will need to put a break on the second line.
A break is the instruction that you are throwing the carriage (as on a typewriter). It is
expressed as [BR]. It doesn't matter whether your instructions are in caps or lower case.
Your instructions will be followed. I just find it easier to find the instructions when
they are in caps. In the newer version of CuteHTML, the instructions are shown in blue. If
you type in the wrong symbol, it will be in a faded out grey and you will notice immediatly
that you have a typo. However, there is no spell-check as in more sophisticated HTML editors.
Now for the text. You may already have the material you want to post somewhere else on your
computer. If it is on a Word document, you will have to pull it up in Word and save it in
another file as a text file. Word has its own formatting that you do not use in the HTML
editor. I recommend that you build a folder in your computer just for your pages that will
be transferred to your site. I call mine Homepage. Then you can make folders within that
for whatever surnames you want to file under that. So, if you already have materials typed
that you want to use on your site, be sure it is in text format. Then you can copy and
paste this into your CuteHTML editor. I use Ctl-C to copy a section and Ctl-V (view) to
display it on the editor page. Just position the cursor where you want it to appear.
So now you have some material on the page. All you need to do now is go in and tell it where
to put the paragraphs and breaks. Begin with [P] for paragraph on the line above each
paragraph of text and be sure to turn it off again for each paragraph [/P] This will give
you an automatic wrap-around for the text when it is displayed on the net. You will still
be using the "enter" key if you are typing the text. If you don't, the line will go on
forever which is all right if you never need to edit the page. I find that with genealogy
pages, I want to see the HTML editor page to do updates and corrections.
When you are finished with your page, you will need to file it. You give it a file name
only instead of it being a doc file or a txt file, you will add .htm to each name. Then save
it to your Homepage file or whatever you call it on your computer.
Minimize the CuteHTML editor and go to the CuteFTP icon on your desktop and pull that up.
It will display the connection page first. You will have established this with the help
of your server/host. It will have the phone number to Freepages or your server. Click on
the one you use and click on "connect". You must be already connected to the internet.
It will then display your files on the left and their site on the right. The idea is to
transfer the page that you were working on to the internet site, in this case to Freepages.
At Freepages, you will use the scrollbar to get down to the category called "genealogy". So
click on "genealogy" and it will pull up YOUR site name. At that point, you can highlight
your side and open the file that has your page you have created, then click and drag that
file over to their side and release. It takes a few seconds for them to copy to their side.
There will be a signal at the top of the page that says "Done" when it is all right to
drag another page over. You may have several to upload at the same time. You will want
to minimize the FTP and go out on the web and look at your page. If there is anything you
want to change, pull up the HTML, make the necessary changes and hit the Save.
Now it is important that when you go back and pull up the FTP to transfer that change, that you highlight your side and click on the refresh icon. If you do not do this, you will just be transferring the same page again. You refresh to pull up the changes on the page you are working on. Then drag it across the line and release. It will start to read the page and ask you if you want to overwrite the original page. You click on OK and it does that. Then when it is finished and you minimize and go back to the internet page, you will again refresh in order to pull up the changes. You will use the refresh icon a lot. It is a picture of a page with arrows on it going in a circle.