Uncategorized | February 27, 2004

I decided to take a risk this year by enrolling in a class in online communication. Before the class, I had been an avid Web surfer for some time, but my knowledge of how to add my own content was basically nonexistent. Although I’ve had a difficult time with coding and other online intricacies, the experience has taught me so much about the opportunities for expression I have on this vast, intangible space we call the Internet. Now I’m constantly thinking about sites I could create, from a Web page for my mom (she’s a massage practitioner who has no idea what “HTML” means) to my own Web ‘zines, literary or otherwise.

Learning how to work on the Web takes some practice and research, but I’ve discovered a few sites that can help even the most Internet-impaired person create a Web page with savvy and reader appeal. One of the best seems to be the Web Style Guide, a Lynch and Horton publication. The information there ranges from the basics to some of the most complicated aspects of creating a site. It has taught me several things I haven’t gotten in class, including how to make great-looking magazine sites.

P.S.: Self-editing an entry about the Internet is tough — you have to know how to spell, hypenate and capitalize so many relatively new words! I used the style guide put out by The Associated Press. What do you use?