This describes very briefly how to build and publish a free Web site using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), the code for Web sites. If you are under 18, you shouldn't publish a site without the permission of your parents. You have to agree to various user agreements which as a child you should not be entering into. You might also get yourself into paying for something when you think it is free. Also, you might be disclosing information to people that you shouldn't. Talk to your parents, have them look things over, and get their permission.

To see the HTML source code for this site, go to View, then Source (or Page Source) on your browser tool bar. To create your own Web page you will open a simple text editor such as "Text Edit" on the Apple Mac or "Notepad" in Windows. In Text Edit be sure to click that you want plain text. If you want you can copy and paste the code in the present Web page into your Text Edit or Notepad document. Then just change the content to fit what you are doing. To save it, go file, save as. Give it the name index.html since it is your home page or opening page. When someone goes to your site this is the first page they will see. You can view what you have done by opening a browser (like Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari), then pressing file - open (file) and browse for the file. When you press enter you should see how your text file will look as a Web page. If you make changes to index.html, refresh the browser to see how the changes will look.

At this point only you can view your Web page. For the world to see it on the Internet, you have to find a Web hosting company to host your Web page. If you are just starting, you can usually find a free Web hosting company. There are apparently hundreds, but many come and go. One I am trying is 50webs.com. I'm just trying it. This is in no way a review (positive or negative) or endorsement. I went to the Web site, provided my name, an e-mail address, street address, and phone number. For these free sites, you get a sub-domain name. My address is http://mrmartin.50webs.com. The subdomain part is mrmartin. Also, many Internet service providers provide some free Web space. For example, I use Cox Communications as my Internet Service Provider. They provide free Web space as part of the Internet service.

Once you have signed up with a Web hosting company, you have to upload the files for your Site to your space at the host. You sign on with your host. For example, with 50webs.com, you go to http://50webs.com/members/. You provide your user name which you choose while signing up and a password which they give you. (In other sites you might select your password.) 50webs.com has a "file manager" icon you click on. This has your root folder. Open it. You then upload the Web page you created from your computer to your file on the server at the Web hosting company. Follow the directions for the particular file manager you are using. It is usually similar to moving files from one folder to another on your computer. Once you have uploaded the file you can then type in your Web site URL (Uniform Resource Locator - i.e. Web site address) into the address window on your browser. Your Web site should then come up. You can prepare and upload additional files. Provide links to them on your home page (i.e. index file). Here is a link on this home page to a page made by a student of mine who makes wallets, folder covers and purses out of duct tape. Duct Tape Products. Look at the source code of this page. Can you see how I made the link. Here is a link to my main Web site, mrmartinweb.com. Can you look at the source code and see how I made that link? Once you have more than one page, you no longer have just a Web page - you have a Web site. Look at the source code for the Duct Tape Products site. Can you tell how you make tables and add images? Making tables is the main way you position material on the Web page.

Obviously, I am barely touching the surface. Hopefully, this will get you started, however. I recommend taking a course, reading a book or looking at Web sites which describe in much greater detail how to design a Web site.