To Begin
Open Word 97
Click "File" pull down menu
Select "New"
Click "Web pages" tab
Click "blank web page" icon

This creates a blank page and the tool bars for web page editing.
 

At this time you can begin typing the opening text for your web page in much the same way you would create a word processing document in Word or any other windows-style word processor.

(You will not have the same range of options as with a regular Word document, however.)
 

You must always save the main/first page of your home page with the name "index".

Other pages which you create and link to from your index or subsequent pages may have any descriptive name you choose, up to 8 characters.

I recommend using only lowercase filenames and add the ending ".html" to your files when you save them. For example, you would save your first page as "index.html". This will make creating your links much easier later.
 
 

Fonts (size, characteristics, color)
If you highlight some text you can change its characteristics:

You can change the size using the two buttons to the right of the font box (arrow up-larger, arrow down-smaller). There is no point size like 12, 14, 24 etc. to choose.

Body text is the font/style/color in which most of the text on your home page is written.

Hyperlink text is the font/style/color used for links to other pages.

Followed hyperlink text is the font/style/color used to indicate that you have already visited the page to which the link connects.

You will find that after you click on a link from your page, the text will change color to indicate that you have already followed that link.

You can change the default text colors (body text-black, hyperlink-blue, followed hyperlink-violet).
 
 

To change the font
Click on the pull down menu on the tool bar
Select new font

Ariel, or another sans-serf (no feet or fancy stuff) font works best for ease of viewing.
Times Roman is a serf font and gets blurry.
ex. Ariel (sans-serf)
ex. Times Roman (serf)

You can also align your text on the screen, and make it bold, italicized, or underlined...
 
 

To change the body text color from the tool bar
Click on the arrow attached to the button which shows an "A" with a (black) line under it
Select a new color

The line shows the color your body text will appear
 
 

To change the body text, hyperlink & followed hyperlink colors
Click on "format"
Select "text colors"
Click on the arrow of the pull down menu
Select a new color
 
 

Background
To change the background color from the default (white):
Click on the "format" pull down menu
Select "background" menu
Select a color, or
Click on fill effects
Select a fill effect
 
 

Links
You can use a word or phrase, a picture or clip-art graphic as a link.

Creating links to other pages on your home page or to someone else's web page:
Highlight the text (or picture) you would like to use as what someone will click on to go to another page and click the button with a picture of the earth with a small white loop/link.
An "Insert Hyperlink" box will open up.
You need to type the full web address of the page to which you would like to link.
 - ie. www.earlham.edu/~vandsa/papers.html
With the saved file name of the page as the last part. You will have to add the ending ".html" to the file name (different editors automatically add different endings, so adding it yourself avoids confusion later). If the saved file name is in any way different from the link name (spelling, capitalization, etc.), the link will not work.
You can link from any page you create (not just your index) to any other page you create, or any other page on the web.
When you convert some body text into a link, Word will most likely also change the font, size, style and color of the text. The different color (usually blue) and the underline is a signal for someone using your page that the text is a link. You can change the text back to the same font and size as the rest of your text by highlighting it and applying those characteristics again.
 
 

Lines/bars
To insert a horizontal line across your page:
Place your curser where you would like the line
Click on the button with a single horizontal line
Click on the "insert" pull down menu
Select "horizontal line"

You can change the position of the line by entering or deleting carriage returns above the line.
 
 

Clip art
To insert a picture/clip art:
Click on "insert" pull down menu
Select "picture"
Select "clip art" or "from file" depending on where your clipart/pictures are
Click on the name of the picture you want to use

To change the size of a picture/clip art:
Click somewhere in the middle
When you place your mouse arrow on one of the edge boxes it will turn into small black arrows and enable you to click and hold and adjust to the desired size.

You can also center a graphic using the same button you would use to center text.
 
 

Bullets & Numbers
To create bulleted or numbered text:
Highlight the text
Click on the bullet or number button
or Click on the "format" pull down menu
Select "bullets and number"
 
 

Tables
One difficulty with web page editing is that you cannot use tabs or multiple spaces to separate text the way you would in a regular word processing document.

You must use a chart/table to space things out.

To put two (or more) separate things side by side on a page:
Click on the "table" pull down menu
Select "insert table"
Use your mouse arrow to select the number of rows and columns you want

To align the text in your columns, use the same text alignment buttons in you toolbar that you use for regular text.