Creating web pages in Microsoft WordWeb publishing

Setup a folder
Convert a Word document into a webpage
Create your webpage
Setting page background colours and effects
Editing text and hyperlinks
Viewing your webpage
Sample webpage layout
Add a page heading
Insert a horizontal line
Insert an image
Reduce image file size
Insert a table
Edit a table
Set a background colour for a table
Creating hyperlinks
Creating a bookmark
Credits
Things to remember

  • Homepage
  • Fast loading and easy reading
  • Fancy fonts
  • FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

Setup a folder

Before creating any webpage it is important that you create a folder in which all parts of your webpage can be saved.

  • Create a folder in a directory by choosing File, New, and then Folder.
  • Using lowercase letters name the folder. The name should be easy for you to remember and contain no symbols, spaces or numbers and should describe the website. Words can be separated by an underscore e.g. dig_ped_licence. Try to keep to less than 15 characters where possible.

NOTE: You should create another folder inside this folder to store images and video.

Convert a Word Document into a webpage

Follow this method if you already have Word documents that you would like to convert to web pages and link together.

  1. Open your document and click File.
  2. Choose Save as.
  3. Click on the drop down menu on the bottom of the window, which says Save as type.
  4. Choose Web Page among the different file types. Save your first page (or home page) of the web site with the name index.

Create your webpage

These instructions will help you to create your first webpage.

  1. Open Microsoft Word through start/programs.
  2. Click File and choose New. On the right-hand side of the window, click on Blank webpage.
  3. Go to File – save as and save the document in the folder you have just created (if this is your homepage, call it index).
  4. It is imperative that you save your work every time you add or change content. This will prevent you from losing your work.

NOTE: You can choose to save your first page as a template (name it template) so that you can use it as a base for creating additional pages.

Setting page background colours and effects

  1. Click Format, followed by Background.
  2. Choose a colour for your page background by navigating to More colours.
  3. If you would prefer to use an image as your background, click on Format,Background, Fill effects then Picture. From here, browse to the folder that contains your desired image.
  4. Make sure ALL images that you use are saved in the images folder that you created.
  5. Click OK.

NOTE: Your choice of text and hyperlink colours must not clash with your background.

Editing text and hyperlinks

The most important element on any webpage is the content. You have the ability to change the presentation of text by editing font colour, style and size.

  1. For regular Text, click Format and choose Font.
  2. For Hyperlink Text, click on Format then choose Styles and formatting. Scroll down to Hyperlink or Followed hyperlink. Click on the drop-down menu and choose Modifyto change the colour.

NOTE: The default colours for hyperlinks will suit most webpages.

Viewing your webpage

You can view your webpages at any time. To do this, click on File then Webpage preview. Alternatively, you can double-click on the folder in which the file has been saved. Ensure that the webpage displays in an Internet browser and that all links navigate to their intended path.

NOTE: HyperText Mark up Language (HTML) is the term given to the computer language used to create the contents of a webpage.

Sample webpage layout

HEADING

Picture

Text / Picture
Text

Hyperlinks

Credits

Add a page heading

  1. Type your desired heading.
  2. Highlight the text and click on Format and then Font (from here you can change the text colour, size and style).
  3. If you want your wording centred click on the Centre icon located on the menu bar.

Insert a horizontal line

  1. Click on Format, Borders and shading, BordersthenHorizontal line(this can be found at the bottom of that window).
  2. You can resize the line or change the colour by double-clicking on it.
  3. Click OK.

NOTE: A horizontal line is often used to mark the end of a page.

Insert an image

Most images used for web publishing are generally saved in a.gif or .jpg format. Images with other file extensions may not be visible unless the software is present on the viewer’s computer.

  1. Go to Insert, Picture then Clip Art/From file (search for the file to insert).
  2. To resize your image, click on it and drag it from the corners. This will ensure that your image stays in proportion and you do not lose clarity.
  3. Double-click on the picture and select Layout and Tight to have the ability to position the image anywhere on screen.
  4. To crop your image make sure that the Picture Toolbar is selected. Click on the Crop icon and drag in the sides of the image to change how the image will appear (hold down the Alt key to crop closer to perfection).

Reduce image file size

Large images can result in slow page loading and difficulty when it comes to uploading them to the web. As a general rule make sure that the size of your images does not exceed 100KB. To compress images in Microsoft Word (which will reduce the overall page file size):

  1. Double-click on any image and a Format picture box will open. If this does not work, right-click on the image and select Format picture.
  2. Select Picture and then choose Compress.
  3. A new pop-up box should appear.
  4. You can select one or more pictures or all.
  5. Select the level of compression (web being the smallest size).
  6. You also have the ability to delete any areas that have previously been cropped from the picture.
  7. Click OK, followed by Apply to confirm your request.

Alternatively, download Microsoft Image Resizer.

Insert a table

A table is a good means of laying out text or images neatly on a page.

  1. Using the menu bar click on Table, Insert then Table.
  2. Choose the number of rows and columns required. A border size of 0 will give you an invisible border while a size of 1 or more will mean the border is the same size as the rest of the table.

Edit a table

  1. Click inside the table before navigating to Table on the menu bar. Choose Tableproperties then Table.
  2. To centre your table, click on Table followed by SelectthenTable. Now click on the centre icon.
  3. To change a cell size, clickin thecell and then on Table. Then select Table properties then Cell.

Set a background colour for a table

  1. Click inside the table. Select Table from the menu bar, and then choose Tableproperties, Table, then Borders and shading.
  2. Choose your desired colour, and then click OK.

Creating hyperlinks

You must have at least two webpages prepared and ready for linking.

  1. Highlight the text or select the image that you wish to link. Click on Insert and choose Hyperlink.
  2. To search for the file that you wish to link, choose Look In and then click on OK.
  • If you want the page to open in a new window, click the Target Frame button and select New Window. Opening a new window means your original page is still available in the background.
  1. Move your mouse over the linked region to check the link. A box should pop up and display the inserted path of the link. Test the link by clicking Ctrl+click.

Creating a bookmark

A bookmark is useful when you want to easily navigate to different points within a webpage that carries a lot of text. Links to points in the page should be visible at the beginning of the page.

  1. Place the cursor where you want the bookmark.
  2. Click Insert, followed by Bookmark.
  3. Enter the name (with no spaces) that you want to give the bookmark.
  4. Press the Add button.

Credits

This is an area where one might find the time, date and author of the website that was created. This is generally found in the bottom right-hand corner of a page and is written in smaller text.

Things to remember …

Homepage

The homepage is the page that a visitor will view first. It is the gateway to the rest of the website. This page normally has a filename of index.

After viewing a homepage one will usually decide whether they wish to explore the rest of a website, so it is important that your homepage is user friendly, easy to read and inviting.

Fast loading and easy reading

Website visitors do not want to wait around all day for webpages to load, therefore it is important that image files are small in size and that your page is not text heavy.

Fancy fonts

When you first start creating your webpages, using a lot of fancy fonts seems like fun, but some fonts are very difficult to read.

Fonts give web pages character and they quite often portray the authors feelings, however, some fonts can also cause problems when a viewer does not have those particular fonts installed on their computer. They will then see a very bland default font. Fonts such as Tahoma, Arial and Times New Roman are common fonts that are safe to use.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

Your newly created website can only be viewed on the Internet by uploading the folders and files through an FTP program such as WS_LE ftp, Absolute or Cute FTP.

Education Queensland employees can upload files through their MIS login, but only after they have been allocated website privileges by their schools’ MIS Administrator. (See the MIS Personal WebPages/Contect Upload document).