A Beginners Guide to Creating a Web Page or Site using Microsoft Office

The Basics for Use with all Office Programs

If you wish to produce your own Web page, but have no experience, and no specialized software, the following tutorial may be of help.  I particularly recommend Microsoft Word for this activity.  If you wish to move up to specialized software, the next logical step would be Microsoft Front Page.  An excellent freeware program is CoffeeCup.

Please read this section carefully!  Creating a Web page or Web site can be done with rather common software.  For instance, all of the recent versions of programs in the Microsoft Office family have basic Web creation capability.  If you already are familiar with an Office program, you can use it to generate Web based files.  Generally, by using the Save as Web Page command (from the File menu,) the programs native file format is converted and stored as htm.  Bingo, a Web page on your computer!

Your first, and most important Web creation activity is to organize and layout your site on paper before you commit. Know what you want to say, and on what page that information will reside.  Take your time!  Decide on a visual theme, and spend a great deal of time laying out your first page so that it is attractive, functional, and fast loading (keep images to a minimum, and their physical and file size as small as possible). Images should be gif, jpeg. or png file types.  Office programs will automatically convert common image file types to the appropriate web based file format.  This page can be your home page, as well as a template for the rest of your site.  Get it right now!

Use one of the following Office programs to create one or more documents that contain the pages of your site.  Use the Save as Web Page command to store all of these pages to a single folder. All file and folder names must be single word names, unless multiple words are connected with an underscore (example: my_folder, my_default.htm, other_file.html).  Link the pages together with the Hyperlink command (highlight the word to link, and right click, or find  the Hyperlink command under Insert).  Insert pictures as required, remembering to keep the file size small.  Check the pages using a browser (use the File Open command in the browser to view your files, and check your links).

Note:  Newer versions of Office programs may include a command called Save as Web Page, Filtered.  Use this command if present to create faster loading, and more compatible pages.  The same effect may be obtained by downloading and using Office HTML 2.0 Filter.

Next, contact your ISP to setup a website, and an ftp account, to that website.  When fully satisfied with your pages, transfer your entire Web folder (including images, sub-folders, etc.) to the server, using ftp.  You will need an ftp client to do this (example: WS_FTP LE).

Using Word to Create a Web Page

If you work with a newer version of Word on a regular basis, creating a Web page is relatively simple.  You can save any document in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format.  To turn a document into a Web page, use the Save As command on the File menu to save the document to HTML format.  In the Save As dialog box, just choose Web page in the Save as type list.

Creating a Web Page from a Template in Word  

You can also create a new Web page in Word by using the New command on the File menu.  Click the Web Pages tab to see some Web page templates.  The templates include an HTML version of a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, a Table of Contents page, a Personal Web Page, and a few others.  In addition to these templates is the Web Page Wizard, a wizard that walks you through the creation of a Web page step by step.

Finally, ftp the finished file to your Web folder provided by your ISP and check the result on the Web with your browser.

Using Publisher to Create a Web Page or a Web Site

Publisher makes it easy to create a Web page or Web site.  You can use a blank Web page template to build a page from scratch, or you can use the Web Site Wizard to create a Web site.  The Microsoft Publisher Catalog - which appears when you first start Publisher or when you click New on the File menu - contains 45 predefined Web sites that you can customize using the Web Sites Wizard.  The catalog also contains the blank Web page template.

Creating a Web Page by Using a Wizard

On the Publications by Wizard tab in the Microsoft Publisher Catalog, click Web Sites in the Wizards column to see the Web site templates.  When you choose from this list, the Web Site Wizard is launched. Use the wizard to choose the color scheme for your site, as well as the types of pages or forms you would like, and other details.  Publisher then builds the Web site for you, and connects all of the pages together with navigation links.

Creating a Web Page by Using a Blank Page

What if you want a simple Web page, not a whole site? In the Microsoft Publisher Catalog, click the Blank Publications tab, and then double-click Web page.  You now have a simple blank publication you can use to build your own Web page.

Saving and Publishing Your Web Page

Regardless of which method you use to create your Web page, choose the Save as Web Page command to save.  Publisher saves all the text, graphics, and other elements that make up your page, so the Web page is ready to be published.   Finally, ftp the finished file to your Web folder at Sulfur Canyon, and check the result on the Web with your browser.

Using Excel to Create a Web Page

In Excel , you can save an entire workbook as a Web page.  Before you publish your workbook or spread sheet, format the data as you want it to appear in the browser.  Add borders around the cells that contain values to make the cells appear as part of a table; apply the number formats you want to use, such as a currency format or a percentages format.  To display text or values in different colors, change the colors using the Format menu.

Publishing options available in the Save as Web Page dialog box allow you to specify options for publishing parts of the worksheet, such as ranges of cells or charts.  We recommend using a simple Save as Web Page command.  Finally, ftp the finished file to your Web folder at Sulfur Canyon, and check the result on the Web with your browser.

Using PowerPoint to Create a Web Page

With PowerPoint , you can create a Web page (or a Web site, if you publish more than one slide) by making slides, or you can turn an existing presentation into a Web page.

Creating a New Web Page

To create a new Web page in PowerPoint, create a slide presentation just as you would normally.  One item to remember, however, is that if you create an outline for the presentation it will be used as a navigation pane on the Web page.  With that in mind, be sure to use unique headings on each page.  With the presentation open, select the Save as Web Page command.  You can change the file name for the Web page and then click Save.  The final step is to ftp the finished file to your Web folder at Sulfur Canyon, and check the result on the Web with your browser.

Note:  When you save the presentation, PowerPoint saves each slide as a Web page; all the pages together make up a Web site.  When you view your site in a browser, you'll find a set of navigation buttons displayed to help you navigate through the pages one at a time.  The outline for the presentation is also available as a navigation pane.  You can launch the Web site as a slide show by clicking the Full Screen Slide Show button.

More Information

In the Office Assistant or on the Answer Wizard tab for each program, type save as Web page or save as HTML, and then click Search for more information.  To learn more about items in the Save as Web Page dialog boxes in the different programs, click the Help button (the question mark "?") and then click an item to read more about its purpose.

To learn more about Web folders and Web servers, type what is a Web folder in the Office Assistant or on the Answer Wizard tab in the Help window for an Office program, and then click Search.

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