A web page is a text file with HTML tags. You need only a text editor and a browser. You can build your first page in about five minutes.
What you need before you start
You need two free tools. One is a text editor. The other is a web browser, such as the one you use now.
On Windows, open Notepad. On a Mac, open TextEdit and choose Format, then Make Plain Text. Plain text matters because a word processor adds hidden marks that break your page.
Every page has the same basic parts. It has a head, a body and your content. The HTML language, short for HyperText Markup Language, ties them together with tags.
Build the smallest page possible
Follow these steps in order. Each step adds one tag.
Open your text editor
Start Notepad or TextEdit with a new, empty document.
Type the html tag
Type
<html>at the top of the document. This tells the browser that a web page follows.Add the head
Type
<head>, then close it with</head>. The head holds information about the page, such as its title.Add the body
Type
<body>, then your text, then</body>. The body holds what visitors see.Close the page
Finish with
</html>on the last line.Save and open the file
Save it as mypage.html. Then double-click the file and your browser shows the text.
The finished code
Here is the whole page. You can copy it into your editor.
<html>
<head>
<title>My First Page</title>
</head>
<body>
The text on the web page goes here.
</body>
</html>The title tag sits inside the head. It shows on the browser tab. Replace the sample sentence in the body with your own words.
Save the file the right way
Be careful not to save the file as mypage.html.txt. That is the most common mistake we see. The browser then shows the code as plain text instead of a page.
In Notepad, set Save as type to All Files. That stops Notepad from adding .txt to the name.
Reload the page after every change to check your work. We do the same on every project.
What to do next
Add a heading with <h1> and a paragraph with <p>. Then try bold text and a picture. Small steps teach you faster than a big project.
A page on your own computer is not on the internet yet. To publish it, you need a domain name and web hosting. Hosting is the computer that serves your page to visitors.
If you would rather have us build your pages, we do that too. We build a website with up to 5 pages plus a contact page for $300, in 3 to 5 days. Call Websnoogie in Omaha at 402-813-4034 or use our contact form.
Common questions
Do I need to pay for software to make a web page?
No. Notepad on Windows and TextEdit on a Mac are free and already installed. Any browser will open your page.
Why does my page show code instead of formatted text?
The file was probably saved as .txt or in rich text mode. Save it again as plain text with the .html ending.
AboutRod and Tami Atwood
Rod and Tami Atwood and other Websnoogie contributors write the Websnoogie blog. Rod has built websites since 2004 and founded Websnoogie, LLC in Omaha in 2012. Tami is co-owner, content editor and billing expert. Call us at 402-813-4034 or write to staff@websnoogie.com.
