SPINNING YOUR OWN WEB

The internet has become a part of daily life for most of us. Some people cannot start the day without checking their e-mails first even before drinking coffee. Some friends check the weather through the internet instead of listening to Bombo Radio. My grandparents took names of saints from catholic calendars to name my mother and her siblings but today, pregnant women look for names in the internet for their soon-to-be-born babies instead of using the calendar. Students search the internet when given assignments by their instructors. In fact, when my kindergarten daughter had an assignment to cut out pictures of animals with their young, she searched for pictures from the internet and printed them out. No magazine or book was massacred. A friend wanted to bake a chocolate cake in her newly acquired oven but she doesn’t know how. She searched for recipes in the internet and was able to bake a chocolate cake, an angel cake and a delicious meatloaf. The internet isn’t called the information superhighway for nothing.
The internet or world wide web is composed of web sites. Each web site or homesite is composed of several pages called web pages. These are where we read and view information and get resources from the web site. One can read and access documents, view images, watch animation and video, listen to music, talk to someone and hear his voice, and view and download programs, as long as you have the hardware and software to do these things. Each website has its own web address or Uniform Resource Locator or URL. These are global addresses for documents or resources which can be accessed anywhere in the world. Saint Louis University for example, has a web address of www.slu.edu.ph. When one opens this site there are other web pages linked to this page. Each link is a web page.
The essence of web sites is sharing information with other people around the world. With web sites, we can advertise, publicize, share, communicate and brag about any information we have. Web sites are not just for large corporations and business establishments. One can make his own personal website. Although you can say that when you make your own website, you will be putting your own information out to the public. Usman Latif in his article at techuser.net, said that a personal website is not about putting private information online. It is about making available information/opinions that a person finds interesting, and in the process indirectly documenting his/her interests, opinions, skills, and personality. He also said money can be made from a personal webpage but almost always indirectly. A good personal website creates demand for a person's services. A resume is one or two pages of text. A website can be any number of pages of text and graphics.
A personal website doesn’t only allow you to share your information to other people but it is also a way to collect information from them. A cousin married in the US so her relatives in the Philippines and Australia never had the chance to get to know her husband. But through his personal web site we were able to get to know him through his pictures and articles. He also collected everyone’s e-mail addresses and phone numbers so he was able to communicate with all of us through emails, text messages and phone calls.
Some computer applications subjects offered in the university require students to make their own websites. They learn Hypertext Markup Language or HTML, First Page and a little JavaScript and make their web pages using these tools. They are required to post personal pictures, documents and programs that they made, into their site. A lot of students create very good sites but there are some who create mediocre ones just to comply with the requirement. For them the importance of the project just never sank in.
You will need a little practice when creating your own web page. But once you start with it, you will find that it’s a lot of fun. Students in Comp3 in the Engineering and IT3c in Commerce said they enjoy the subject because of web page development. What to put in your web site? Go crazy. You can publish a story you wrote, show picture galleries of your children, share reviews of movies you’ve seen, articles about your hobbies, share pictures and reviews of your last travel, and many others.
Here are some tips in creating your personal web page: First, get a free web space. When creating a personal web page it pays to get a free space. There are a lot of sites that host web sites for free. The following are some popular free web hosts:

http://www.itagz.com
http://www.geocities.com
http://www.angelfire.com
http://www.bravehost.com
http://www.freewebs.com

Next, design your web page. There are software that will guide you step by step in the creation of your web page. All you do is choose the color scheme, the background, the pictures, the outline and it will create the web page for you. In the web host site itself, you have the option to choose their wizard which will tell you instructions on how to build your site. In geocities.com for example, they have the PageBuilder, where you could create your site by selecting and dropping items of your choice on the page. In www.itagz.com, all you do is upload a picture at the prompt, type your title, type your text, it will ask you to type a password and your email and it creates your web page instantly. Very easy.
But if you feel you want to customize, learn HTML and write your own program. Or use web design software like, Firstpage, MSFrontpage, Dreamweaver, etc.
Then, upload files to your web host. All pictures, documents, videos, etc. that you will include in your website has to be uploaded to your host site. In geocities.com select upload file and it will instruct you how to do it.
Lastly, go public! Tell your friends and family about your web site, email everyone your URL and start sharing. Of course you will have to edit your site time and again.
Very soon, personal web sites will become very common. Just like having your own phone number and email address, later your very own web site URL. But for now, let’s start creating them first.