Info about Free Web Pages
Web pages building software
Web pages are a canvas for artistic experimentation because they are not as big as websites, and they can be designed by just about anyone with simple software like Microsoft FrontPage or Google Sites. Of course, some freedom is restricted with Google Sites, but it’s made up with ease of use. Web pages are easy to design and cost less than purchasing full websites.
Google Sites was launched in February 2008. It is part of the overall Google Apps service, and allows users to create their own free web pages. It was launched as a replacement for Google Page Creator, a similar service which also allowed users to build their own websites, but with less features. When it began, the service required users to own a domain name with which to link their Google Site. Although not popular with people simply looking to create a free site- they had to pay for a domain name, it did actually provide a unique internet space with a domain name that could be easily remembered and passed on to family and friends or business colleagues. With the removal of this requirement, the addresses for Google Sites now contain ‘sites.google.com’ in the domain. This appears less professional and may be harder to remember than a unique domain name.
However, despite the disadvantages, Google Sites is very easy to use and therefore ideal for people who are looking to create their own space on the internet without any prior experience or knowledge of the field. As it is a wiki based structure, it can be edited simply by inputting text into a box on the screen, and images can be uploaded with a couple of mouse clicks, rather than having to refer to any image location through HTML code. Because they are wikis, they can be edited by a number of people at different locations. The creator of the website defines who is permitted to view and edit the content, and those who are allowed to can add their own information and multimedia content to the page. This makes the format perfect for group collaboration, and allows people to create lists which can be updated as certain deadlines in a project are met.
Microsoft FrontPage is a WYSIWYG editor for web pages that started shipping with Microsoft Office from the 1997 version, until the 2003 version. Although as of 2006, Microsoft no longer ships this product, replacing it with Microsoft Expression Web and SharePoint Designer, it is still commonly uses by many people to put together web pages. It offers significant ease of use to people already familiar with Microsoft Office products, as it appears in the same style that users of the suite are already very much accustomed to. It allows users to create the website by inputting text directly on to the page, so they can see exactly how it will appear on the final website. The same is true for graphics and multimedia content. They can be moved around the page in the traditional ‘drag and drop’ style, so that the designer has total control of how the page appears when viewed by a visitor.
Although the products outlined here do not offer scope to create hugely unique or interesting designs, they do a fantastic job of doing what they are designed to do. That is, to give people who have no real knowledge of web page creation to be able to do so, as well as serving as an educational tool for people who are taking their first steps into web page creation and may wish to make use of more advanced software in the future.