Making a Web Page with
Microsoft WORD

Back to
 Computer Class Home/Web Page Project Guide/Introduction to Windows 2000

First step: Making the initial page, saving it as a Web page:
1. Open WORD - click on the START button, go to PROGRAMS, then find Microsoft WORD: Open Microsoft WORD or and then click....  OR: you may have to double-click the icon on the desktop.
2. Type the title of your page, or a working title. (Neptune, History of the World...)
3. Click on the File menu, pull it down to save as HTML... (Word 97)  or save as Web Page... (Word 2000 or XP).
4. Click in the Save in: dialog box and select  3½ Floppy (A:), or to what ever storage medium you should be using.
5. Confirm the title in the File name: dialog box and click Save.
6. A warning window will open that says formatting may be lost.  Click OK and move on.
 
You should have a plain white page with your title at the top left, and it should be saved to your floppy drive or other folder with a name like: YourTitle.html or YourTitle.htm
 
Second step: making a table to improve your page formatting:
  Hint:
Open this page in WORD and you can see the formatting used to make it!

 
7. Click on the Table menu and then on Insert Table..., or click on the Insert Table button insert table on the toolbar.
8. Point to the left or right edge of the table, and when the cursor turns into a double arrow with vertical lines in between, like this:adjust table
then you can move the left or right edge of the table toward the center, making your table occupy a center area of the page, and leaving the edges clear.
This makes it easier for your page to be read effectively by people who have smaller screens than the one you are making the page on, and older browsers. 

9. When you want to add a cell, or a column, go to the Table menu and click on those items, like:

- insert rows
-split cells
-merge cells

10. The above commands often require that you Select a row, cell, column, or the entire table before they are activated.
11. An easy way to add a row, just like the one you are in, is to click the tab key on your keyboard when your cursor is in the last cell.  Try it!
12. Another handy tool is to have the table toolbar visible.  Click on View, Toolbars, then Tables and Borders.  Alternatively, it will often automatically be there if you are working in a table.
13. The formatting advantages of the use of tables are obvious, when you realize that this page you are reading is using tables.  They are invisible, yet structure the page to your exact wishes!

Below is a visible table with a portion of the above instructions, so you can see the structure that is otherwise hidden.

 

1. Open WORD - click on the START button, go to PROGRAMS, then find Microsoft WORD Open Microsoft WORD and click.
2. Type the title of your page, or a working title.
   

 

Third step: add some color, background, pictures...
14. Add a background color:  Click on Format, Background..., then choose a color.
15. In the same window, choose More Colors... then the Standard or Custom tab to increase your choices.
16. In the same window, choose Fill Effects... to use a Microsoft provided picture background.  Just click on the one you like.
17. To choose a picture of your own, go to Other Texture... , then in the Select Texture window that appears you have to navigate within your computer to find a picture that you have saved there from another source, like one that you have downloaded from the web.

Some Friendly advice:  If your background is too "busy" it makes your text hard to read.  Keep It Simple.
18. To change your basic text color is similar to doing it in a regular WORD text document:
Go to Format, then down to Text Colors... , then choose your Body text color.  Note that you also may choose the Hyperlink color and the Followed hyperlink color.  These are for the links you will include in your page to other web pages that you link to.
19. To add pictures, click on Insert, Picture, and From File... then navigate in your computer to find the picture that you want.
Fourth step: creating hyperlinks:
20. Select the text or picture you want to have a hyperlink, then click on Insert, then Hyperlink..., or click on the button that shows the little globe with one chain link on it on your Standard Menu bar.
21. In the Insert Hyperlink window that appears, you must type or paste the URL for the page you are going to link to.
Pasting is easiest: just go to that page in your browser, click in the Location or Address bar to select the address, and either right click to choose copy, or key Control-C on your keyboard, then go back to your WORD page and key Control-V to paste into the window the address you just copied.
22. You can also link to other locations within your page.  Go to the place you want the link to point to, click the Insert menu and on down to Bookmark... , enter a name for the bookmark.
Go back to the word or picture you're going to make into a link, follow the instructions above, but go to the bottom of the Hyperlink window to Named location in file...  click Browse, and select the name of your bookmark that appears.

Updated 11/14/05