Did you ever wonder how seventh graders construct
Web Pages with ease? Well I found the answer in the
new Netscape Communicator 4.5, downloadable and
free from Netscape.Com. Netscape Composer allows
you to assemble all the elements of a beautiful page
without knowing HTML code. You can now put your
gorgeous digitized photos and words of wisdom on the
Web and change them frequently without editorial
comment in minutes. Hours would be more honest. Here
is how you do it.

First you must sign up for Web Page space, 6 MB worth,
free from TGF at the Web Page sign up form. The form
just requires a few minutes and Voila! the URL address,
the ftp server address and your chosen name and
password appear in your e-mail.

Now to the nitty-gritty of Composer. Working off-line
under Format you assign a page title and background
color or pattern which will be tiled. Then under File you
save the new page to a new folder named index on your
desktop. Now to familiarize you with the Toolbar, follow
the symbols from the left. (+page=new page, folder
page=open page, disk=save, air-mail=publish to server,
ship wheel=view in Navigator before publish,
scissor=cut, pages=copy, bulletin board=paste) and
then just follow the balloons to print, find, link, targets on
your page, image, break line, table form and spell-check.
The line below refers to text which must be highlighted
before changing. The most important symbol is on the
far right, cursor position for text or image. Hold to see all
positions.

Now it’s time to create. Type to your hearts content, but
remember that text wraps around to the next left margin
or around the image that you have inserted at the cursor
by clicking the image symbol and assigning the file name
of your pic. If you want text to wrap around the image,
check out the various styles (xyz) below the filename
box. Links to other sites are formed by highlighting the
text, clicking the Link symbol and assigning the URL.
Targets or GoTo on your page are assigned the same
way. You may cut and paste, or drag and drop almost
anything from an active Navigator page to your
Composer. Now that’s plagiarism, but the Animation
Factory, etc., say it’s kosher if it isn’t commercial. It’s
that simple. Remember to save your hard work to that
index folder. All images and your text page will be saved
as separate files in the folder. View in Navigator to see
how it will look on the Web. Click the publish symbol, and
type your ftp address in the location box, assigning the
/default.htm as your First Home Page. Select all the files
in the Publish box and Publish. Communicator does the
rest. Then you advertise your page by joining the
TGForum Web ring and wait for acclaim.

Did I say Your Pain-Free Web Page? Not exactly!
Composer does not accept every tag (counter, applet,
java) that you insert on the page. So you must type in a
custom HTML tag found under Insert and you will not
see the object it refers to until it’s up on the Web. But
what gratification when it appears. Now multiple sub
pages may be saved in your site by assigning /
page1.htm, and so on, where /default.htm was in the ftp
address. Well of course this took a few hours of Typing in
the Dark, but my first Web Page "Dancing in the Dark" is
up and running with only one letter to Stef Matthews for
her counter source code.