A web site is a collection of pages that are linked together. Each page contains HTML code, or "Hyper Text Markup Language," that references graphics, text, databases, other web pages, etc. A web browser reads the HTML and interprets it. The browser shows you this interpretation.

Every web browser sees things slightly differently. Additionally, people have their web browser windows open at different sizes. This makes web design VERY challenging.

There are two ways that you can build a personal website. You can write out all the HTML code by hand using any ASCII text editor such as notepad, or you can use a WYSIWYG, (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor such as Macromedia Dreamweaver.

This course emphasizes the use of WYSIWYG editors. As designers we like to be able to move things around, searching for interesting compositions. Although this is exactly what you are doing when you write HTML code by hand, many of us are more comfortable if we can "see" what we are working with. Learning HTML is usefull, but not required. If you are interested in learning the basics or HTML, check out the HTML tutorial.