Love At First Site

By Lev Grossman

I wouldn't say I'm the jealous type--except when somebody else has something cool that's rightfully mine. The other day I noticed that one of my fellow journalists--let's call him Wilford--had his own home page, a very nice one as a matter of fact. It was simple. Elegant. Informative. In short, I wanted it. So I decided to make my own home page, even though what I know about making Web pages could fit on a mouse pad. As I discovered, that doesn't really matter.

Before I began, I set some ground rules: I didn't want to sully my hands with any of that HTML stuff--none of those pesky >'s and /'s for me--or worry my pretty little head over any instruction manuals. I didn't want to do anything more than cut and paste, drag and drop. Fortunately, there are plenty of software tools that will let me do just that. They're called WYSIWYG editors.

WYSIWYG (you say it whiz-zee-wig) means "What you see is what you get," and in Web design it means you can build an entire site without touching any code. With a WYSIWYG editor, all you have to do is type your words here, stick an image there and kick back with a cold one. The editor does all the heavy lifting. If you had Colorforms when you were a kid, you're practically overqualified for wysiwyg.

Even better, some WYSIWYG programs are actually free. Most websites that give away home pages gratis, such as Homestead www.homestead.com and GeoCities www.geocities.com) supply you with WYSIWYG tools as part of the deal. These tools work entirely within your Web browser. Just go to the site, register for a free page, and the program starts up right there in the browser window. With Homestead, my favorite of the free services, you get the choice of building a page from scratch or choosing from a menu of prefab styles and templates. Personally I found their styles a little tacky ("Pastel Waves"? Please), but Homestead does have some cool features. You can add a free news feed to your site, for example, or a chat room, just by pointing and clicking.

But you get what you pay for. The site I built using Homestead's software was functional, but frankly I find better-looking things between my teeth when I floss. In search of an upgrade, I tried some cheap, bare-bones shareware programs, but they were buggy and hard to use. Finally I picked up a couple of manly, high-end Web-building packages: Microsoft's FrontPage ($169) and NetObjects Fusion MX ($99). This is serious software aimed at small businesses that need a Web presence, rather than individuals who are building monuments to their self-esteem. I found both of them fairly challenging. If you're used to programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel, you'll probably prefer FrontPage, since the interface has the same look and feel. I ended up building my website with Fusion; it was less friendly but had a funkier collection of styles to choose from.

Was it worth the trouble? You be the judge. The finished product is online at www.levgrossman.com If I had it to do over again, I'd probably stick with the infinitely easier and cheaper (though less aesthetically pleasing) Homestead. Or you can do what Wilford did: hire a professional.

Don't have enough technology in your life? Subscribe to ON magazine at www.onmagazine.com Questions? E-mail Lev at lev@onmagazine.com