CyberGuide - Establishing your Internet Presence

Dr. Tim Rhodus
Department of Horticulture and Crop Science
The Ohio State University
e-mail: Rhodus.1@osu.edu

Getting on the Web. This is becoming the thing to do for all types of organizations: wholesale, retail, and service businesses, governmental agencies, utility companies, social clubs, radio and TV stations, and magazines of all types. By integrating traditional advertising and promotional messages with a creative layout and a little bit of product education thrown in to soften the sales pitch, firms are realizing that this media presents some pretty exciting opportunities. But what does it take to convert your ideas and favorite photos into so many bits and bytes that can travel at the speed of light? Surprisingly, the process is really not all that difficult. Typically, web page designers start out with a word processing or desktop publishing file. This file is then modified to include a series of codes or tags that follow a standard called Hypertext Markup Language, HTML. For example, inserting the code <p> at the end of a line of text indicates that the end of a paragraph has been reached and that a blank line should be inserted before the next line of text. In order to display a picture of the company logo, the following tag would be used, <img src="logo.gif">. At this point, you are probably wondering if all of this HTML coding is going to require a computer programmer. Fortunately, the answer is No. Many, many software companies are battling to develop the ideal HTML editor. If you are currently using Microsoft Word or WordPerfect, there are secondary programs called Internet Assistant and Internet Publisher, respectively. Both of these programs will automatically convert your document into proper HTML format but they each require the latest version of Word and WordPerfect. This will cost anywhere from $120 to $250 depending upon whether you are upgrading from a previous copy or buying the whole program. The good news is that both of them are free to download over the Internet. If you are using Pagemaker for desktop publishing, the latest version of their program comes with a built-in feature that will save a version of your document with the appropriate HTML codes. However, all three of these programs will not provide 100% of the tags that are required. Someone will have to come back and fine tune the document so that everything works the way it should.

If you are designing your Web pages from scratch and not relying on previously published documents, then there are various programs available called HTML editors that allow you to enter text directly and insert the appropriate tags by just clicking a button or selecting an option from the program's command menus. Currently, the most talked about HTML editor is called PageMill. This program from Adobe provides the user who doesn't know HTML, the ability "to drag and drop text and images into place. You can even link Web pages by dragging an icon from one document and dropping it into another. And you can test your pages within PageMill, without needing a separate browser." The cost of all this flexibility is pretty reasonable too, only $99.95. Of course, the obvious alternative to designing your own web pages is to have it done by someone else. There are many different options in this regard. You might try contacting a local high school or college and posting a part time work study project that requires a computer literate person interested in designing web pages for a "real world" company. They might be willing to work for a pretty low fee but you will have to incur the expense of getting the appropriate hardware and software in place for them to do the work. The next option would involve working with a professional web page designer who only designs pages but does not have a computer for serving your pages over the Internet. Given that they have already paid for the hardware and software, their fees will probably be in the area of $80 per page. Some might be willing to negotiate on this rate, given the size of the total project. Finally, the most likely alternative for firms that are just starting to create their Internet presence will be to lease space on a web server owned by a company who's primary business is designing and serving information for the Internet. The fees will vary among providers. Some might be as low as $50.00 per month and they design up to five pages. Others, might be as high as several thousand dollars a month and you can have an unlimited number of pages. While this cost may seem high, it needs to be put in perspective relative to the cost of: a yellow pages listing, a four color flyer, or a radio or television spot. Right now, the cost benefit ratio still favors traditional media but in a few years, who knows? Dr. Tim Rhodus is an associate professor in The Ohio State University Department of Horticulture and Crop Science in Columbus. E-mail Rhodus.1@osu.edu.

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