Creating a web page can at first seem like a daunting task. Most people who are new to the web will look at web pages and wonder, "If I wanted to create my own web page, I wouldn't even know where to start!" But when you understand the steps involved, the process becomes much more straightforward and may even turn out to be an enjoyable experience!

Before you can start creating your own web page, you need to understand what a web page actually is. It's a collection of files stored on a computer that is connected to the internet. Most pages consist of a single HTML file that contains the text that people see and commands to display images along with the text. Computers that store web page files on the internet are known as 'servers', because they 'serve' web page files to computers that request them. For example, the page you are viewing right now is located on Sheltered Hosting's web server. When you clicked on the link to this page, you were actually telling the Sheltered Hosting server to send you the files that make up this web page. This request results in files being sent from the server to your computer so that they can be displayed in your web browser.

Now you might be thinking, "How do I set up a web page so that when someone types www.mywebpage.com into their browser, my web page will be sent to their computer?" Read on and find out.

Step 1: Register a domain name

A domain name is a unique name that identifies a server on the internet. Shelteredhosting.com is an example of a domain name that identifies the Sheltered Hosting server. Because Sheltered Hosting registered this name with a domain name registrar, no one else can use it.

The domain name is always the first part of the address, or URL, of a specific web page. For example, the web page you are viewing right now is http://shelteredhosting.com/article-create-webpage.html. The domain name identifies the server, while 'article-create-webpage.html' identifies the web page on that server.

When you type a domain name into your browser, your computer first consults the internet equivalent of a huge telephone book (called a DNS server) to find out which server on the internet corresponds to that domain name. When it finds the correct entry, it contacts the specified server to request the proper HTML file (or, if no file is requested, it looks for index.html).

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