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The general purpose of this book is
To introduce you (students) to 'writing' for the world wide web. The book is an introductory book and is meant for those of you in English and Communications courses but can be used, in general, by others of you in the Humanities and other academic areas.
But exactly What does "writing" mean in the title Writing for the WWW?
What I concentrate on in this book is instructing you in the overall development of Websites and spend less time on the kind of instruction that you would normally expect to find in a traditional textbook on writing. But do not be mistaken: Being able to write clearly and to get ideas across quickly are exceptionally important. And they are no less, if not downright more, important on the WWW. You definitely will want to use, along with this book, a writing handbook so that you can get instructions on mechanics (spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc.). Also, you will want to use the various links to be found at Ted Nellen's collection on the Writing Process, which includes everything that you could ever imagine.
These elements--I cannot stress enough--are extremely important. No matter how much effort you put into the design of a webpage, no matter how many great-looking graphics you have, a poorly-constructed sentence or even phrase, or misspelled words or the ineffective use of punctuation will annoy most people who visit your website.
You need to understand, however, that besides writing for print on paper, which is exclusively the kind of instruction that you get in a writing handbook, you will have to learn how to write for the Web. Therefore, I see it as my task to suggest to you intermittently--when and where appropriate, and always in context--how to write specifically for the different and evolving genres that you will find on the Web. 'Writing' for the Web, in most cases, requires a clipped (highly abbreviated) style. Moreover, 'writing' for the Web requires some knowledge of design and graphics to make writing for print more acceptable and easier to read on the Web. (What is easy to read in print is not necessarily easy to read on a monitor.) Further, 'writing' for the Web requires not only knowledge of the English language or your native language, but also requires a basic understanding and knowledge of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which is the universal language, or code, that determines the disposition of words, images, or links on a Web page.
Besides learning about the mechanics of constructing Web pages, you also learn in Writing for the World Wide Web how to revise a web page in terms of re-visioning (re-seeing) it. I take you through several revisions, for example, of a personal home page and suggest to you how to connect your other web writings to your page.
All of these many and various aspects, then, are what I mean by 'writing' for the WWW. (For a continuing answer to the question concerning 'writing,' read the Introduction to this book.)
The other, more specific purposes are
 To describe and establish for you a series of templates for personal home pages (expressive writing), and for the electronic essay, informational Web sites, and collaborative sites (expository and persuasive writing), and in passing to introduce you to experimental writing for the Web (aesthetic, "creative" writing).
To suggest to you ways of thinking about discovering and developing a sense of style for the Web.
To provide you with the necessary web resources (e.g., updates on browsers, information on hexidecimal [color] codes, places to find graphics in the public domain) that you will need to be successful.
To instruct you in the logic of computer directories and how to transfer files to a server.
To proved you with the necessary Web resources (e.g., updates on browsers, information on hexidecimal [color] codes, places to find graphics in the public domain) that you will need to be successful.
To introduce you to the problems of copyright infringement in respect to both text and graphics, multimedia.
To provide you with a handy checklist for revision and for corrections.
To point you to more sophisticated software and technology that will have an impact on writing and designing for the WWW.
You are expected to create an HTML document/file by typing in each of the examples and thereby creating a repertoire of templates. The typing of the HTML puts you in the position of working through each section of the code, and of course puts you in the position of having to find and correct your typos, just as you would have to find your errors and typos in an essay for print. Once the templates are stored in hard disks or on various floppy disks, then you can begin to work from them, testing them, filling them with your own content and graphics, modifying them altogether as you learn more about HTML and you envision what and how it is that you want to communicate. You are also encouraged to surf and study the Web itself--your other textbook--looking for sites that also can be used for templates.
Since this book about the Web is a book, it has its limitations. Therefore, there is a website that updates and supplements this book. Visit http://www.abacon.com/.
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