Building Your Own Web Page

You can use Word 2000, Word 2002 or Word 2003 to help you build your Web pages, if desired. These Web pages don't need to be constructed solely of text and graphics, which you already know how to use in Word. Indeed, there are many features that are traditionally associated with Web pages that you can add to your documents to prepare them for the Web.

The majority of Web features, from a page creating perspective, are accessed from the Web Tools toolbar. This toolbar was introduced beginning with Word 2000. You display the Web Tools toolbar the same as you do with other toolbars: You choose Toolbars from the View menu, and then choose Web Tools. The tools available on the toolbar are primarily used to create Web forms, which help provide a degree of interactivity between your Web page and the Web server on which your page is located. Typically, Web forms are used to gather information from someone browsing your site.

There are seventeen tools on the Web Tools toolbar, as follows:

• Design Mode. Used to design forms and other non-traditional document items for Web pages.
• Properties. Displays the attributes assigned to an element of your Web page.
• Microsoft Script Editor. Accesses the special script-editing tool used for creating CGI scripts or other scripts for use in a Web page.
• Checkbox. A type of control that is used to select an option or a feature presented on the Web page.
• Option Button. Another type of control used to select an option or feature.
• Dropdown Box. Used to present a collection of choices from which one must be selected.
• List Box. Similar to a drop-down box, but shows all the different options in a scrollable list.
• Textbox. Used to gather input from the user.
• Text Area. Used to gather a large amount of input from the user. Similar to a text box, but typically wider and deeper.
• Submit. Adds a button used to submit a form. The user clicks on this to send the results of a form to your Web server.
• Submit With Image. Same as the Submit tool, but uses an image for the button instead of a standard button appearance.
• Reset. Adds a button used to set all form controls on your Web page to their initial values.
• Hidden. Creates a hidden text box, for adding information which you, instead of the user, pass to the server.
• Password. Same as a textbox, but information typed in by the user is displayed as asterisks. For private things, like passwords.
• Movie. Adds a video file to your document.
• Sound. Adds a background sound file to your document. This is a sound file that plays in the background when the document is first viewed in a browser.
• Scrolling Text. Used to create text that scrolls. (Well named, isn't it?)

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (831) applies to Microsoft Word 2000, 2002, and 2003.