Four Roads Diverged... Ways to Approach Creation of Your Web Site
World wide web pages are constructed using Hypertext Mark-Up Language (HTML). HTML is a document-layout and hyperlink-specification language. It defines the syntax and placement of special, embedded directions that aren't displayed by the web browser, but tell how to display the contents of a web page, including text, images and other support media. The HTML language also tells you how to make a web page interactive through special hypertext links, which connect your web page with other documents or web pages - on either your computer or someone else's as well as with other Internet resources, like FTP and Gopher.
Writing HTML code takes a little bit of getting used to, but it's really no harder to master than one of the early DOS word processing programs where you had to type in the text formatting commands yourself. The main trouble with learning HTML is not it's difficulty, but simply that most of us have enough on our plates these days without taking on something else. The good news for those interested in developing their own web site is that, while you are probably better off in the long run knowing something of how HTML works, especially with regard to how clickable links operate, it's really no more necessary to know HTML to create a web page these days than it is to know the workings of an internal combustion engine in order to drive an automobile.
One way around the problem of learning to write HTML code yourself would be to pay a professional web page designer to build a page for your studio. That way you'll have a really professional looking web site which will be attractive to your students, their parents and everyone else. The down side of this approach is that professional web page design is very costly and although it may be tax deductible as a business expense, it's still a pretty expensive proposition. If you wish to have your page professionally done you should contact the design services department of your Internet Service Provider. An example of a professionally created web site for you to check out would be: Judith Siegel's web site.
Another possibility would be to enlist the services of a computer science student at your local college or university. These folks are often looking to build a portfolio of web page designs, they work for considerably less than professional web designers, they are really self-motivated and capable of some fine work. I went this route with my first web page. I came across a web page design which I thought was similar to what I wanted, gave the information to the student, and after a couple of drafts he came up with a layout which pleased me very much. A web page which was initially created through this method is the: The Piano in CyberSpace.
You might also try asking around in your studio. It's quite possible that a few of your budding pianists also know a thing or two about computers and the Internet as well. Why not give them the information you want on your studio web page and let them design it? It could be a wonderful project to involve your students in making a statement about what's important in music study and what kinds of things should be included on your studio's web page. Of course, you should be sure to retain final control of all decisions about the content and design of your web page, but I think you'd be very happily surprised with what your students would come up with for your studio's page. Just be sure they don't take the time they spend at the computer off of their piano practice time! To view a page which was created with the technical assistance of students from the teacher's studio check out Morrine Silverman's web site.
Finally, I think you should consider creating your studio web page yourself, using one of the newer HTML capable word processing programs or editing capable web browsers. The newest versions of the most popular word processing programs such as Corell's WordPerfect and Microsoft's Word allow you to save documents in HTML format. Likewise, the newest versions of the most popular web browsers, such as Netscape's Communicator 4.0 and Micorsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0, allow you to create and edit files exactly as you would in a word processor and the save those files in HTML format. With these tools at your disposal, you don't have to know a thing about HTML code. You just lay the page out as you want it to appear press the "save as HTML" command and your program automatically provides the HTML code required to create your web page. I began creating web pages in the mid 1990's, the "old days", back when we had to write HTML code ourselves. By the way, I also had to walk 10 miles to school in the snow too.) To see a page which was created using Microsoft Word and Netscape 4.0 try the web site for The American Matthay Association.