While you're surfing the Web, think of it as doing your homework—looking for Web sites that you would like to emulate. When you see a some good formatting or design you like, go ahead and copy it to your hard drive so you can study it, tweak it, revise ir, and find out what makes it tick.

Copy a single page

You can copy a single page, complete with all graphics, by using Netscape or Internet Explorer. It's a good idea to create a new folder for each page or group of pages you copy so these files will not become mingled with your other files. The graphics as well as the HTML file will all be saved into that folder. (Please note that the file structure of the Web site will be ignored and graphics will be copied into the same folder as the HTML file, regardless of their location in the original Web site.)

Copying a single page in Netscape

In Netscape, you simply click the "File" button in the top menu bar. In the drop-down menu, select "Edit Page." This will display the page in Netscape Composer as an "editable" page. Select "Save as." You will be prompted to save the Web page to your hard drive. (Be sure to put it in a separate folder.)

Copying a single page in Internet Explorer

In internet Explorer, click the "File" button in the top menu bar. In the drop-down menu, select "Save as." In the folder you've creaed for this Web page, enter a file name (no spaces) to identify the site. Click "Save."

You can load this page into your HTML editor and use some of the skills you are learning in these tutorials to make changes to it and note the effect.

• Try replacing the graphics with new ones (being sure to apply the correct height and width attributes).
• Change the text, make it larger or smaller; change the text color or specify a particular font.
• Delete elements; insert new elements.
• Go wild. Insert some animated GIFs just for fun, and notice how they slow up the loading of your page. Put in some blinking text, enjoy watching it blink, then take it out and never use the blink tag again.
  

Copy an entire Web site

You can copy an entire Web site, replicating its file structure exactly, by the use of a program such as HTTrack Website Copier. This program is free and does a marvellous job of copying a Web site and all its components to your hard drive. Mind you, I'm not encouraging you to steal the work of another Web developer, but by copying and studying other's work, you can learn how Web sites are structured.

Last updated June 23, 2002