There are two sets of instructions. One is called Primers
and it gives you a quick rundown of basics like how to bold
(and how to stop the bold).
The other set is called Tutorials and it's more advanced.
Clear all children out of the room. Print all of the Primers
and Tutorials.
You have to enter each section and print so while you're
there, read the titles to get an idea of what subjects
he's covering.
Children gone? Okay, you are allowed to utter profanities
when you see how many pages have printed. Feel better? You are also
allowed to question my sanity (I certainly did). You'll
think, "I could have bought a book." Yes, you could have.
But that would have cost money and this is free.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO TO YOUR PRINTED PAGES:
Staple each chapter individually. Remember, we're talking
about mistakes I made so you don't have to?
Well, trust me when I tell you -- you do not want to
play 52-card pickup with these pages.
There's a reason behind this insanity. If you're trying
to do something on your home page, you don't want to get
in the middle of it and have to click over to see how it
was you were supposed to do it because you were sure it was
so simple you would remember and, of course, you don't.
You'll have the pages
in front of you to refer to when you get stuck.
It's a good idea now to read the Primers. If you've made
it this far, they're pretty simple.
Now, go back to your home page and create a page 3 (or use the
same page 2 to practice). But this time you want to hit
Advanced Edit. Remember when you got your first apartment?
It's the same thing here only your mother is not going to show up with
toilet paper and cleaning supplies which she's sure you forgot.
Now, write something. Decide what you want to do to your
sentence. Go to the Primer and see how Dr. Goodies tells
you to do it.
For instance, if you want to put something in italics.
Go find the subject "italics" in your papers and practice.
See, you don't have to read it ALL. You just read the
chapter that tells you how to do whatever it is you want to
try next.
Want a table? There are several chapters on tables.
Start with the easiest one and work your way up.
Another thing to be aware of. Copy, paste and replace.
Put
your cursor on any web page (except mine --I'm still using
the hunt and peck method and you want to do this on a page belonging
to somebody who knows what they're doing), then click on View
and go
to Document Source. That gives you the html language for
that page. If you find a format you like on somebody's
page, you can copy (use Control C to copy from the page)
that format and then replace their wording
with yours.
There are some chapters in Dr. Goodies' instructions that
you will want to look at on the computer to get a better
idea of what he's talking about, but most of them tell
you everything you want to know without going back to his
website at all.
Start at the beginning and go at your own pace. Remember,
your page is still hidden so nobody knows how many mistakes
you make.
I have read references to doing all this off-line but I
have yet to figure out how to do it off-line and be able
to view it and see if you've done things right and I
haven't done anything right the first time yet. If you
figure that out, can you please tell me?
HOME
OR BACK TO HTML PAGE
No, I know you said you didn't want to read about html.
That's why we've both stayed away from it so long -- there's not
much of a plot. I understand. But
if somebody handed you Einstein's "Theory of Relativity" as
explained by George Carlin, you'd at least open the book
to see how it goes. This manual could have been written
by Carlin (or Gallagher).
So give Dr. Goodies a try,
but wait just a second . . .
