Saving Your Web Pages | Microsoft Office Word 2003 Inside Out (Bpg-Inside Out)

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After you create a Web page document but before you get too far into Web page development, you need to save your Web pages. As with most document creation tasks, you should always (always, always, always) save your work frequently to avoid losing data due to unexpected system failures or power losses.

Saving Web pages involves a couple of key tasks that don't come into play when you save standard word processing documents. Specifically, you need to verify or add Web title bar text, and you need to determine whether you want to save your Web page so that you can continue to edit it in Word or save it in as streamlined a form as possible for publication on the Internet.

Inside Out: Creating backup files for Web pages

When you save a Web page, Word doesn't create a backup copy, even if you select the Always Create Backup Copy check box in the Save tab in the Options dialog box (which you access by choosing Tools, Options, and then clicking the Save tab). If you want to store a backup copy of a Web page, you'll need to use the Save As dialog box to save the document manually twice, using two different names or storing the files in two different locations.

Adding Title Bar Text

As you've probably noticed while surfing the Web, Web pages display text in your browser's title bar. The browser knows what text to display in the title bar by reading the HTML code in a Web page's header section. Using Word, you can add a title to a Web page without directly editing the document's source code. One of the most convenient ways to add title bar text to a Web page is to do so while saving the document, as described here:

With your Web page document open, choose File, Save As. The Save As dialog box appears.
In the Save As Type list, select Single File Web Page, Web Page, or Web Page, Filtered. (The differences among these three file types are described next, in "Choosing a Web Page Format: Web Page vs. Web Page, Filtered" and "Creating Single File Web Pages.") As soon as you choose a Web page file type, the Save As dialog box changes to include the Change Title button, as shown in Figure 26-8.

Figure 26-8: When you specify a Web page file type, the Save As dialog box changes to include the Change Title button.
Click Change Title. The Set Page Title dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 26-9.

Figure 26-9: The Set Page Title dialog box enables you to add or modify a Web page's title bar text.
Type the title bar text for the Web page, and then click OK. The title text appears in the Save As dialog box next to the Page Title label.
Click Save to save your document.

When you display your Web page in a browser, the text you entered in the Set Page Title dialog box will appear in the browser's title bar. When you add title bar text, you should make the text as clear and descriptive as possible. The title text also appears on the Windows taskbar, so making the text concise and clear can help users find and return to your page if they're working with multiple windows open.

Tip

Change Web page title text using the Properties dialog box You can also change a document's title bar text by modifying the file's properties. To do so, open the file, choose File, Properties, click the Summary tab, and then type text in the Title box. Click OK to save your changes.

Choosing a Web Page Format: Web Page vs. Web Page, Filtered

As mentioned, you can save Web pages in three main formats: Single File Web Page, Web Page, and Web Page, Filtered. This section of the chapter looks at the Web Page and Web Page, Filtered file formats. The next section reviews the Single File Web Page format. Each file type serves a particular purpose.

When you save a document using the Web Page file type, the document can be viewed online. In addition, you can continue to edit the document in Word without a hitch because Word editing capabilities are also retained. In contrast, when you save a document using the Web Page, Filtered format, tags specific to Office are removed from the file's source code. This removal reduces the file size (and smaller file sizes mean faster download and display times when you're viewing files on the Web), but you lose some Office editing functionality, such as list formatting features and smart tags. If you save a document using Web Page, Filtered, and then reopen the file in an Office program, the text and general appearance of the page will be preserved, but some features might work differently or incorrectly.

You should follow these basic rules when saving Web pages in Word:

If your Web page is a work in progress, save the document using the Web Page file type. That way, you'll retain full editing capabilities.
If you've completed editing the Web page and you're ready to post it, save the document using the Web Page, Filtered file type to create the smallest possible document file with the cleanest HTML source code.
If you've completed editing the Web page but you think you will work on it in the future, save two versions of the document. Use the Web Page file type to save a working copy on your local computer, and use the Web Page, Filtered file type to save a file that you can upload to a Web server.

After you decide how you'd like to save your Web page document, you can do so as follows:

While your Web page document is open, choose File, Save As.
Type a name for the file in the File Name box, click the Save As Type arrow, and then choose Web Page or Web Page, Filtered from the list.
Enter title text if necessary.
Using the Save In box, or the My Places Bar, navigate to the desired location, and then click Save.

When you save a Word document as a Web page that contains pictures, drawing objects, and other graphics not saved as Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG, or JPG), Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), or Portable Network Graphics (PNG) files, Word saves copies of the graphics with the HTML document using the JPG, GIF, or PNG format, as appropriate. (Pictures are saved as JPG graphics, and drawings are usually saved as GIF graphics.) When Word automatically converts images, it names and numbers the images image001.gif, image002.jpg, image003.png, and so forth.

Creating Single File Web Pages

In addition to saving Web page documents, you can create a single file Web page. A single file Web page contains all the elements of a Web page, including the text (HTML source code) and graphics files (pictures, background graphics, bullet images, and so forth), in a single file. Single file Web pages can be likened to HTML-formatted messages and complete Web pages that can be sent in many e-mail applications. The single file Web page encapsulation allows you to publish your entire Web site as a single MHTML (MIME [Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions] encapsulation of aggregate HTML documents) file or send an entire Web site as an e-mail message or attachment. This format is supported by Internet Explorer 4 and later.

To save a Web page as a single file Web page, you simply specify the Single File Web Page file type in the Save As dialog box, as follows:

Open the Web page, and then choose File, Save As.
In the Save As dialog box, choose Single File Web Page in the Save As Type list.
Name the file, provide title text, specify the location where you want to store the file, and then click Save.

After you create a single file Web page, you can move the MHTML file anywhere without losing the graphics. In addition, a single file Web page tends to be smaller overall than the original Web page and associated graphics stored as separate files. The major drawback to single file Web pages is that not all browsers support MHTML yet, so if you use this format to post Web pages, you risk losing viewers who use browsers that don't support the MHTML format.

Configuring Web View Options

After you create your core Web page documents and save your documents (including adding title bar text), you're well into the process of Web page creation. As you design your Web pages, you're going to need to keep track of whether your content will be displayed according to your design plans when the page is displayed in Web browsers. To help you keep an eye on your pages, Word provides a number of Web-centric views you can use while you create and modify Web pages, as follows:

Web Layout view Web Layout view is the working view in Word when you're creating Web pages and documents that will be viewed on the screen. When you're in this view, you can see backgrounds, text wrapping, and graphics appearing similarly to how the page will be displayed in a browser. To switch to Web Layout view, choose View, Web Layout, or click Web Layout View to the left of the horizontal scroll bar.
Web Page Preview You can view your Web page documents in your browser at any time. You should do this frequently to ensure that your page will be displayed as planned. To view an open Web page document in your browser, choose File, Web Page Preview. If your browser isn't running, it starts automatically, and the current Web page document is displayed in your browser. To return to Word, close or minimize your browser and display the Word window again.
HTML source code You can view and directly edit a Web page's HTML source code at any time. To do so, choose View, HTML Source. If you haven't used the Script Editor, you might have to insert your installation CD and install the editor. Similarly, if you don't see the HTML Source menu option, you need to install the Script Editor. To install the editor, ensure that your installation CD is handy (or that you know the network location of your installation files), and then choose View, HTML Source (if this option is available) or choose Tools, Macro, Microsoft Script Editor. For more information about editing source code, see "Editing Source Code Using the Microsoft Script Editor".

In addition to using these views, you should always check your Web pages in a variety of browsers (including past and present versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator) and on various platforms (at least on the Mac and PC) before you publish your Web pages online. If you're designing for the Internet, you'll want your Web pages to look the best possible to the widest audience. Of course, if you're designing for a company intranet, you'll probably have to test your Web pages only on the browser types and versions used by employees.

Tip

View your pages on various platforms Although checking your Web pages on various platforms is highly recommended, it's not always easily accomplished. If you don't have a test network set up for this purpose, you can use some creative ingenuity to check your Web pages. For example, consider posting your pages online in a temporary directory. Then you can ask friends, relatives, and associates to view the temporary pages on their systems. You can also copy your files to a disk and take the disk to a nearby copy store to view your Web pages on their computers (for which you will probably be charged a fee). Or you can check out your Web pages on your local library's computers if it provides Internet access for members or allows you to bring your own disks. Finally, if you don't want to buy another computer or two for testing purposes, you can purchase software that enables you to install and run multiple operating systems on a single computer. Currently, VMware is a popular software package that enables you to run multiple operating systems. You can find out about the software by visiting the company's Web site at http://www.vmware.com.

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