How to Edit Your Website Template

The principal theatre of action in your free website template is the index.htm file and you can use a WYSIWYG editor, an HTML editor or any old plain text editor to edit it.

• WYSIWYG editor ~ If you want to edit your index.htm file the easy way (but you won't learn anything) then just use Composer which is a WYSIWYG editor that comes free with the Seamonkey browser package. Please see Seamonkey or Netscape users for more info.
• HTML or text editor ~ If you want to get a little more serious about web designing then I suggest you edit your template's HTML source code directly. You can do this with any text editor like Windows Notepad. To open and edit your template in Notepad, do the following:
  
  
  1. Go to the directory to which you extracted the contents of the template zip file.
  2. Right click on index.htm
  3. Click on Open with Notepad
  
  OR
  
  
  1. Go to the directory to which you extracted the contents of the template zip file.
  2. Hold down the Shift key and then right-click on index.htm
  3. Click on Open With...
  4. Select Notepad in the list of programs
  5. Click OK.
  
  Please see What to Edit in the Template HTML for a complete tutorial on what to edit in the HTML source code. You can also see my page on free HTML editors for an alternative to Notepad.

Browser-specific editing instructions

Below is a rundown of steps to get you immediately started editing your template according to the web browser you have installed:

INTERNET EXPLORER or OPERA USERS

This assumes that you have Internet Explorer or Opera set as your default web browser.

1. Go to the directory to which you extracted the contents of the template zip file.
2. Double-click on index.htm to open the template in Internet Explorer or Opera.
3. With the template open in Internet Explorer or Opera, click on View » Source to open the HTML source code in Notepad. (By default, Opera will open the source code in Wordpad.)
4. Insert text, hyperlinks and graphics in the appropriate places. (See What to Edit in the Template HTML for more info.)
5. In Notepad, click on File » Save.
6. Switch back to Internet Explorer and click on Refresh to view your changes.
7. Switch back to Notepad (which hopefully you kept open) to do some more editing.
8. Repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 as necessary.

SEAMONKEY USERS

This assumes that you have Seamonkey set as your default web browser.

1. Go to the directory to which you extracted the contents of the template zip file.
2. Double-click on index.htm to open the template in Seamonkey.
3. With the template open in Seamonkey, click on File » Edit Page to open the template in Composer.
4. Using Composer, insert text, hyperlinks and graphics in the appropriate places. (In Seamonkey, click on Help » Help Contents » Creating Web Pages for more information on how to use Composer.)
5. Click on File » Save As. Save the file as index.htm (overwrite).
6. Click on Window » Navigator to switch back to your web browser and click on Reload to view your changes.
7. Click on Window » Composer to switch back and do some more editing.
8. Repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 as necessary.

FIREFOX USERS

This assumes that you have Firefox set as your default web browser.

1. Install and configure Mozex to make it easier to access the HTML source code in a text editor like Notepad.
2. Go to the directory to which you extracted the contents of the template zip file.
3. Double-click on index.htm to open the template in Firefox.
4. With the template open in Firefox, right-click anywhere on the page and then click on mozex » View Page Source to open the HTML source code in Notepad (or the text editor you have configured with Mozex).
5. Insert text, hyperlinks and graphics in the appropriate places. (See What to Edit in the Template HTML for more info.)
6. In Notepad, click on File » Save.
7. Switch back to Firefox and click on Reload to view your changes.
8. Switch back to Notepad (which hopefully you kept open) to do some more editing.
9. Repeat steps 6, 7 and 8 as necessary