Introduction One of the most often-repeated questions of recent years is 'Are you on the Web?' The growth ofthe World Wide Web (WWW or simply 'Web') has been phenomenal. It seems that everyone has a web site, or is at least planning have one, and everyone wants to get on-line with their products and services, accounts of their favourite hobbies, their resumes, or pictures of their loved ones. So that you too can join in the on-line revolution, this book will help you get onto the web: to make informed decisions about developing your own web site, how to plan and design the site, and then how to get the site on-line for the world to see. Essential HTML Fast 2 Why use the Web? There are many reasons why you would want to use the Web, and why the web is becoming an essential tool for business. Some of these are: • It is cross-platform: If you're reading this at work, you're probably painfully aware of some of the problems caused by being tied to a particular type of computer. You might have come across some software that would make your job easier, but then discover that the software is only available for a different computer running a different operating system. You may have been sent some documents by a client which you subsequently discover you can't read, as the disk seems to be of the wrong type.