Many resemble scrapbooks. Here is where people put photos of their dog and/or their children. People showcase their various interests, including hobbies. You might see a link to a favorite pop star (like Leonardo DiCaprio). Personal home pages are as varied and individual as the people who created them. Mine is one of those dedicated to providing information on a topic, in this case links reference librarians might need at a busy public library reference desk.

Internet Service Providers (and online services such as America Online) frequently allow people to put up personal home pages as part of their regular Internet connection service.

Additionally, several Web sites allow people to put up personal home pages for free. Excite allows you to customize its basic home page so that YOUR stock quotes, YOUR family's birthdays, YOUR city's weather, YOUR favorite links, etc. come up. Other sites, like GeoCities, allow you to start with a blank slate but the resulting page has the "GeoCities" logo on every page. GeoCities even organizes the free personal home pages on its site according to interest! Tripod not only allows you to put up a free personal home page but provides the software to produce a slick, fancy one! All you do is tell it what you want and it does all the technical coding for you!

The only caveat regarding the free home pages is that you are expected to look at the Web site's ads (and this is what is paying the bill for your personal home page).

Finally, here's a Web style guide and a site on what makes a Web site "good".

So if you are ready to have a go at being an actual participant (instead of merely a sightseer), work up your own personal home page and put up your own piece of the Web! [Note: See also Rings Around the Web ]