Many Windows users do not realize that they do not need to buy or download an editor in order to write HTML. There is a basic editor built into the operating system called Notepad.

In fact, for many people this is all the entire HTML editor they need because it is free as well as simple.

There are only a few steps to creating a Web page with Notepad or write HTML with Notepad:

1. Open Notepad through your "Accessories" menu or go to start menu, choose the run option, and type in Notepad.
2. When the notepad opens, start writing your HTML Remember that you need to exercise more caution here than in an HTML editor. You won't have elements like tag completion and validation which happens to be in software.
3. Save your HTML to a file. Since Notepad normally saves files as .txt, you need to take care to save the file as .htm or html.

If you're not careful, you'll end up with a skewered filename.

Here's how to avoid that:

1. Click on "File" and then "Save As"
2. Navigate to the folder you want to save in
3. Change the "Save As Type" drop-down menu to "All Files (*.*)"
4. Name your file, be sure to include the .htm extension

For the most part HTML is easy to learn, and you needn't buy any additional software or other items in order to put up your Web page. With Notepad, you can write complex or simple HTML and once you have learned the language, you can edit pages as quickly as someone with an expensive HTML editor.