... Web sites can range from the sophisticated to the simple.
John DiSanto, a 42-year-old marketing consultant, designs Web sites for a living. The Mantua resident always left the technical details to others. That is, until he ventured into making a site about his personal passion, Philadelphia boxing.
He picked up HTML through a four-week online course offered by a community college, then spent months building his Web site, www.phillyboxinghistory.com. In the beginning, he put in 10-hour days to post the site. Now, he spends about 10 hours a week updating the site with new information.
The site is a labor of love. Through it, he has gleaned more boxing history facts from other fans around the world. Families of former fighters invite him to post personal photographs of boxers. It has become an online repository of boxing history.
"I've collected every scrap of paper out there on boxing," DiSanto said. "Now with the Web site, I have a perfect storage cabinet for every bit of information I can find. There's a place to go put it."
Before putting fingertips to keyboard, he sketched out the site on paper. Then, he used Microsoft FrontPage, a software program.
"It's easy to make a Web site," DiSanto said. "It's a little more difficult to make a really good, effective Web site.