Okay, okay...this is supposed to be a software review. And that was what I intended it to be, not to mention what our editor William LaMartin expected. So I dutifully unwrapped a spanking new copy of Adobe PageMill 3.0---subtitled "Easily Create and Manage Pages for the Web"---and started gingerly sniffing around the edges of this new artistic technology.

I mean, what do I know about "building Web pages"? Sure, we all have some vague idea of how it all works, about how at the most basic level any ASCII text editor can suffice to become your "Web page builder" if you know the arcana of hypertext markup language (HTML). But most of us don't. And most of us never will: After all, who's got the time? (Our kids, that's who; which is why my 12-year-old daughter is better at computer graphics and creating Web pages than I am.)

But I digress: As I delved into "Web page building" and the increasing number of software tools being presented to us to assist in the endeavor, I found myself mentally diverted into...philosophy of all things. I mean, why bother with learning Adobe PageMill 3.0---or Microsoft's FrontPage 98, or Macromedia's Dreamweaver, or Netobjects' Fusion---at all? Especially when everyone I talked to seemed to be chanting about what limited capabilities PageMill has in relation to its more high-powered cousins mentioned above.

Well, several reasons, I concluded. First of all, we're all going to have to become familiar with, if not master, at least one such program. How come? Because our personal Web pages are going to be what "define" us in cyberspace. Now what the heck do I mean by that? Consider an analogy, if you will: Cars. Remember how extraordinarily important your first car was? Remember how your first car "defined" you in some indefinable way? How it gave you (or withheld) status among your peers? Thankfully, now that we're adults, we've all grown beyond such silly status-consciousness...right? BMW's and Jaguars and Mercedes Benzes aren't purchased for any reason other than the fact that...they're merely useful, utilitarian motor vehicles.... But of course!

And who are we kidding? Sure, most of us grow out of defining ourselves according to what kind of car we drive after we're out of our teen years (and I shudder with the remembrance that I started out in a tan 1965 VW Beetle). But the fact is, even now, when many of us travel in the "real" world, we define ourselves, even if only in some sort of intangible, limited way, by how we present ourselves as we do that traveling. In other ways we define and present ourselves culturally and socially---both intentionally and by happenstance---by what kind of home we purchase, what kind of neighborhood we live in, what kind of clothes we wear, and even by what kinds of activities and organizations we participate in.

And what does all this philosophical hogwash have to do with the Web, the Internet, and cyberspace? Just this: In the future, personal Web pages are going to become the basic and fundamental way we present ourselves...to the whole world. Just as we present ourselves to the world when we travel geographically, defining ourselves in part by the type of car or vehicle we drive and the clothes we wear...so we're going to "present ourselves" to the world with our personal and business Web pages (a much larger world than when we're merely driving a car) when we "travel" in cyberspace.

I am convinced that the personal Web page is going to become one of the single most important articles for "defining" oneself in the age of the Internet. Right now comparatively few in the general population even have computer access to the Internet, much less personal Web pages. But as we all know, that's changing, and at an exponential rate. Our children will all have personal Web pages, and those pages will do much, much more to explicitly, self-"define" each of us than all of our other accoutrements, from homes to neighborhoods to cars to designer or non-designer clothes...to everything else that has an impact on how we are perceived by our fellow human beings.

This will be even more true in the business world. Our current tools for "presenting" ourselves, from business cards to office location, arrangement and decorating, to even---dare we say it?---advertising...all will be changed, and are being changed, both subtly and obviously in varying degrees, by the advent of the Internet and the Web.

Now, it is true that some people will never have personal Web pages. After all, there are people who never own cars, who never purchase their own home, and who couldn't give a hoot less about so-called "designer clothes." There are alternate methods of transportation such as buses, trains, taxis, subways, etc. And renting is a perfectly acceptable alternative to sinking much (or most) of one's wealth into a single piece of real estate. And the Baby Boomer revolution did nothing if it didn't give us all more personal choices in how we dress, from blue jeans and T-shirts to the most haute couture fashions.

But just as those non-car, non-home, non-designer alternatives are choices of a minority---in America at least---so will be the choice to not have a personal Web page. It will be a quirk, to say the least, when the percentage of the population "on the Internet" with their own Web pages approaches the current percentages of households that have, say, television, or telephone service.

So my suggestion is that our personal Web pages will clearly and succinctly define us---more accurately, more personally, and with more individual choice---than any of the other symbols discussed above, even those that might be referred to as "status symbols." If status symbolism is your particular sickness---no, no, let us not be negatively judgmental---if such things are part of your needs and desires in life, they are unfortunately destined to become ever less important. Because in the future everyone is going to have the option of "advertising themselves" to the whole world. Certainly our children’s' generation is going to dive into the Web without hesitation. Heck, they're already doing it. And certainly every college student and college graduate can be expected to have a personal Web page.

And so, when anyone wants to find out about the "essential you," they'll no longer look to the neighborhood you live in, or the type of car you drive, or the labels on your clothing (this may be stretching it a little: there will doubtless always be people to whom such things will be of importance)...no, they will simply look to your personal Web pages, to find the definition of "the real you."

Which brings me, babbling, back full circle: Back to Adobe PageMill 3.0. It is a handy program, especially with the limited-edition copy of Adobe Photoshop that comes with the program. It is not the most powerful program for building Web pages, nor even the most simple in many ways, but it does seem to be universally hailed as a pretty simple, pretty easy, pretty utilitarian, pretty good way to get onto the Web with personal (or business) Web pages with a minimum of fuss and hassle, for those who aren't webmasters and don't have the time to become one. All of which is a pretty good recommendation in some venues.

William LaMartin and I had originally planned on a neat trick, for me to create some Web pages in PageMill and get them onto the Internet as part of this review. Unfortunately, as we all know, learning new software is often a very time-consuming chore, and building Web pages can be even worse...certainly for a newbie like me at least. So the real review of Adobe PageMill 3.0 has yet to be written, especially with the Web pages that will be part of the review. That will be the future subject of...Part II. u