Web Page Guide

"You know, computers are on the way out. I think paper's gonna make a big comeback."
"And the abacus."
"Yeah, you know, you don't see enough abaci." 

- Xander Harris  and Willow Rosenberg

Getting Started
The first thing you will need to do is open Front Page.  Chances are, you will find it in the Start Menu under Program Files, or on the desktop.  Look for a blue box with an arrow pointing up and left.

(And you thought we'd forgotten Mr. Happy).

Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the screen.  If you use MS Word, chances are it looks very familiar to you.  Look at the pull down menus.  Try to find familiar functions, like "Save," and "Copy."  Move the mouse arrow over the icons across the top to identify their function. About 90% of any questions and problems with any new computer program can be answered by a careful reading of the screen, so learning at least roughly where to look for certain functions can cut down on a lot of frustration.

Special Note: That bar along the side (called the "Views Bar") has some neat and nifty functions, none of which we're going to be using.  Since it changes the size of the page as your compose it, we're going to make it go away.  Go to "View" and click on "Views Bar" to de-select it.

A blank HTML document (well, Front Page names them .htm) pops up when you open the program.   It will automatically be named "new_page_1.htm."   So, like good little web page designers, we're going to give it a better name.

Why?  Well, in part for the same reasons you would rename a Word document: so you know what it is.  However, there's another reason: whatever you name your Front Page document will be the very last part of the web page address.  If you name your page "page1," its web address will be http://virtual.parkland.edu/yourlogin/page1.htm ("yourlogin" being your directory name, which we'll discuss later).  There is one exception, which we'll also discuss later.

A note on naming your web pages: remember that it is going to be part of the address.  It should therefore be both descriptive and short - descriptive so both you and your readers can remember it easily, and short to make the task of typing it into the address box as painless as possible.  Avoid complex spellings and capitalizations (web addresses are case-specific).  Remember that computers as a rule do exactly what you tell them to: one misplaced letter in the address, and you get "page not found."  

Special note: you will want to create a new folder for your web pages, or for specific web pages, particularly if you plan on having any images on them.

Class Web Page Notes:

• There are many ways to arrange your class web page.  My favorite organizational scheme is to put the policies section of the syllabus on the front page, and then have separate pages for the schedule, major assignments, and other features.  I prefer this scheme in part because I want to make sure the policies are easily accessible (plus I like to delude myself that if they always start at the policies page, they might remember them).  
• Other teachers like to have an entrance page that has only links to the various components.  This has the advantage of being clean and easily navigable.

Moving along, now it's time to Choose the Look.