« February 2005 | Main | April 2005 »
March 28, 2005
Using Publisher
Publisher is a Microsoft program that is already installed on all the computers at school. You can use it to create flyers, brochures and webpages. When you first open Publisher (Start > Programs > Publisher) you can either use the Wizard to walk you through your site design or select Blank Publications to begin putting a page together with your own design.
The wizard will ask you questions about what pages you want at your site, what sort of personal information you want on the pages and what kind of page elements (for example: calendars, forms) you need. You should NOT put a lot of personal information on your pages. The wizard is designed more for business needs, not for student personal pages.
Unless you already know what you want your site to be about, you should probably just start with a blank page and begin playing with your text, images and links. You can add to and change your site, or save different versions.
Unlike the pages we created by hand with HTML, Publisher stores all of your site information in a format that only it can read. When you are ready to publish to the web, you will save your site as webpages.
Important Notes:
1. The wizard templates can be modified. You can change colors, images, placement of objects.
2. It is usually easier to work on your home page first. When you have the all the elements on it that you want, you can duplicate it so all the pages at your site have a similar design.
3. Use the planning forms (see Planning Your Pages) to organize your ideas before you start.
Basic Instructions for getting started:
Creating a publication using a wizard
1. On the File menu, click New
2. Click the Publications by Wizard tab
3. In the Wizards pane, click the type of publication you want
4. In the right pane, click the design you want
5. Click Start Wizard
6. To make changes to the publication's color scheme, layout, or personal information now, click Next and step through the wizard's questions to make the desired changes.
7. When you finish making changes, click Finish
8. In you publication replace the placeholder text and pictures with your own or with other objects.
9. On the File menu, click Save
10. In the Save In box, select the folder where you want to save the new publication
11. In the File name box, type a name for your publication
12. Click Save
Using the Quick Publication Wizard with a blank publication
1.On the File menu, click New
2. In the Catalog, click Blank Publications
3. Click the publication type you want (Web Page) and then click Create
4. In the Quick Publication Wizard pane, click the option you want
5. In the bottom pane, follow the instructions provided
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each option
7. On the File menu, click Save
8. In the Save In box, select the folder where you want to save the new publication
9. In the File name box, type a name for your publication
10. Click Save
Posted by Eleanor Ramsay at 02:12 PM
March 18, 2005
Planning Your Pages
Now that most of you have learned how to write a basic page and attach links or images to it, it's time to begin thinking about what you want to do with your website.
Tell a story?
Post your art?
Write about your hobbies and interests?
Create your own links page to your favorite sites?
Promote a sport or team?
Before web designers begin making pages for the web, they plan out what pages they need and how the pages link to each other. They also think about how they want the site to look. Who is the page designed for (who is its audience)? What colors or images might be on pages? How does someone visiting the site navigate it?
Today we will be using storyboards and idea mapping charts to plan our pages. Use the handouts I brought in or create your own idea map on a blank piece of paper. You can also use the Inspiration software to plan your website.
Storyboard (pdf)
Website Map (pdf)
Story Map (pdf)
Cluster Word/Web Map (pdf)
Describing Wheel (pdf)
Next week we'll begin using the Publisher web editor.
Posted by Eleanor Ramsay at 01:30 PM
March 11, 2005
Getting Fancy
I've created a page with three basic templates you can use to begin making more complicated pages. Remember, HTML is the code language that browsers (like Internet Explorer) read to display all the links, games and and pictures you find on web pages.
Spend today continuing to work on making a page and adding images or links. Once we get the hang of this, we can begin to plan out a more complicated website. I usually sketch out my webpages before I write any HTML code. Explore some of the art links at the club site to create images or graphic text for your site.
Keeping organized is also very important. Make a folder in the My Documents folder, call it your name, put ALL your pages and images in that folder. Then you can link them together.
Note: Even if you have your own folder at school it is sometimes easier to use the My Documents folder while you're working and then copy your work to your own folder when you are done. If you do not have your own folder, you can save your work to the folders I have made in the My Computer > Shared > Save Work Here >Somerville 21 Web Club > Healy (or WSNS) > YourName -- make a folder for your work if I haven't yet.
Posted by Eleanor Ramsay at 01:02 PM
March 09, 2005
Tips for Using Paint
Use Paint to modify images you create at some of the art links (use print screen to copy and then paste into a blank Paint page) or to create your own original art.
Paint can be found under Start > Programs > Accessories > Paint or from the task bar.
From the Paint Help:
To change the size of your picture
On the Image menu, click Attributes.
Under Units, click the unit of measurement you want to use for the width and height.
Type the measurements in Width and Height.
Notes
You can also resize your picture by dragging the image resize handles, located at the bottom right corner and along the bottom and right sides of your picture.
If your current picture is bigger than the new size, the picture is cut from the right side and bottom to fit within the smaller area. If your current picture is smaller than the new size, the extra area is filled with the selected background color.
Posted by Eleanor Ramsay at 10:15 PM
March 07, 2005
Your First Page
Lets try making a page and attaching a picture to it
1) Make a folder in the My Documents area, call it your first name.
2) Make an HTML page.
Use Notepad to write your HTML code
My First Webpage
Formatting Your Page
3) Add some text and link your avatar, or another picture to your page (see the Formatting Your Page page for how to do it). Make sure the picture is in your folder with your HTML page.
4) Save the page as index.html (not txt!)
Important: You will need to save and open your page while Notepad is set to show "all filetypes" for it to work correctly.
5) Your page should show the Explorer "E" icon (because it's HTML), click it to open it in the Internet Explorer browser.
That's how a simple page is made and displayed.
Posted by Eleanor Ramsay at 02:17 PM