« October 2005 | Main | December 2005 »
November 28, 2005
Review of Your Sites
Your lists of favorite sites is now online at the club: http://www.massarted.org/s21/favsites.html
This week we will take a look at each of your sites in progress and talk about what you are doing with your pages and make suggestions.
Each of you should be adding content to your pages. Decide on what you want to do (make art, tell a story, talk about games, save links, keep a journal) and keep refining your pages.
If you are writing HTML code: Remember to use the resources at the Club Pages to get codes and learn new formatting.
If you are using Publisher: Remember that you will need to export the site as HTML for it to become a real webpage.
I have created an index page (links list) on the server that links to each student's index.
Posted by Eleanor Ramsay at 03:12 PM
November 21, 2005
Themes and Ideas
During club time you should be working on your site using HTML or the Publisher program.
What will you say with your website? It can be a place for your art, your writing, a collection of your favorite links. Maybe you'd like to try tell a story with your site or find resources about something that interests you.
Please also use your club time to explore the interesting sites at the club site or try make some original art and web banners at some of the artmaking sites I've linked or with KidPix or Paint.
As your sites begin to come together, we will start linking them together and thinking about a group homepage.
Posted by Eleanor Ramsay at 02:30 PM
November 14, 2005
Using Publisher to make Websites
Publisher is a Microsoft program that is already installed on all the computers at school. You can use it to create flyers, brochures and websites.
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 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 (export as HTML).
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, save to your folder on the shared server.
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, save to your folder on the shared server.
9. In the File name box, type a name for your publication
10. Click Save
Posted by Eleanor Ramsay at 01:54 PM
November 04, 2005
Planning your website
Now that you have learned how to write a basic page and attach links or images to it with HTML, 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 to find what they are looking for?
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 12:26 PM