In Section 2: Effective Searching for Educators, you searched for Web sites. Some of the resources followed a particular classroom theme that your students could use in an activity. Knowing this, you also need to know that you have the tools to develop a simple Web page of resources.

  • Are you exploring Tessellations or Fibonacci Sequences in math?

  • Are you studying butterflies and want to learn about the Monarch migration?

  • Perhaps you want to know about Mark Twain and the many books he authored?

  • Maybe you are studying the water cycle and you are looking at local issues on water.

  • Do you have an ESL group of students whom you want to learn English as they explore their native culture?

     These topics and others can be integrated into an interactive Web page for your students. The content surrounding topics and themes can be creatively placed on a Web page, stored on a floppy disk, and used on any computer with a browser and access to the Internet.

     Your first task is to learn HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) - the programming language that is used to create Web pages. The language consists of tags that issue commands for the way text and graphics appear in your browser. The language can be written in a word processing program and saved as a text formatted file. Then it must be transferred to a Web server in order for others to view it.

     You can also purchase HTML programs that make the process a bit easier. Dreamweaver and Front Page are great programs for Windows and Page Mill is good for Mac. Netscape Communicator includes its HTML program or Web editor and can be used on both platforms. To locate this editor choose Communicator on the Netscape's menu bar and select Composer.

     Here are some Web sites that can assist you in creating pages and your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can help you place them on the Web.

     There are two major components of Web pages. The header contains the title, date and author of the page. The second component is the body of the page This contains the "stuff" that you actually see through the Netscape browser.

     When creating a page, consider your viewing audience.

  • The first step is to decide the content to be presented.

  • The second step is to lay out the page using Netscape's editor, another HTML editor, or a word processing program.

  • The last step is to either save it to disk or to publish it to a Web server.



Create a home page in Notepad or SimpleText and save as index.html. Save it on a floppy and when completed, open the file in Netscape.


HTML

<html></html>
Heading <head></head>
Title <title></title>
Body <body></body>
Headline Size <h1></h1> up to <h5></h5>
Center <center></center>
Image <img src="name of image file">
Blank line <p> or <br>
Line Across Page <hr>
Hyperlink <a href="address of Web site"></a>
Italic <i></i>


<html>
<head>
<title>Type School Name Home Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1><center>Type School Name</center></h1>
<center><img src="Type in image filename"></center>
<h1><center>Type in School Mascot</center></h1>
<p>
<hr>
Type several lines of introductory text.
<hr>
<h2><center>My Favorite Educational Web Sites</center></h2>
<center>
<a href="http://www.uswestwow.org">WOW</a>
</center>
<center>
<a href="http://www.ajkids.com">Ask Jeeves for Kids</a>
</center>
<center>
<a href="http://www.yahooligans.com">Yahooligans</a>
</center>
Type in two additional sites and then test them out.
<hr>
If you would like to send me an e-mail message, click
<a href="mailto:Type your e-mail address"><i>here</i></a>.
</body></html>

     That exercise gives you an appreciation for the behind the scenes commands of HTML. There is an easier way to create Web pages, but is it important to understand the commands. There may be a time when you have to look at the commands and change something within the HTML.

     But, yes there is an easier way...

     

 

Copyright © 2000 WOW Project
University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO