Creating a Learning Web Site [on Netscape Composer]

Technical Hints

To begin work, go to File/New/Blank Page. That will open a file for you to write on (you'll probably do this several times.) After you have created and saved the file to your disk, you will go to Edit/Open Page to work on it. Open in Netscape Composer.

As you can see, the screen looks a lot like any word processor. Looking at the icons from left to right, you can put in Font (just ignore the header one for now), font size, colors, bold, italics, underline, remove style, bullets, numbers, indent left, indent right, placement of text. Up above that line are the web-specific icons (which are duplicated under Insert, and many are also available when you right click your mouse). I'll refer to the Insert menu for now.

Linking: First you want to find some good sites! I like to use http://www.google.com, but there are many other good ones. A good place to start when you are searching is the VCU Library site. Whenever you find a good site that you might use, you might go ahead and put it at the bottom of your working file so you don't lose it. To save time, copy the link address but also give the title of the site and a brief description before you forget. It might not work for you in the long room, but at least you have it. To make a hot link, just mark the title of the site (or the copied address), go to Insert/Link; copy in the full web address in the middle box [Link Location] or, if you are linking to another file that you have created that will be on this site, just the file name. [You can also do this by right-clicking.] Note: this link will not actually work until you read the file on-line in the browser (if you want to test it, go to File/Browse Page.)
  If you wish to link to a particular place on one of your files, that requires using targets, but for now, let's assume that you won't.

Images: Yes, most people like to use images somewhere on a page, even though they take a lot of space. If you use an image which you have downloaded and saved from the Web, you will need to give credit (especially if it's a photograph) and give the web site from which it came. (I do this by turning the image into a link to that site.) Many images, however, are free for the taking, but you need to know that. Don't want to copyright police on us! If you need to change the size of the image (especially to make it smaller), right click to Image Properties and change the height or the width until it looks right in the browser. You can also set text  around and under, etc. the image here.
  There are some wonderful sites on line where you can find images and backgrounds: Ender Design, Web Design Resources, and many more. These are free, although they may want some acknowledgement.

Tables: You might want to use tables to arrange your materials. If these are set with 0 borders, the lines will not show up, but you'll have a nice neat column. Just Insert/Table, set numbers of rows and columns (for a box, do 1 of each), place on your page (you'll be able to drag the sides and tops after you get it there), set border line width, even put a background in the table of a different color if you like. Once it is set, then you can type within the table without any problem, and stretch it to fix your space. Note that there is a Help section when you set up the table--use it! If it doesn't look like you want, just delete it and start over!
 

Pedagogical Hints

What makes a good learning web site? Well, one that a reader can learn from--and as you know, there are many which do not fill that criteria! I have marked some with checks on our course Web Links page which I think are particularly good. Remember, for our purposes what's important is YOUR WORDS! Bells and whistles are nice, but that's not the kind of substance you'll be graded on.  Here's a reminder of the project requirement:

. For this assignment, you should read either another major work by one of the writers we are studying OR another major work written by a woman OR an important piece of feminist literary criticism. Your paper or Web Site will present that work to the class, making appropriate comparisons to works we are reading together, especially to shared themes and stylistic techniques.  Be sure to include any useful materials you find on (on the work and/or the author) on the Web.
A web site is not like a thesis paper; think of it more as a web of linked ideas (maybe that's why they call it a web!) To prepare for a web site, you need to start, of course, by reading the book, taking notes and responding to it. That can be one file--a kind of a review, with an overview of the book for people who haven't read it, its strong and weak points with great examples from the work itself (you might do short files which you link to this one which offer prime tidbits of the work.) You might also want to find a critical article or two about the work which you can summarize (giving the full documentation, of course). To find that, you can search the MLA Bibliography on-line, but you might want to go to the Reference Library to find out just how to do that! You will also need to search the Web, to see if there are good materials you can link to, or excerpt from (giving the full address) on that writer. You might find a wonderful biography, or you might have to find one in the library (again, give credit) for the context of the work.  Please note--for this assignment you do need a file you could called "connections," where you talk about how this work fits into the context of our reading this semester. (Yeah, most web sites don't include that!) So you may end up with several short files, all which will help the reader to learn about the work and the author, and all of which are linked to a base page. Once you start work on this, start uploading the files to WCB to the project area, then transfer your base file to the portfolio (if you do the links right, they'll show up there just fine.) It can be a work in progress, and I hope that you will give each other feedback (I'll try to make sure that you all know who else is doing this.) I'll do it too. I'm always available by e-mail and at class time for questions as they arise--and they will!