This Week's
Hot Topic

You have 2 more weeks from today (April 29) before your portfolio web site is due but I hope you have been working on it over time so you are not rushed at the last minute. 

A few reminders I have for you is that I do know this is the first attempt most of you have ever made at building a web site.  Given this, please know that I am not expecting fancy, high level stuff.  I will be ecstatic if you get some basic web pages built, ftped, and all the navigation and links work and there are no major spelling, grammar, or spacing errors.  This is a MAJOR accomplishment and will serve you well if you continue into other courses that will go into web design in much more depth or simply want to learn more on your own for work or pleasure.

The intent of this assignment is for you to get your feet wet.  Some of you have already emailed me with questions on how to do rollovers, animated graphics, and other things.  I think it is great if you are willing to spend the time to investigate these things and include them in your site.  However, my suggestion for most has been to get the basics done first and then go back and add the fancy stuff when and if you have time.  Do NOT spend your weeks figuring out rollover effects only to not get your web site done - keep it simple. 

Now, if you are someone who has some web design experience and want to take this opportunity to add some pizzazz to your site and learn some new skills then I think this is a great opportunity for you to do this.  I want everyone to know that I am not going to compare sites among students for grading.  Everyone gets an individual grade based on meeting the requirements I provided last week.  Your grade is not based on how well it looks in comparison to others from the class.  Everyone that gets his/her web site done and working smoothly should be proud of what they have accomplished.

If you did not get a chance to review the web design web sites I provided last week now would be a good time to do this.  Here they are:

• Web Page Design for Designers
• Web Design Tips
• Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design
• Design Guidelines
• Web Pages that Suck
• Fixing your Web Site
• Design Consideration Sites

   

The following are some repeated pointers I have for you as you embark on this exciting task - as always if you need more specific guidance than what is provided here or in the tutorials I have given you then please feel free to send Melissa or me an email.

• Get organized - create a folder in your C: drive and name it the topic of your website - put EVERYTHING associated with your web site in this folder - this includes all graphics, pages, etc. - this is the folder you will eventually ftp to the server.

• DO NOT - I REPEAT - DO NOT put spaces in ANY file or folder name you are going to ftp to the server - this will be a life saver! Keep file and folder names short but meaningful.

• Before you add a graphic or other object to your web page, make sure that object is in your folder and then insert it from that folder.

• SAVE OFTEN - I REPEAT - SAVE OFTEN

• DO the basics first - create blank pages and put a title on them - put some navigation buttons on them, ftp them, and see how it all works

• While some of you may want to go through numerous tutorials first, the best strategy for many seems to be to just go ahead and start building a page, fiddle around with the program, see what you can do, when you have a specific question  - go to a tutorial and look up how to do that specific thing

• If you FTP your folder to the server and then find you need to make changes - make those changes using the files on your hard drive - then ftp that folder up again - this will replace your original folder and all the files with the new versions

• If you need help - ASK :-)

Below are the tutorials I have given you previously in case you need them.

HTML

• Web Teacher

• HTML Crash Course for Educators

• How Web Pages Work
• HTML Goodies (beginner and advanced stuff)
• HTML: Interactive Tutorial for Beginners
• HTML Tutorials

Netscape Composer

• Web Page Construction Using Composer

• Building Web Pages with Composer

• Netscape Composer Resources

• Creating a Web Page with Composer 7.x

• Netscape Composer Tutorial

• Building Web Pages with Composer 7

FrontPage

• FrontPage in the Classroom

• Front Page 97 Tutorial

• Front Page 98 Tutorials

• Front Page 2000 Tutorial

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!

The Future of IT

As a graduate student I was required to take a course in futurism.  In the course, we did a lot of projecting into the future.  We had to predict what lies 10, 50, 100 years beyond for us in relation to technology.  I can say that a few of my predictions were not too far off while others were WAY off.  This week you are going to be placed in this same position.  If you have not already turned in your reflection paper some of the links I provide here might give you some food for thought to answer one of your reflection questions.

Check out the following sites:

• The MSNBC Technology News

• MIT Technology Review

• The Center for Futurism in Education

• Education and Technology: Future Visions

• Wearable PCs - this is from 2001, how far has it come?

• Emerging Future

Many of these sites simply talk about future technology tools.  It will be up to many of you and others like you to decide exactly how many of these tools can benefit education and learning.  Remember, they are tools - you will be the one to decide how the tools are used.

• Check the FAQ Page to see if your question has already been answered.
• Email Chief Curda.
• Email EMT Kelly.
• Email the firehouse crew and see if another firefighter knows the answer.

Now let's take a look at the Chief's
Inspection List for this week!