Re: Web Page Info

Kris Swank asked on Scouts-L:

>I hope some of the Units out there that have Web Pages might let me >know
where I could learn how to create one.

I'll answer first, but I'm crossposting this over to E-Scouts because it's
more of a "technical electronic Scouting" question than a general question.
E-Scouts was started over four years ago as a forum for the discussion of
issues and ideas related to using electronic means (BBSes,
webpages, email, FTP, etc.) to share and exchange Scouting information.

The BEST way to learn how to create a webpage is to take a look at some of
the existing pages out there and see how *they* are constructed.
Many of us here on Scouts-L as well as on E-Scouts list our home page
as part of our signature or in some other way. Take a look at several pages
and "save as" a local file on your computer. Then use an editor to take a
look at "what makes it tick".

You'll see some common threads in HTML:

If you start something, you have to end it. <something> starts something
and </something> ends it.

Graphics, for the most part, don't stay where you place them on all
browsers. HTML is not like desktop publishing whereby if you place a
graphic in the top center of a page, that it will stay there. Browsers are
finicky in that some will take graphics and maps and put them in other
places. Frames and tables help to "keep them where you place them".

The more graphics you place, the longer it's going to take to "read it".

There are some other common threads that you'll see when you take a look at
several pages.

Once you have taken a look, try your own hand at making a "combination
page". Cut the "good stuff" you see from other's pages and put them
together on a new Notepad document. View this new document using your
browser, and see what you've done well and what you've done poorly.

Finally, once you've understand the conventions used, then start from
scratch to make that first page. Post it to a server and view it using
several browsers. It make take you several times before it's "ready for
prime time".
Then, once you have it ready, announce it briefly on E-Scouts and include
the Uniform Resource Locator (URL, that part that starts with "www...."
since most browsers understand that "http://" is going to start a webpage)
in your signature file.

I KNOW that I've left out a lot. There is a lot to learn about HTML, and
just when you thought you've learned it all, the standards change and you'll
having to learn some new conventions! Don't feel bad...we're all doing the
same things too! *grinning*

>Are there Web sites on how to make them, are there books or >seminars/classes?

Yeah. There are a LOT of websites that explain how to create webpages and
why to create them and where to create them. The best way to find them is
to do a search using your favorite search engine, take a read, and download
or print those pages that speak best to you.

There's a lot of seminars and classes too. Jessica and I offer a one-day
class for personal webpages for $80 per person; and a weeklong course for
$140 with software and a place to upload your new pages to. We beat out the
local community college by $25 on the daily class and $60 on the weeklong
class. Check around...there may be a company or computer store or someone
out there providing instruction for a low or no price.

My "summer Scouting project" is one in which I share my web skills with
my community: I'll be writing a page for the church Jessi and I attend and
I've been talking with our local Chamber about offering such a class for
kids in our "disadvantaged" section of town and the Chamber picking up my
fees for my time and materials. If you don't mind being in a class with
kids, you might find something out there (HEY!! ALL YOU WOOD BADGE TICKET
WORKERS AND CUB DAY CAMP DIRECTORS....you might consider finding someone
locally that don't mind teaching how to do this!)

Creating pages does take some time, David....it takes me some time to create
each page, to place the graphic where I want it, and to find the information
to place there. There's a lot of good software out there, some
cheap, some rather expensive, to do a lot of it for you. You don't need a
fast machine to do it in, either...if you have a modem, access to a internet
service provider with webspace, and some basic communications software,
you're pretty well in business.

Ed Henderson posted a listing of some rather good guidelines for webpage
usage by local Councils and units a week ago. You might want to reach the
Scouter.com web site (http://www.scouter.com) and do a search for those
guidelines.

Hope that this helps you, David and others that are looking to do the same
for their units. Subscribe to E-Scouts and you'll continue to get more
great advice on how to technically do it; the list was created in the most
part to
not clog up Scouts-L with those types of issues and discussions.

Settummanque!
(c) 1997 Mike Walton ("no such thing as strong coffee,...") (502) 827-9201
(settummanque, the blackeagle) http://dynasty.net/users/blkeagle
241 Fairview Dr., Henderson, KY 42420-4339 blkeagle@dynasty.net
kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@hq.21taacom.army.mil
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