A RANDOM WALK ALONG THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY Part III
KENNETH J. DICKSON
ABSTRACT
This article examines the web page tools available for teachers who are interested in setting up their own web sites. Building upon some of the essential background issues that novice web designers must deal with, this writing provides some practical suggestions and advice for a teacher’s first homepage. Having read this article, ESL teachers in Taiwan will be able to build their own home pages with confidence, so that all their students will benefit from these new directions. This piece concludes the author’s three-part series detailing some of the useful Internet resources for educators and students in the field of English language education.
Introduction
This article concludes a three-part series exploring the TESOL teacher’s introduction to the World Wide Web. The first installment examined some of the most popular websites for TESOL teachers on the Internet, and introduced typical contents to be found on such pages. The second highlighted many important issues concerning Internet use, explored the world of TESOL online and introduced some of the best TESOL websites for students in different areas relevant to learning languages.
Both of these articles have provided a good foundation to the basic concepts of Internet use for teachers. Now, we will describe tools available for a teacher to create their very own website, essential background issues to page design for TESOL, and provide some practical suggestions for a teacher’s homepage. When ESL teachers have read this article, they will be in a position to set about building their own home pages with confidence allowing their students to explore a new medium and providing extra opportunities for meaningful practice.
To get the most out of this article, you will need to be familiar with quite a few computer and Internet related skills, such as downloading files, familiarity with browsers’ basic operation, connecting to the Internet and so on.
Webpage Content
There are a handful of factors related to the content of your web page that you may wish to consider. Giving some thought to these before you even pick up your mouse or switch on your modem will help you avoid wasted time and unnecessary nail biting.
1. Self Assessment
Many would-be designers believe that the toughest aspect of designing a website is the actual coding and layout of their own website. However, the content is where most of the effort should lie, but this misconception highlights why many websites fall short of expectations because designers fail to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. Through understanding yourself and your own specialties and areas of expertise, it is possible to design a website that reflects who you are truly.
Before beginning the process of creating your own website, you should take stock of yourself, your abilities and your aims for that first website. The appendix at the end of this article provides some relevant questions that you need to spend time mulling over before you dive any deeper into this project.
2. Taming Ambitions
Another problem that many would-be designers face is being too ambitious. Creating a homepage is relatively easy, and can be fun, too, even for beginners. But it is more important to be successful in the early stages because the learning curve can be steep. First-timers will not be able to create stunning webpages with animations, sound, and Java; however, given time, interest and motivation, this is not out of reach.
There are a wide range of tools that can be employed effectively to create your own personal or class webpage. By keeping it simple, you will save yourself a lot of unnecessary problems in the early stages, still manage to create effective pages and be learning useful design concerns.
3. Choosing Content
Once you have completed your assessment of what you expect the page to do and who the readers will be, you need to choose the most appropriate tools for the job. This can be effectively divided into two steps.
Firstly, most of the basic text can be written using software that you are already familiar with before being pasted in, such as Word, Write or even Notepad. Five factors will then affect the choice of tool for the actual designing of the webpage: available time, previous web experience, amount of graphics, purpose of the page and internet connection speed/availability.
Most of the simpler web-designing programs on the market offer a standard range of pages for beginners: Links page, Calendar page, Forms, Resume, Hobbies, etc., allowing you simply to edit the initial options and present a polished but limited result. More complex programs will allow greater flexibility of design, but certainly require more time and mastery for effective results.
Whether or not you are going to use a pre-formatted page or a complex piece of software, be sure the page remains focused on the original intention of the page, in both design and content. Pages that do not do so may disappoint visitors and drive them away.
4. Design Headaches
A number of design problems can cause real headaches for your visitors. Beginner designers are prone to making some typical mistakes that can be avoided easily.
Graphics. While the World Wide Web offers multimedia to enrich users’ experience, each graphic you use increases the time a page takes to download. Avoid using more than the minimum of pictures that you need. Also, using simpler graphic tools will allow you to reduce the picture to a small but still enjoyable size, enhancing the speed with which they are downloaded.
Colors. Be sensitive to the colors used for the background and text color because you have complete control over both. Black text on white background is effective and so are a large range of other options. But yellow text on a green background will be very hard to read. By observing some of the other websites you visit, you will become familiar with the text colors and backgrounds that work best.
There are also a wide range of background graphics, specifically designed pictures that can replace simple colors. However these colors can be very distracting to readers, so tread easy when choosing from the vast array of images available.
Simplicity. You should keep the overall design simple to help your visitors find the information they are looking for, so you need to avoid using flashing images, lots of columns, lots of different fonts, scrolling text bars, web links that go nowhere, entrance pages with one large graphic, and a wide range of other annoying features that crop up on the web. By observing yourself when you surf the net, you will begin to notice what features are useful to you as a visitor, and what features drive you crazy. Then you can begin to implement these lessons in your own pages.
Navigation. If you are designing a set of pages that link to each other, you need to make it obvious how to move around the website and how to get back to where the visitor started. Many websites have notoriously confusing navigation that traps users in the website without providing an easy way to get back to the starting point. Avoid this by making it clear how to move around. If you use a graphical method for navigation, include the actual text links as well at the bottom of the page for those unwilling or unable to wait for pictures to finish loading properly.
Design Your Page!
In designing your first webpages, there are a variety of options that can help to make the process a lot easier, from virtually ready-made options requiring little HTML knowledge to using your own software and uploading them to the host computer. We will move from the relatively easy towards the more complex options, but you may wish to try the easier options first, as they may satisfy your aims and will not prove too taxing for you.
1. Ready-to-Wear
Publishing on the Internet can be as easy as sending email and quite a few websites aim to make it just as painless for beginners, those short of time, or the curious.
Xanga.com Personal Publishing
On Xanga’s homepage is the bold claim: "Welcome to the Easiest Way to Publish Online! It’s called Weblogging, and you’re going to love it. Just click, write, and hit submit. Your post is instantly published on the Web! It’s so easy that you’ll find yourself posting all the time. Weblogging is a great way to find your voice as a writer, share all your latest thoughts, and have fun online."
Joining Xanga is the simplest of all the websites this author has come across. Once registered, you are presented with a variety of well organized resources that enable you to present your initial work nicely.
Posting your comments and ideas is as simple as sending email. Xanga calls this weblogging. On registering, you are presented with your first homepage, with the option to create your first weblog. Clicking on that allows you to enter your first text and post it to the Internet. There are a few options that can be tweaked to improve the presentation, but it is a simple tool for creating webpages.
Blogger
Blogger also allows a form of weblogging, utilizing Java. Once registered and logged in with Blogger, a toolbar appears with a simple selection of tools allowing you to post straightforward text. There are also a selection of tools to tweak the pages while offering some more advanced features for users, such as different templates.
This has to be one of the simplest systems for creating your own webpages. The homepage also lists a selection of the most recently changed pages allowing you to see the range of uses/designs other users have made of the facilities. There is an excellent online introduction to setting up a page at Blogger from Edward’s Online Workshops which can be found at http://212.223.75.38/workshops/Default.asp?workshop=25
Yahoo! Geocities
Yahoo! Geocities have also tried to make it easy for beginners to post their first webpage, complete with fancy designs. You will need to register to obtain a Yahoo! ID. Once you have it and are logged in, just click on the design you want from the range of designs available, then you will be presented with a Wizard to help with the basic design. This will create a basic format which can be modified and set up in four simple steps.
Although some of the designs are kitsch, overall it is an effective tool for first-timers and may be just what is needed for those just starting out. Edward’s Online Workshops also provides an online tutorial to help beginners come to grips with setting up their first webpage and is well worth checking out before you begin. It takes the user from registration to publicizing their page in four steps and can be found on the Internet at http://212.223.75.38/workshops/Default.asp?workshop=24
2. Mix and Match
If setting up some form of community for your class, course or group of like-minded TESOL teacher friends or colleagues is more your style, there are a good number of options that allow you to do this again without any particular knowledge of HTML or much computing skills. Despite the recent dot com crash, there is still a plethora of resources available.
This article suggests some of the more notable resources as examples of what is possible, organized from the simple to the more powerful. You may be successful in finding even better resources than these!
Listbot
One of the most popular options is Listbot which is a simple system that allows creation of a mailing list with its own homepage. In effect, it is just a mailing system with some options; for beginners, it may suffice just to be able to have this resource for your class to communicate with you and each other. Emails can be an excellent resource. One limitation of this list, though, is that emails older than one year will be deleted. Nevertheless, this should prove quite long enough where archiving over long periods is not important or for a short course.
Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo’s Groups (formerly Egroups) offers a very convenient solution for creating content online and large degree of flexibility, so it is very suitable for both beginners and experts. You will find an effective bulletin board system, synchronous chat facility, databases (with some templates), file storage area (for documents, pictures, etc.), bookmarks (for favorite locations on the Internet), polls (allowing group voting on any manner of topics), and even a group calendar (organizing group events online and offline).
Groups offers an excellent environment for a class of students to get together and create a real online environment. It allows teachers a full range of options for control of content and access, from complete laissez-faire to strictly-guided control, and is purely web-based, so it requires no knowledge of HTML or programming. Basic set up of a group here is wizard-driven allowing first-timers to get their own group set up quickly. Default functions can be changed easily, too, though these may require some testing before first-timers understand how to set them properly.
Tripod
Tripod offers users an easy on-ramp to their first webpage through their site building software that can be accessed from the homepage. This piece of software downloads from Tripod and acts very much in the manner of a wizard, using common sense language and options. You can choose from a wide variety of styles and page options.
Each particular style offers its own set of pages, allowing the creation of a small site with consistent theme, design and multiple pages. For example, the Favorite Band Style offers a discography, reviews, news, mailbag, links, and a contact page. No special skills are required in HTML, just the ability to follow the instructions. Sets of buttons allow users to add links, pictures and text to the pages created.
The website is controlled through the simply named buttons and can be previewed and published at the click of a button. The results are quite impressive because the level of customization allows more variety in the design of the final pages.
3. Designer Fashions
If your heart is set on designing your own page, then you can forgo the pre-packaged designs in favor of even more personalized results. This requires more design skill, time and energy. You also need to be familiar with webpage hosting, designing tools and uploading tools.
The entire process can be divided into four basic steps that need to be completed before you have a viable site.
Step 1: Webpage Hosting
Hosting is defined as the location on the Internet that provides space for you to place your webpages. There are a wide variety of services for hosting, some free, some not. The free services are usually paid for by irritating advertising boxes, banners and pop-up pages. Nevertheless it can provide an excellent on-ramp for your first homepage.
All hosting services require you to register and agree to their particular site rules before posting your pages. You may also need to experiment with different hosting services to find out which one provides the best features, space, least obtrusive advertisements, and additional services (chat, photographs, message boards, etc.).
Access times may also be different, so experiments are recommended to see which of the websites downloads the fastest. Users will find it frustrating if they have to wait too long for a particular page to appear.
Yahoo! Geocities
This is probably now the best known of all the hosting services, providing 15MB of space and a variety of ways to customize your website once you have it up and running: counters, statistics and other useful tools. Both FTP access and web-based file updates are available.
Tripod
Tripod, owned by Lycos, is even more generous than Yahoo! by offering 50MB of space for creating your own website. It offers many of the same kind of features as Yahoo! but some aspects of its design are much slicker, such as the message board features, the use of CGI scripts, and animations.
AOL Hometown
AOL, or America On Line, offers a free hosting service with the usual tools, a very simple interface and 12MB of hosting space. Additional features may prove attractive: 100 templates for beginners, chat services, counters, free images, etc.
Other Hosting Services
A recent quick search of the relevant category in Yahoo’s directory brought to light over 125 different web hosting services that were offered as being free at the time of writing this article. All services are not the same in terms of quality, so you will need to think carefully about the kind of support you need to get your website up and running.
Other considerations you may have will include restrictions on content, appropriacy of advertising, reliability of operation/connection, as well as possible problems accessing pages by visitors. Initially, you may want to test drive several web hosting services before committing to a final decision on the best service for your needs. Taking a trip to Yahoo’s directory highlights what is available there.
Step 2: Designing Your Page
There is a huge variety of tools for designing your own webpages which broadly fall into three categories. Initially I would recommend you choose some of the simpler packages and work up to the more complex software.
You will find that at the beginning packages like FrontPage 2000 and HotDog are too confusing to make effective pages.
1. Online Packages
Many of the online hosting services provide their own version of software that allows online designing of a page. The feature set for basic pages can be very simple, but this is an ideal introduction to designing your own page and offers a lot of flexibility in colors, graphics, etc. for your page.
One good example of this kind of software is Yahoo! Geocities’ own PageBuilder Tool which is available after you log into Geocities. One caveat though, this kind of software requires you to be connected to the Internet while you are using it. Since you are using a downloaded applet from Yahoo, it may take some time for the software to appear, especially for those on slower connections.
Your files are also stored there. If you pay per minute connection charges, this option may not be the most cost effective for you. Permanent connection with a fixed fee, such as ADSL, Cable modem, or LAN users, should find this method cost effective.
2. On your Own PC
Nowadays your computer may already be equipped with software that can create webpages. One of the most common options is FrontPage Express which is usually installed along with Internet Explorer 4 or later. Though simple to use, it can be quite a useful way to begin. Also, Word 97 and 2000 both have the ability to create webpages from standard Word documents.
This feature is listed as an option to "save as webpage" in the File menu. Because you will already be familiar with the basic tools in Word, creating a webpage will require only minor adaptation of your current knowledge. The best approach would be to check out your computer to see what software you already have, then practise using the software to make some experimental pages, before really getting down to work.
3. Downloading Software
There is indeed a huge amount of software for page design available over the Internet, and new entrants to the market are common. A trip to one of the popular download sites will highlight both the newest entrants and the most popular.
Recently, CNET.com Download area listed 112 freeware HTML editors and related utilities, so there is a wide range to choose from, ranging from software requiring little or no experience to no-frills pure HTML editing software. For the purposes of this article, I have chosen to present a list of HTML editors that are freeware, easy on beginners, and make use of WYSIWYG features for designing.
Based upon the set criteria, CNET.com suggested the following: 1st Page 2000 2.0, AOL Press (no longer updated by AOL), Cool Page 2.6, Homestead SiteBuilder Offline, Live Site 2.0, Web Site Lite, Web Weaver EZ, and Web-O-Rama. All of these files are large and require at least six minutes to download, and some require much longer download times because they are so big!
Choosing from these programs will require consideration of download time, popularity in the rankings, and assessment of the overall rating given by other users. CNET.com ranks Cool Page 2.6 as the most popular of these freeware programs, with a high user approval rating (93 percent). Though lower on the popularity rankings, 1st Page 2000 2.0 also earned a similar approval rating. Because Cool Page 2.6 is considerably smaller to download than 1st Page 2000 2.0, it may offer the best package to download and install in your quest to design your own pages.
Step 3: Uploading Your Files
There are three typical ways to upload the files you create: Microsoft’s Web Publishing Wizard, self-uploading via e.g. Yahoo, or File Transfer Protocol software.
Microsoft’s Web Publishing Wizard
Windows 98 comes with its own Wizard to help with publishing pages to the Internet. It is fairly flexible and simple to operate, though once you have a little experience you may prefer the other uploading options which provide file handling, once the files are published at the desired location.
In-house Uploading Tools
Many of the hosting service also provide their own uploading services, such as Yahoo, Tripod and so on. Each of these provides their own web-based upload tools that allow multiple file uploading and then inform you of the current status of the files. They are quite effective, though not the fastest way to upload files.
Most of the commands are plain text and obvious to use, so it is foolproof. Yahoo’s web-based File Manager is a good example of a tool, designed with a lot of flexibility in mind, but with common sense organization and naming of the functions.
FTP: Software and Issues
Windows 98 does not provide any FTP software at all so you will find it necessary to download this from the Internet. There are several options worth considering. Again these are freeware and popular downloads which are recommended by CNET.com downloads.
WS_FTPLe is the most popular and the highest ranked freeware FTP download program because of its wide range of functionality. It is available with a free license to those in educational environments which can be quickly set up and used without too much fuss. On the negative side, its interface may appear confusing at first to the novice, but usage is straightforward and allows you access to your account, along with a selection of buttons for common functions, such as directory naming, deleting files, etc.
Another option is FTP Explorer 1.0 which is proving very popular and highly ranked in approval ratings. FTP Explorer 1.0 mimics the Windows 95 Explorer program’s look and feel, including drag and drop of files. This kind of interface makes it readily accessible by beginners looking for familiarity and has contributed to its popularity (95 percent of users recommended this software).
A third popular alternative is CoffeeCup Free FTP 1.0 which allows users to resume connections if their downloads are interrupted by lost connections, though some criticism of its interface has been mentioned by previous users.
All of these programs are less than 750Kb so download times are shorter, so you will find it easier to try out all of these programs for yourself!
Step 4: Promoting Your Website
Once you have finished your website, attracting visitors is going to require some effort unless your audience is a captive one! A number of steps can be taken to increase your exposure to potential visitors.
1. Search Engines
Submitting your website to one of the more popular search engines helps to ensure that you will be catalogued so that searches for pages like yours by entering the relevant keywords should produce your page in the list of results. However, a vast amount of the Internet is not catalogued, even the best engines do not begin to scratch the surface of what is there. So this alone may not guarantee visitors to your website.
2. Meta-tags
Meta-tags are keywords that are used to help identify the nature of the content on your page. They are used by search engines to help identify the pages being sought. You will need to choose carefully the keywords that describe your page and then manually add them to the beginning of your pages by editing the source code of the page, but that is an easy step. Just enter the word <meta> and list the necessary words in the head of the page.
3. Webrings
Webrings are a very useful way of getting your website known by simply linking to a group of sites of similar interests. There are quite a few TESOL related webrings now, though each may have particular requirements for joining. Perhaps the best known webring for TESOL is ESLoop which can be found at http://www.linguistic-funland.com/esloop/esloop.html. Since Yahoo! now owns the original Webrings website, you can find a selection of the other popular TESOL webrings by conducting a search from http://dir.webring.yahoo.com/rw.
4. Directories
There are a variety of directories that can be used for your homepage. If you have created a specific interest website, then placing the website in a suitable category is a good place to start. Good directories include Yahoo! which allows users to submit a site (http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest), and Google’s Web Directory which provides information on how you can submit your site by means of the Open Directory technology (http://dmoz.org/add.html).
5. Dedicated Websites
Many TESOL-related websites provide both a well organized collection of links and a facility to add webpages to their database. For example, Dave’s ESL Cafe (http://www.eslcafe.com) and The Internet TESL Journal (http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/links) both allow you to do this. You will also find this feature on a wide range of other websites also offering this service. You may likewise want to reciprocate this gesture by adding their website to your Links page. If your page is more narrowly focused, linking to similar pages will produce better results because of the similarity of audience.
6. Tell Your Friends
One of the most effective ways to encourage visitors to your website is by telling your colleagues and students about the existence of your page. Of course, if you want them to return, you will need to create content that encourages that! A popular trick is to use the signature at the end of every email you send out as a link to your new homepage; you can also include it in notes, letterheads, business cards, classroom handouts, etc.
7. Typical Tricks
Once you have set up your basic webpage, you will need to create an environment that encourages people to come back. Three typical tricks can be used to encourage return visits and they do not require much more than the skills you already have.
Message Boards. Many Internet users might enjoy sharing their ideas. By providing a message board, you will allow visitors to interact with other users in a non-real time basis. One such service is provided by EZboard (http://www.ezboard.com).
Surveys. By having an on-line poll you allow users to vote on their preferences and interact with your site. For help in this area, you can call upon services of an organization such as Pollit.com (http://www.pollit.com).
Chat Functions. By offering chat functions on your web site, you are creating a forum where ideas on hot topics or current events can flow freely. There are a plethora of free chat services, such as those from Quickchat (http://www.quickchat.org).
All of these services will increase visitor returns with minimal skills in HTML – except knowledge of how to open the source code of a page and cut and paste the HTML code into the right location on the target document (Bradley).
Conclusion
After you have considered your personal strengths as well as areas for improvement and have found an area in which you can create stimulating content, you will be able to choose the most appropriate tools for the job. As time goes on, though, you will find that the easier software will begin to demonstrate shortcomings; so you will be more prepared and willing to try the more demanding software.
Your increasing computing skills will also result in more satisfying pages for your readers, in terms of both design and content. Then you will be well on your way along the information superhighway, confident in where you are going, and equipped properly to reach your destination.
Works Cited
Bradley, Helen. "Masterclass Expert Web: Encouraging Visitors" PCPLUS Magazine No. 76. May 2001. 168-170.
"CNET.com Downloads: HTML Editors" CNET.com. 1 May 2001. n. pag. Online. Internet. Available WWW: http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0,10151,0-4003353-106-0-5-8,00.html?tag=st.dl.4003353-106-1.lst.lst&
"Free the Webmaster Writer Inside You" Xanga.com. 1 May 2001. n. pag. Online. Internet. Available WWW: http://www.xanga.com/About/publish-opinions.asp?item=49
Appendix 10 Questions for Self Assessment
1. What are my strengths or interests in terms of my teaching?
2. What do I know more about that could be useful for others?
3. Who is going to be reading my website?
4. Why are they going to be reading this website?
5. What kind of content do these visitors expect to find? Make a list.
6. How experienced am I in using computers, the Internet, etc? Will I need technical help? If so, who can I ask?
7. What experience do I have of preparing webpages?
8. How much time do I have to keep my pages current?
9. What are some ways I can promote this webpage to potential visitors?
10. Can I integrate my website into my current teaching practice?
Hwa Kang Journal of TEFL, Number 7, 2001, pp. 117-136. Copyright 2001. Language Center, Chinese Culture University.
Last updated: 6/21/01 4:02:47 PM
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