The World Wide Web presents an almost overwhelming variety of resources and possibilities. Students can use the web for basic research or to perform virtual lab experiments. Construction of a class web site offers the potential for exciting student involvement, better communication with parents and students, help with homework, answers to frequently asked questions and a site that can be both a resource for student projects as well as a place to show off the best of student and class projects in text, sound or pictures.
The web as class resource:
Web based magazines, journals, archives, special interest sites, databases and interactive demonstrations provide a wealth of possibilities for class use.
1. As a source of curricular materials
2. As a source for instructional models
3. As a place for students to conduct research
4. As a virtual laboratory
The web as a project for the teacher:
The web is a dynamic and exciting place to engage in class projects. At its simplest level a teacher can improve communication with parents and students by placing on the web a course outline with a week by week lesson plan. More involved sites can include links to relevant resource sites, daily homework assignments, project guidelines, rules for student conduct, activity schedules, supplementary reading materials and examples of the best student product.
The web as a class project:
The web is a potential site for student creative activity. While almost all classes have students who are to one degree or another precocious when it comes to computers, it does not require extensive skill to build and mount pages on the web. School districts, local companies, government institutions, colleges, universities and internet service providers have web servers which can host your web site. Class projects can be simple or ambitious. Classes can build on the work of the previous terms class making more and more elaborate sites possible. A class web site can be a simple page that tells something about the class, perhaps includes a class photo, a list of the class's favorite links to other sites and a report on the class's activities for the year. More advanced sites can showcase student work, including but not limited to written assignments, art work, music and photography. The web is an ideal place for students to publish on-line magazines, literary/poetry journals and student newspapers without incurring the cost of printing while making the publication global.
Web Page Construction Tips:
Various things that you can do to make your site work and communicate more effectively.
When you set out to design a site you should consider not only the content but also your audience and the medium you are using. Cluttered pages and pages that place technical hurdles in the way of access can detract from your site's effectiveness.
Avoid "The Clown's Pants"
Pages with a cluttered look or with a scattering of variously sized graphics may be difficult to read. Try to keep a consistent style and "look" throughout your page. If possible, present your in-line images in a consistent style and size.
Avoid Overly Long Pages (Like this one!)
It is very easy to develop pages that get away from you in terms of length (I've done it many times). Anchors and return buttons certainly help but one can become lost in excessively long pages. Additionally, long pages take more time to load. Whenever possible break up your site into smaller pages.
Avoid Dead Ends
Provide return links on every page within your site in order to facilitate efficient navigation through your site.
Image Format Issues
Avoid the World Wide Wait! Large graphic files can mean long download time, therefore reducing your site's effectiveness. Consider using "thumbnails" with links to larger versions of these graphics.
GIF or JPG? The major web browsers support two common graphic formats. JPG is probably better for continuous tone photo images where the quality of the image is important to the page content. GIFs allow you to reduce the color bit depth (i.e., 8 bit 256 color reduced to 4 bit 16 color) thereby reducing the size of the file, making download faster. GIFs also can make use of an interlacing function that allows them to quickly load a low resolution image which then becomes clearer in an effect similar to a venetian blind, giving you page a more complete layout look earlier in the download process.
Providing Width and Height information within the <IMG SRC> tag allows the browser to quickly place a frame within the page thereby speeding download by freeing the browser from the need to examine the graphic file first in order to determine how much space must be allocated on the page.
If your site utilizes graphic banners you may want to limit the width of your banner to a maximum of 472 pixels. The major web browsers have a default width of 500 pixels, and banners exceeding this require the user to resize the window in order to view the page.
Color Compatibility
Even though the web is known for its graphics, the text still provides the essential content. If you elect to have a color background other than the default gray, your text can be drowned in background colors that are too similar to text color. When designing your page you should pay attention to the hue, saturation and luminance of your text and backgrounds to make your page easy to read. Remember that your page has at least three text colors, the color of the main text, the color of linked text and the color of used linked text. Small text can also be quickly overwhelmed by a complex background image.
Color
Unlike color television not all computer monitors have the same color capabilities. There are still monochrome monitors out there and color monitors range from 16 colors to millions of colors. Your images may be beautiful on your high-end monitor and not be as nice on lower end equipment. Whenever possible test out your pages on monitors with a limited color range.
Remember browser differences
Don't count on everyone seeing your site the same way. Different browsers may not be able to view all of the functions that you have used in your page. Tables, frames and variable heading sizes are some of the things that may be lost when the site is accessed by older or less well equipped browsers. Be prepared to create alternative pages for browsers that do not support your page design. Different users and browsers may also use different default fonts and font sizes when accessing your carefully designed page. In a framed page it is possible to have the text run out of the frame and be unviewable to some users.
Screen shape (Aspect Ratio) and Screen Area
Like film and television the web has a screen shape and area. While the default frame gives the web its basic shape, the area can be significantly different on different sized monitors. Some computer monitors have variable resolution which can affect the size of the browser windows.
Keep your site fresh
Add new material to your site regularly. Keep your site alive. Incorporate the feedback you receive about your site into your site. Your students may find collaborating with you on the site stimulating.
Check link integrity regularly
Just because you can link to it doesn't mean that it will always be there or be up.
Modem differences
If you access the web from school, through the campus T1 or T3 line, it is important to remember that the page that loads quickly on your monitor will load much slower on your students home 14.4 or 28.8 modem. When possible test your sites from home. If you are like me you will do most of your best work from home anyway.
Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should
Developing web functions and capabilities can be quite exciting and diverting but what seemed fun and new on Monday may be passé, or worse, annoying on Friday. Java, JavaScript, Video conferencing, VRML, QTVR, plug-ins, Real Audio and animated GIFs should be used only if they improve the effectiveness of your site.
Use a consistent file name system
When building a web site, what you name your files (except for file format tags) is up to you. You will find that as your site grows site management will be easier if you have a consistent file name system. A file name convention can make the identification of files and the management of different versions go much faster.
WYSIWYG software packages for web authoring
For the Macintosh:
For the PC: