Creating Web Pages Using Netscape

GETTING STARTED

STEP 1:

Load Netscape Navigator Gold, or, if you want to be completely current, load Netscape Communicator onto your computer. As full-time educators, Netscape licenses this software to us for FREE. If you want manuals or support, you will have to buy the software. To download, go to Netscape's home page (www.netscape.com) and follow the directions.

STEP 2:

Open Netscape Gold. Click on File, then on New Document, then on Blank (you may also want to try Netscape's Templates or Wizard, but this tutorial walks you through the basic commands). You'll see a screen that looks like a word processing screen, with buttons across the top. These are your editing tools. If you move your mouse across the buttons, captions pop up explaining what each button does.

STEP 3:

Create your page.

You can use pre-formatted headings by clicking on the down arrow next to the word "Normal."
Like word processors, you can highlight text and change its size, just by clicking on the different kinds of headings.

Try typing a few words of text, then click on the different heading sizes to see what happens.

You can also put text into bold or italics, or change its size--try using the buttons with "A" on them.
You can make bulleted or numbered lists, change indents, and change justification by using the buttons in the third row.
If you want to use a horizontal line to mark different sections of your page, use the line button in the first row.
Want to add color? Highlight the text you'd like to make a different color, then click on the button that looks like Rubik's Cube. Choose your colors wisely.
If you don't like that gray background for your page, go to the "Properties" setting across the top, click on it, then click on "Document." On the "appearance" tab, change the background color to one you like, then click Okay.

Step 4:

Now you can connect to the outside world. To make a link, click on the button that looks like a link of chain. If you are like me, you'll get an annoying message that you need to save your document locally before you can create a link.

To save your page, click on File, then Save. Get to your A drive, then give your file a name. I used goldpage. If you use a name longer than 8 letters, your school's computer may insert the "~" character. Here's a hint. If you want this file to appear automatically when people access your URL, name your home page "index"--for some reason, computers are typically trained to look for this file first.
Now you can create a link, let's say to the UN Home Page.

Highlight the text you'd like to serve as the link.
Click on the chain. You'll see that your highlighted text will appear in the "Link Source" box.
Your cursor will be in the "Link To" box. Type in the URL, http://www.un.org, or if you are linking to another file, browse your disk or computer for the file.
Click "OK" and you're done. You'll note that, in your document, the link will be underlined and a different color (usually blue).
Another hint: if you are linking to a local file (such as a syllabus), you'll need to be sure that you load that file on to the server, so that others can access it. Check with your web master about loading all the files for your page (the same is true of graphics files).

Step 5:

Try adding some graphics. Although content is more important than glamour, a few graphics can be nice. There are lots of public domain graphics on the web.

If you find a graphic you want to use (your school's logo, for example), go to that site, put your mouse on it, and right click.
You'll get a box with several options. Click on "save as" and save the graphic to your A drive.
Click on the "Insert Image" button at the place where you want the graphic to go on your page. You'll get a box with options. You can either type in the location of the graphic, or click on "browse" and open the image from your A drive.
Click on OK. Your graphic should appear on your page.

STEP 6:

Add the copyright, last modified, and contact line. I usually put a horizontal line across the end of the site, then below it, the relevant information. Using the paragraph style box, use the "address" style.

STEP 7:

Check your links to make sure they work. To do this, save your page, then click on the "View in Browser" button that looks like the Netscape Ship's Wheel. When your page comes up, click on all your links to make sure they are OK.

Step 8:

Publish your site. Usually you'll send your page to its permanent home using a program called FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Contact your network administrator or web master about procedures. When you do publish your site, be sure to send along the complete collection of files (such as graphics files) you'll need to make it work.