Making a Homepage

Method One:

1.  Open up a  window in Netscape Communicator.

2.  Create your page using the fonts available.  Create links to (future) pages where you will put your social science game, your lesson plan, and your social science links.

3.  Click "publish."  When the "publish" box appears, fill in the correct boxes.  Your main page should have the name "seed415homepage.htm" or "seed415homepage.html".  Your user name and password are probably the same as your NSU e-mail name and password.  For some reason, your "publish to" address often has to be an ftp address, not an http address.  Format should be ftp://www.northern.edu/[your user name].

4.  Any new page you create is published the same way.  Be sure to use a unique file name for each new page.  I find it convenient to add a year just so I don't accidently write over another page.  Names like "historylinks12-03.htm" or "historygame11-03.htm" work pretty well.

5.  When creating links to pages on your own site, remember that all you need is the file name, not the whole address.  Putting in "seed415homepage.htm" for the "link to" location will direct the surfer back to your home page.  With pages not on your own site, type out the full URL e.g., http://www.google.com.

Method Two:

1.  Use any program you like to make a Web page.  Save your page to your F: drive.

2.  Open up internet explorer.  Type ftp://students.northern.edu.  When asked for a user name and password, use your usual NSU e-mail name and password.  Drag your file from the F: drive to the ftp site.

3.  See if your homepage is accessible through a Web browser.

Method Three

1.  Go to some place like  Geocities or Angelfire for a free site and follow the instructions there.

Whatever method you choose, experiment with different techniques for changing the appearance and content of the page:

1.  Try out the various fonts and styles available (look at the toolbar).

2. Try making a link to my home page (www3.northern.edu/marmorsa).  Do this  by clicking "link" on the toolbar and filling out the "text" and "link to" sections.  "Text" refers to the link words on your page.  "Link to" should contain the URL of the site you want to link to.

3.  Experiment with the page preferences.   Right click on your mouse button and select "page properties."  Test some color combinations.

4.  Find a graphic you'd like to include on your page.  Copy the graphic (right click on your mouse button), and then import the graphic as an image (look on the tool bar).

5.  Find a background you like.  Copy the background.  Install the background on one of your pages (go to "page properties" by right-clicking the mouse."

6.  Open a new page and experiment with the "table" command on the toolbar.  The "table" function will be of great help in arranging your page in an attractive way.

7.  Browse through some sample history/social science link collections.

8.  Begin putting together your annotated collection of links.   It's probably better to concentrate at first on one social science area or a specific historical theme.

9.  Experiment with the "table" function on the edit bar.  You can put tables within tables if you want.  The advantage to the table is that it helps keep your spacing the way you want it.

10.  Start over.  Think about what you want to include on your page and how you want to organize your materials.  Rember, graphics and sound make your page take longer to load.  Go easy on the fancy graphics and emphasize content.

11.  Be sure to put your e-mail on your homepage.  If you have a "permanent" e-mail address, add that too.  I used recommend getting a Yahoo! address and putting it on your Web page.