Class Connections Authoring Instructions using Netscape Composer
I. Introduction
Welcome to Class Connections! Class Connections is a set of linked web pages that can be used to put course materials on the Internet. We have designed Class Connections in the form of template pages that are placed in a web directory that can be edited and published back to your class web site. For each page of the template, you just edit the contents to fit your particular course, and publish the edited version to your class web site. Your students will be able to go on to the Internet and access, read, and print the information you have provided. You can see a sample site at: http://faculty.uml.edu/hkaplan/59.306/
The basic structure of Class Connections is a web site that includes just eight pages. The first page is the Course Home Page, which states the title, number, and semester of your course, with your name and e-mail address. The Course Home Page has preset links to the seven remaining pages, as follows:
You can easily create a simple web site just by editing these eight pages. We have also designed the templates so that it will be easy for you to expand your web site to include additional pages and links. These authoring instructions explain what you can put on the Internet with Class Connections, and how to do it. After you print these instructions, you will want to delete the text "Template Instructions" from the Course Home Page, prior to publication of your web site. This will also delete the link to the Template Instructions page, but it will still be available for reference on your web site.
The web pages in Class Connections were created using Netscape Composer. You can edit the pages with either Netscape Gold, the Composer option in Netscape Communicator, or any other HTML editor. However, simple editing procedures explained in this document focus on how to use Netscape Composer with these templates. If you want to add sections, materials, and pages beyond what we have provided, or to get fancy with fonts, popup menus, images, etc., you will need advanced directions. These can be found under the Help menu in Netscape Communicator. Just go to the Help menu, select Composer, and print the directions (35 pages).
Each of the seven basic template (once the template instruction link has been removed) pages has a name, with the extension .htm, as indicated below. The .htm identifies this file as a hypertext file. Notice we use the suffix .htm and not .html. This assists in transferring your files between Macs and PC’s.
The next section describes the content and format of each page, and the last section of this document explains how to edit the pages. The template pages can be edited and expanded to include whatever course material you want to publish on the web. If you have never created web pages before, you may want to just use the template pages in the simplest form, as we have provided them, and publish your web site for a trial run when you next teach the course. At any time, you can go back and edit the material again, so that over the course of time, you can add your own pages, sections, etc., to customize the web site according to your needs.
II. Web Page Templates
A. Course Home Page (index.htm)
The page index.htm, the Course Home Page, is the first page that your students will see when they go to the course web site. It consists of a directory that links the students to the other course pages. At the top of the page are the words: Course Title, Course Number, and Semester, Year. You will edit this page to replace these words with your own course title, etc. Next, you will replace the words Your Name and Your Email Address with your own information. These phrases are each actually links. Your name will link to your own home page, if you have one or want to make one. Your Email Address provides a link, where you can insert your email address using Netscape Composer.
The main section of the Course Home Page includes the words Syllabus, Students, Class Schedule, Course Materials, Class Forum, and Resource Links. Each of these words is already linked to the corresponding page, so that you can just leave these words as they are. If you wish, of course, you can change the existing words to other terms you would prefer, and the links will be maintained. Or, you can delete words you do not want, and the links will be automatically deleted. You can also edit in additional links to other sections and create corresponding new pages and links to them.
Toward the end of the Course Home Page is the text "Template Instructions." This is linked, obviously, to the set of directions you are reading right now. After you print the instructions, you may delete the term Template Instructions (and corresponding link) that appears on the Course Home Page. The instructions page will still exist on your website (as instruct.htm) and can be opened by your web browser using the File/Open command.
B. Syllabus (syllabus.htm)
If the student selects the word Syllabus on the Course Home Page, the browser switches to the syllabus.htm page. This, as the name suggests, is a place to store all, or whatever part you want, of your course syllabus. We have set up sections for the syllabus, including Course Description, Course Objectives, General Information, Texts, and Grading Policy. If these sections are satisfactory to you, all you need to do is type the information you want in each section. If you already have your course syllabus in a word processing document, you can just cut and paste the information into the corresponding sections. You can customize the syllabus, if you want, by adding, deleting, or changing section headings as desired.
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C. Students (students.htm)
If the student selects the word Students on the Course Home Page, the browser switches to the students.htm page. This page is designed in the form of a table to contain the student roster. Prior to the beginning of the course, you will type in the name and email address of each student. Using Netscape Composer, you can turn each email address into a mail link. The template page is designed for 20 students, but you will be able to add or delete rows to the table to accommodate whatever number you need. If you don't want to enter your students’ names and email addresses on your web site, just delete the text "Students" on the Course Home Page, and this will remove the link to students.htm.
D. Class Schedule (schedule.htm)
If the student selects the word Class Schedule on the Course Home Page, the browser switches to the schedule.htm page. This page allows you to enter, for each class, a date, topic, reading, and assignment due. The template page is designed for a 14-week course that meets once a week, but you will be able to add rows to accommodate whatever number you need.
The most basic way to use this page is just to list the date, topic, reading, and assignment for each class (e.g., replace "Topic1" with your first topic, etc.). However, you may want to include lectures and/or assignments on your web site. To facilitate this, we have created links from the Class Schedule page to blank pages for lectures and assignments. For example, Topic1 is linked to a blank web page called topic1.htm, and assignment1 is linked to a blank web page called assign1.htm. To include lecture notes for Topic1, just go to the blank web page topic1.htm, enter the edit mode, and type in your lecture. Of course, you can also copy and paste existing lecture notes from a word processor or Power Point slides to the web page, to avoid retyping. Follow the same procedure for homework assignments.
If you are using the Class Schedule page without putting lecture notes or assignments on the existing blank web pages, you should remove the links from Topic1, Assignment1, etc. The simple procedure required to remove web links is described later in this document.
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E. Course Materials (material.htm)
If you select Course Materials on the Course Home Page, the browser takes you to the Course Materials page, called material.htm As you just read above, we have created blank pages for you to store lecture notes and homework assignments for specific class sessions. The Course Materials page is for additional course material, handouts, etc., that relate to the entire course or to a whole series of classes, rather than to a specific class date. The Course Materials option on the Course Home Page is linked to a blank page called material.htm. You can type general course materials in here, or, of course, copy and paste from existing documents. If you have existing printed course material that is not word processed, consider having it scanned into a word processor. You can edit it as you wish, then copy and paste into the material.htm page.
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F. Class Forum (announce.htm)
If you select Class Forum on the Course Home Page, the browser takes you to the Class Forum page, called announce.htm You may edit this blank page to include any announcements you want to make, using ordinary word processing. You may want to list announcements by date, so your students can identify new announcements.
If you would like to link a web-based discussion board and or chat to your course, please email Howard Kaplan (Howard_Kaplan@uml.edu ) indicating the name and course number, the semester offered and where your web site is located. A web-based discussion board where you and your students can easily post comments and questions related to the course.
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G. Resource Links (resource.htm)
If you select Resource Links on the Course Home Page, the browser takes you to the Resource Links page, called resource.htm. This is a page where you can include links to any web sites of interest or use for your course. You simply type in text to describe the web site, e.g., National Institutes of Health, and then create a link to the web site (directions below).
We have already put links on resource.htm to Internet tutorials and to the UMass Lowell libraries. Your student can follow these links to web sites that will teach them about web browsing and using the Internet, and to the library web site. You can delete these links if they are not useful for your class, as well as adding any others of interest to you.
III. Working with Web Pages
A. Template Structure
The template pages for Class
Connections are copied into a class directory on your web site (if you don't
have a course web site yet don't worry, contact Howard_Kaplan@uml.edu and we
will arrange a directory for your class). Before you begin working with
the pages, you should understand the structure of files within the template
folder. The following screen shot shows the contents of this directory:
The items in the main template directory include both web pages (e.g. announce.htm, index.htm, instruct.htm, material. htm, resource.htm, schedule.htm, students.htm, syllabus.htm) and sub directories (e.g. assign, images) that contain additional web pages. The pages in the main template directory have been described above.
The assign sub directory has blank pages called assign1.htm, assign2.htm, etc. These pages can be used for homework assignments and are already linked from the schedule.htm page to correspond to assignments for each week of class. You can use any or all of these pages; you can also delete unused ones and add more if necessary. If you don't use these pages, you should delete the links from the schedule.htm page.
The images sub directory includes the graphics used in Class Connections. The .gif file extension identifies these files as graphic files. They include the logo you see on the first web page of Class Connections (logo.gif) and the miniaturized version of the logo that appears on every page of Class Connections (logosmll.gif).
The students sub directory includes blank pages for each student, called stdnt1.htm, stdnt2.htm, etc. These pages are templates that students can use to create their own home pages using Netscape Gold or Netscape Communicator. Each of these blank pages is already linked to the students.htm page, from the name of the corresponding student. If your students are not making home pages, you should also delete the links from the students.htm page.
The topics folder includes blank pages for each week's class, called topics1.htm, topics2.htm, etc. These are blank pages you can use for lecture or handout material that goes with specific classes. Just type the material into the correct page, already linked from the schedule.htm page. If the material is already word processed, you can just copy and paste it from your word processor into the appropriate web page. If you are not including lecture notes in your web site, you should delete this folder and the links from the schedule.htm page to the topic pages.
B. Browsing vs. Editing
You can use Netscape Gold or Netscape Communicator in either the browse mode or the edit mode. The browse mode allows you to look at the web site as a user would, follow links, etc. The edit mode allows you to edit content of your web pages. While you can edit a local copy of a web page from your hard drive or floppy, we suggest editing web pages directly from your web site. This ensures that you are logged onto and editing the most recent version of your web site. To edit a web page, you should log on the Internet, launch Netscape and go to your class web site. When you first begin Netscape, you are by default in the browse mode. To switch to the edit mode, select Edit Page from the File menu. To return to the browse mode, select Browse Page from the File menu. While editing your pages, you will want to switch back and forth between the edit and browse mode to check on how your links work.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Before editing your web page in Netscape, you must be sure Netscape's
preferences are set properly. Select the Preferences option
under the Edit menu. Under the Category field, select Composer,
then select Publishing. Make sure there is no X in the box next
to Maintain Links and the Keep Images with Pages. Then click
the OK button.
If you are using a different
HTML editor, please consult your support materials to ensure that the Maintain
Links and Keep Images with Pages options are not selected. This will
assist in ensuring your links work once published to your course web site.
C. Editing a Web Page
To edit an existing page, go to the page and select Edit Page from the File menu. You can add text, delete, copy, cut and paste, etc., just as you would with a word processor. The Composer Help menu available in Netscape provides extensive information on how to edit files using Composer. When you are finished editing, you can select Save from the File menu to save the edited version of the page to your hard disk or floppy, but you will also need to select Publish from the File menu to publish your file to your class web site.
D. Creating a Link
To create a link to another web page, open the source page and select Edit Page from the File menu. Select the text or image to be linked, and then select Link from the Insert menu or toolbar. Then enter the URL address of the destination page in the dialog box to create the link. To remove a link, just select and delete the text or image and the link will be automatically deleted. To change a link, select the text or image and then select Link from the Insert menu or toolbar. When the dialog box appears with the existing URL address, just replace it with the new URL address. After any link is created or modified, you may want to select Browse Page from the File menu and check to see that your link works as you expect.
E. Creating a New Web Page
You may want to create new web pages for your web site. To do this, select New from the File menu and then Blank Page from the sub menu. You will then see a blank new page that you can use for new text, images, etc. Add what you want and then use Save from the File menu to save the new page. Give the new web page a name with 8 or fewer characters and the htm extension. (student8.htm is an example of this naming convention, 8 letters in student8 and 3 in .htm) If you want to create a new web page that has the same format as an existing one, just open the existing page and select Save As from the File menu. You can then save a copy of the existing page under a new name (with htm extension) and then edit the new page as you wish. You can then select Publish from the File menu to publish your file to your class web site.
F. Publishing Your Web Site
When you have finished creating and editing your web site, you will be ready to publish it on the Internet. Before you actually publish your course to a web site, you need an account on a web server. Arrange this thru Howard Kaplan. As part of this process you will be given email that will contain your username, password, publishing address and information on how to publish your web site using Netscape Composer. A few notes about publishing your web site follow.
Often your class web site address, the URL, is different than the address you publish your files to. UMass Lowell faculty who are using the Class Connections template use a URL similar to the one below to view their class web site:
http://faculty.uml.edu/jdoe/##.###
The site is not password
protected, so you can view the information without a username and password.
Notice the address includes the faculty's username (jdoe) followed by ##.###,
this symbol would be replaced by Prof. Doe's course number, 59.306, for
example.
However, to publish changes to the Prof. Doe's class web site a different address would be used:
ftp://faculty.uml.edu/jdoe/##.###/
Notice that this address starts off with "ftp://” rather than "http://", this is because Prof. Doe is using an File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to publish his pages to the class web site. This is an important difference. Prof. Doe also must enter a username and Password assigned by the server administrator. The username and Password assure that only Prof. Doe can publish changes to his class web site and directs his pages to the correct course directory.
G. Additional Notes About Publishing
Publishing files with Netscape Composer is relatively easy, once you have the correct account and directory information. It is important that you understand where you are publishing files to in your directory and what the name of the file you are publishing should be. The notes below attempt to clarify the entries for the Publishing dialog box.
1) First, bring up the Publishing dialog box by selecting Publish from the File menu.
2) Page Title field:
The Page Title field may already have a name if you are editing a
pre-existing page. This is the name that will appear at the top of a
student’s web browser window, this is not the Filename. If the Page
Title field is empty you can enter a Page Title here or in the
Page Colors and Properties option available under the Format menu.
3) HTML Filename field:
If the HTML Filename field is empty, type in the appropriate
file name (e.g., index.htm, syllabus.htm). When updating Class Connections
template files, be sure to use the same filename as the original file. The
only time you will use a new file name is when you are publishing an additional
new web page to your class web site.
4) HTTP or FTP location to
publish to:
Where it says HTTP or FTP location to publish to enter in the ftp address
supplied by your server administrator. For UMass Lowell faculty,
this address will be:
ftp://faculty.uml.edu/jdoe/##.###/
where ##.### is your course number.
5) Username and Password fields.
Please enter the username and password supplied by your server
administrator. It is important that these are entered correctly.
Notice the option to Save Password next to the Password field.
If you are working from a computer only you will have access to, this is a
convenient option.
6) Other Files to Include.
If there are image or other media files associated with your class web page,
they will appear in this box. The images associated with the Class
Connections template are already posted on the web site, so you should click
the Select None button. If you have added additional images or
other media files, click the file to Select it (Shift-Click for
multiple files).
7) Click the OK button to publish the file. You should receive a message indicating your file(s) were uploaded successfully. To view your new web pages, switch to Browse mode, make sure the appropriate URL is entered, and click the Reload Arrow. You should now view the latest version of your web page.
Want a test drive?
You may want to practice your
new skills with a test website: http://faculty.uml.edu/demo/21.202
FTP to faculty.uml.edu/demo with the username demo and the password demo.
Additional note:
Be sure the Publishing Preferences in Netscape Composer are set for publishing "Relative" versus "Absolute" links. This will allow you to move your class web site from floppy to web server without changing any web links. We will cover this when we start to edit your web pages.