From: Judy Hallman <hallman@email.unc.edu>
To: Web-Walkers <web-walkers@unc.edu>
Cc: Lorena Russell <lorenar@email.unc.edu>,
Michael Phillips <michael_phillips@unc.edu>
Subject: Summary of November 19 Web-Walkers meeting
To Web-Walkers:
Summary of November 19, 1997, Web-Walkers meeting:
Web Page Creation and Maintenance
Lorena Russell, Academic Technology and Networks
Michael Phillips, Academic Technology and Networks
NOTE: After the meeting, Lorena sent me a bookmark file with some links to various sites with reviews, etc. of HTML editors. I've put it at http://www.unc.edu/campus/aboutweb/walkers/mtgs/htmledit.htm
ATN is teaching Netscape Composer, an HTML editor which comes as part of Communicator's standard suite. Netscape Composer looks like a word processor. From Navigator, you can easily open Composer via the floating menu, or by opening any page you are browsing through Navigator's Edit Page command under the File. You use the "Publish" button on the toolbar to put the file back on the site. This product has limited file management functions.
http://cnet.com contains reviews of recent developments and popular packages.
The first Web authoring class offered by ATN goes over the basics and publishing. The next class teaches more management.
Composer is a stand-alone editor. For more features, users might want to try web management tools like MS FrontPage, which costs about $150 (retail) or ColdFusion (on the order of $500).
Michael has kept the department involved and there is general consensus, but not all follow the standards.
The ATN Web pages allow you to click on the image map or the text. Michael thinks that most people click on the text, but is checking into that. He's considering a new design with less graphics.
"Universal Web Design," a comprehensive guide to creating accessible web sites by Crystal Waters (http://www.typo.com/uwd/uwd.html) says that white with black is hard on the eyes, but most of the sites Michael reviewed used dark on white.
ATN teaches two Web authoring courses and each has a document. There are nine additional documents on frames, tables, how to upload, cgi, etc.
Campus site licenses reduce cost of software. MS FrontPage is on the order of $75. It and Claris Home Page are site licensed. Michael cautioned that the code generated by some of the HTML editors for advanced stuff may screw up some browsers. Dream Weaver (about $499) works well across browsers.
Michael used Photoshop ($450 from the Ram Shop) for the ATN graphics. We do not have a site license for it, but ATN teaches Photoshop classes.
Shareware is available from http://shareware.unc.edu/
Information about web-safe color palettes and various other web graphics tips are at http://www.lynda.com/, a site developed and maintained by Lynda Weinman, guru of all things graphical on the web. http://www.lynda.com/books.html describes the books she has written, most of which are available at the RAM Shop and other computer book stores. Her two books (about $100) on coloring and web graphics, cover a lot; they are really good books.
The Help Desk (in Wilson Library) supports HTML. They can help you make things work, but not help you develop a Web page from scratch. The Help Desk can take some FrontPage questions; FrontPage is not a supported product, but they will try to help.
ATN has internal instructions -- at http://help.unc.edu/internal/webdev/ Site management difficulties include following standards; determining where information belongs; color schemes fall apart. Are the categories and color schemes useful? Who owns the information; who is the authority?
ATN uses the SWISHE (enhanced) search engine. The site is reindexed every night. All words are indexed except common words and those specified in an exclusion list. Michael wants to be able to search subsections.
Attendees:
Brad Argue, Dentistry, brad_argue@dentistry.unc.edu
Bryan Ayers, MSEN and ATN, bryan_ayers@unc.edu
Kay Bobbitt, AIS, bkb@email.adp.unc.edu
Ann Brookhart, ATN, ann_brookhart@unc.edu
Tara Burgess, Davis Library, burgt@ils.unc.edu
Jeff Campbell, ATN, jeff_campbell@unc.edu
Kathy Craddock, UNC Hospitals, kcraddoc.isd2@mail.unch.unc.edu
Mary E. Daniel, Loan Collections, m_daniel@unc.edu
Gail Darden, Pharmacy, gdarden@email.unc.edu
Philip Dixon, Tech. Services, Davis Library, pdixon@email.unc.edu
Susan Dunn, Inst. Of Govt, dunn.iog@mhs.unc.edu
Elizabeth A. Evans, Carolina Population Center, evans@unc.edu
Adam Fuller, Publication Services, afuller@email.unc.edu
Judy Hallman, ATN, judy_hallman@unc.edu
Holly A. Hyland, Scholarships & Student Aid, hyland.sao@mhs.unc.edu
Barbara Levergood, Davis Library, leverg.davis@mhs.unc.edu
Gary Lloyd, Univ. Registar's Office, grl.our@mhs.unc.edu
John Meeker, Pharmacy, jmeeker.pharm@mhs.unc.edu
Tim Murphy, Dentistry, tim_murphy@dentistry.unc.edu
Lynne Neil, AIS, silcn@email.adp.unc.edu
David Potenziani, Center for Distance Learning, SPH, david_potenziani@unc.edu
Donna Redmon, Univ. Registrar's Office, donna_redmon@unc.edu
Margi Strickland, Undergrad. Admissions, mstrickl@email.unc.edu
Janet Tysinger, ATN, janet_tysinger@unc.edu
Cathy Wells, Orthopaedics, msmiller@med.unc.edu
Lisa Wright, Inst. Of Govt, wright.iog@mhs.unc.edu
Judy Hallman (judy_hallman@unc.edu, http://www.unc.edu/~hallman/)
Campus Webmaster, UNC-Chapel Hill