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Webpage Developer's Guide
Table of Contents
Using This Guide - HTML
and Webpage Construction
Getting Help at WHOI - Planning
Your Pages - Building Your Pages
Including Common Elements - Keeping
Your Audience in Mind
Using This Guide
This guide attempts to support developers of new Web pages on the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Web site (www.whoi.edu).
The guide is not intended to be a tutorial, nor is it a comprehensive
reference work. It presumes you know the basics of Webpage construction
and HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML), the coding ("tagging") system
that controls the structure and presentation of information on the
Web. (If you are not familiar with those processes, you will want
to pursue the resources provided in the next
section.) This guide's goals are:
- to get WHOI information providers started in Web publishing
- to identify sources of help for Web publishing
- to suggest elements that contribute to cohesive sets of WHOI
Web pages
- to aid the overall development of WHOI's Web resource collection
Learning HTML and Webpage Construction
Many self-help resources are published in print and on line to get
information providers started with Web publishing. The following on-line
resources may help beginner and experienced Webpage developers.
At WHOI:
At Other Web Sites:
Another good way to learn about Web publishing is to browse existing
Web pages. When you find a page you admire, choose your Web browser's
option to view the source code. For example, with the Macintosh version
of Netscape Navigator, open the "View" menu and choose "Document
Source"; the program will download to your own Macintosh a copy of
the text document - complete with HTML tags - that generated the Web
page you were browsing. Similarly, with the PC version of Netscape
Navigator, open the "File" menu and choose "Save As" to download
a copy to your own PC.
Getting Help at WHOI
Formal sources of help for Web publishing at WHOI include:
Informal sources of help can often be found in your own department.
Many of your peers and colleagues at WHOI have ventured into Web publishing
and can offer tips for approaching this work. Most WHOI Webpage developers
have included their "signatures" or contact information somewhere
on their pages.
Planning Your Web Pages
Before you put even one HTML tag on your page, think ahead about:
- what message you're trying to deliver
- who your intended audience is (scientists or colleagues, funding
agencies, administrators, WHOI staff, trustees, teachers, students,
and others)
- who your real audience likely will be (all of the above - remember
that the first "W" in "WWW" stands for the WORLD)
- how extensive or complex the scope and nature of your content
is
- how you might organize your page(s) to best deliver that content
- what combination of content, functionality, and pizzazz you
need, want, and can incorporate into your page(s)
- how - and how often - you will maintain your page(s)
Remember that all audiences expect accuracy, veracity, and up-to-date
content for Web pages. Plan to create pages that you can maintain
easily. Start with a simple structure and layout and apply it consistently.
Build in new features or improve aesthetics as your Web skills increase
and as time allows.
Remember also that the Web allows and encourages changes to be
made quickly and easily. You can build your page(s) over time and
present your information incrementally. Don't overwhelm yourself
- or hold yourself back - by planning a large, extensive set of
pages and waiting to make them public until you have them completely
and finally finished. Web pages are never "finished"! Some portions
of your planned work may lend themselves to Web publication earlier
than other portions; go ahead and make them available, adding the
other portions later.
Building Your Web Pages
If you are new to Web publishing, you may want to start with one of
the templates created for new WHOI Webpage developers. Three types
are available: a science department
template, an administrative
department template, and a professional
(individual page) template. If you wish, you may use these as
a quick start to your Web publishing. Follow these steps:
- If you are using Netscape Navigator on a Macintosh computer,
open the template, go to the "View" menu, and choose "Page Source."
A copy of the HTML source for the document will open, which you
can drag-copy and paste into a new text document on your own Macintosh.
- If you are using Netscape Navigator on a PC-compatible computer,
open the "File" menu and choose "Save As" to save a copy of the
source file on your PC. The file-name extension will automatically
be changed from .html to .htm.
- Edit the copy; change the text and leave the HTML tags in place,
if appropriate.
NOTE: At this point, you are working with a copy on
your local computer only. You are not editing or changing anything
on line on the Web - yet - so don't worry about making mistakes.
- Preview your new page locally with a Web browser on your own
computer (for example, with Netscape Navigator, choose
"Open Page in Navigator" from the "File" menu).
- Make any necessary corrections, and re-save your file as a
text file. Double-check your changes by viewing the file again,
as described in Step #2.
- Contact the Webmaster (e-mail webmaster@whoi.edu,
or phone 289-2357) to learn how to load your page and link it
to the WHOI Web server for public access or, if you prefer, for
access restricted to those on WHOInet.
Including Common Elements in Your Web
Pages
Whether you are a new or an experienced Webpage developer, consistent
use of graphical elements, language associated with links, and some
standard text elements can help present WHOI's collection in a cohesive
way. These tips may help as you develop your pages:
- Make your <TITLE> </TITLE> tag work for you! The information
you enter between these tags (which are always placed between
the <HEAD> </HEAD> tags) helps search engines find your
pages. The text in the <TITLE> tag also becomes the name of
the "Bookmark" one makes to your page. Choose brief, clear
language in the <TITLE> tag that everyone visiting your
site would understand; minimize your use of abbreviations and
acronyms.
- Use the words Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
somewhere in your page.
- Provide at least one link back to the WHOI Home Page
(http://www.whoi.edu/) from your page. The link may be simply
included as part of the above reference, or you may place it at
the bottom of the page, with the explicit words "Return to WHOI
Home Page." Many WHOI pages use this button as well:
Its source is http://www.whoi.edu/icons/RETURN.gif.
- Include the WHOI logo somewhere in your page. This version
represents the colors well, uses minimal on-screen "real estate,"
and loads fairly quickly:
Its source is http://www.whoi.edu/icons/whoi-logo-small.gif.
NOTE: If you intend to offer access to your page(s)
through your own or your department's Web server rather than through
WHOI's main server (www.whoi.edu), you will want to store a copy
of commonly used images (such as the WHOI logo) locally on your
own server and then refer to that source, rather than referring
to the image source on WHOI's main server.
- White or light-colored solid backgrounds generally allow
graphics to look their best and provide better legibility for
text that overprints on the background. "Busy" backgrounds can
drastically interfere with readability. This set of tags defining
the body of your HTML file will produce a white background, as
you see on this page:
<BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> your content here </BODY>
- Horizontal rules (lines) help organize the content of
your page. The <HR> tag produces simple rules:
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