Creating a “First Class” Classroom Website

Web pages should be designed so that they are easy to use and understand and
relevant to the intended audience.

Determine the goal and the audience when you are creating your web page.
Students, Parents, Community ???

Determine the content that would benefit that audience.

Keep in mind the frequency of updates that will be required for the content on
your page. It's better to start out with less content that you update regularly,
than a lot of outdated content.

Attempt to be consistent in the font type being used.

Choose color selections carefully. You want the pages to be easy to read. (Black
text on a red background is hard to read).

Graphics should serve a purpose.

Add a "date last updated" on your web pages so your audience will have an idea
if there is anything new since they last visited.

Use consistent navigation and be sure to include a "back" option if opening links
in the same window.

ALWAYS check spelling and grammar.

ALWAYS make sure all links work.

Advertise - Let students and parents KNOW about your website. Let me know
when your site is ready and I will add a link to your Campus Staff page.

Please follow the guidelines in the Cuero ISD Acceptable Use Policy and
copyright laws for education when designing and creating your web pages.
Items to consider adding to your classroom website:
x Welcome Message

x Contact Info (email, phone)

x Conference Period time

x Class Schedule

x Teacher Bio –– education, experience & accomplishments

x Hall of Fame

x Current Events

x Calendar

x Report Card/Progress report dates

x Educational Resources

x Learning Opportunities

x Learning Aids

x Resource Lists –– supply list, spelling words, vocab, field trip

form, worksheets (should be pdf)

x Parent Resources –– PTA, Test-taking tips, TAKS, Helping

your child succeed

x Student Learning Tools –– interactive tools, self-projects

x Recognitions
About the Web Publishing folder
The Web Publishing folder on your Desktop is the place to put material (web pages)
that you want others to view using their web browsers. FirstClass publishes the
contents of Web Publishing on the web.
In addition to regular web pages, you can publish lists of uploaded files, blogs,
podcasts, links, and calendars. You can organize this material into folders, and you
determine the order in which pages appear.
The left pane lists the contents of your Web Publishing folder in a tree view. To open
a web page, select it in the tree view. The right pane displays the opened web page.

About your web site's structure

The tree view in your Web Publishing folder controls the structure your web site will
have. All objects directly under Web Publishing (as opposed to inside a folder) will be
displayed in a navigation bar on your home page. Their order in FirstClass is the
same as their order on your web site.
To change the order, simply drag the objects in the tree view. You can also drag
objects into and out of folders.

Defining your home page

The first object in the tree view that isn't a folder or a link is automatically your
home page.
How others can access your web site
When you view your web site by clicking View in Browser, your web browser's
address field displays your web site's URL. The address is
http://fc.cueroisd.org/~username/home
For examples, mine would be http://fc.cueroisd.org/~pbrown/home
home is the name of my file – this can be whatever you want it to be. It should be
short and contain NO special characters or spaces. Good names would be home,
index, rules, syllabus, assignments, study, resources, etc.
This is the address to give others so they can access your web site.
To create a page for your web site:

1 Open Web Publishing.

2 Open the folder in which you want this page, if necessary.
3 Click New Web Page.
4 Select blank page.
The templates for the basic web pages are listed.
5 Add and format the web page content.
6 Click Save and Close when you are done.
You will be asked to supply a web page name.
Notes
Before you close the web page, you can give it a name (to appear in the
navigation bar) and a title (to appear in the title bar), plus keywords to assist
someone doing a site search.

To check your web page on the web, click View in Browser with the web page
selected.
How to Create Tables (every page should start with a table)

1 To create a table click on "Insert..." and select table from the list.
.

2 A New Table window will be displayed. You can set the number of rows and the number
. of columns for your table. You can determine the alignment (left, center, or right). In
addition, you can decide on a fixed width (pixels) or a width based on a percentage of
the page.

Fixed Width is
preferred. 790 is
recommended.
 To change the attributes of a table you can click on the table to select it and then you can
either select "Format Table" from the "Table..." list or from the menu at the top of the
page.
3
.
4 In the Format Table window there are options to change the table layout, cell layout and
. borders of the table.
How to Add Text to a Web Page

1. Enter text just as you would if you were using a word

processor.

2. The toolbar includes the following options:

3. You can also copy and paste text from a word processing
document into your web page.
How to Add Graphics to a Web Page

1. You will need to locate the graphics that you will display on your web page. You can copy an
image you have created using another program.

One suggestion is to create an image page where you can store the images you
find and may wish to use in the future.
2. There are many free clip art sites where you can locate images from the internet.

See the attached page or go to Educational Clipart on the Technology website.

3. There are multiple ways that you can add your graphic to your web page.

1. You can copy and paste them into your FirstClass web page.

2. You can drag and drop an image into your FirstClass web page.

3. If the images are stored in a file then you can select Image/File from the "Insert..." drop down
list and then choose the file that contains the images.
4. There are some basic formatting options for graphics available in FirstClass. Double click on
the image to open the Format Image window or select "Format Image " from the Format menu
at the top of the page.

In the Format Image window there are options to change alignment and padding. You can also
add a comment that will display when you roll the mouse over the image and adjust the size of
the image here.

In addition, if you select the "Open..." button the image will display in a new window and there
are some basic image editing tools available.

In First Class, images do not always behave the way that we want. Sometimes it is better to
create a table inside of a table to manipulate your graphics. More on this later.
6. Also, the image selected can be resized by selecting a different option in the "Original Size" list.

Note: Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com
 Educational Clipart Websites

http://www.awesomeclipartforeducators.com/

http://www.teacherfiles.com/clip_art.htm

http://school.discovery.com/clipart/copyright.html

http://www.school-clip-art.com/

http://www.pics4learning.com/

http://cooltext.com/

http://www.3dtextmaker.com/image_editor.html

http://www.gifworks.com/image_editor.html

http://www.tigerdirectart.com/
How to Add Links to a Web Page
1. Internal links - when you link to another FirstClass web page that you have
created.

External links - when you link to a URL that is located outside of your web
page, like the NASA website.

2. One way to add an link:

1. Select the Make Link symbol on the toolbar or select Link in the
"Insert..." drop down list.

3.

2. For an external link copy the URL in the Target URL location. It is usually
best if you can copy and paste the URL as that will avoid typing errors.

For an internal link type the name of the web page as it appears in the
Web Publishing folder.
 Internal
Link

External
Link

3. Once all the information has been entered, click on the "Test" button to
verify that the link is working properly. If not, recheck the spelling of the
Target URL.

4. LAST AND MOST IMPORTANT STEP – After you click OK on the Link box
above you will press the right arrow key once and type the name of the link
as you want it to appear on your webpage. This is what your audience will
see on your webpage. This is the link they will click on.
Web Calendars
You can create a FirstClass-type calendar for your web site. You add calendar items
just as you do to your personal calendar.
Note:
You must add calendar items using the calendar in Web Publishing. The version
on your web site is read only.

To add a calendar to your web site:

1 Open Web Publishing.
2 Open the folder in which you want your calendar, if necessary.
3 Click New Web Page.
4 Select Web Calendar.
5 Open the calendar.
6 Click View in Browser to see the default appearance of your calendar.
7 Change the appearance, if desired.
Click Appearance, then select the template you want your calendar to use. You
can view your choice by clicking View in Browser.
Note
Both you and readers of your web site can change the dates displayed by
clicking the links on either side of the date above the calendar.
8 Change the default calendar name, if desired.
Choose Rename from the context menu to make the name editable. Type the new
name, then press Enter/Return.
Web Folders
You can store web site content in folders to organize it. This content won't show on
your home page's navigation bar. Opening a folder on the web will reveal its
contents in the navigation bar.
Note
In the FirstClass client, you will only see folder contents in the tree view, not in
the right pane.
To create a web folder:
1 Open Web Publishing.
2 Open the folder in which you want your web folder, if necessary.
You would do this if you wanted your web pages in nested folders. You can
create subfolders within both web folders and listing folders.
3 Click New Web Page.
4 Select Web Folder.
5 Open the web folder.
6 Click View in Browser to see the default appearance of your web folder.
7 Change the appearance, if desired.
Click Appearance, then select the template you want your web folder to use. You
can view your choice by clicking View in Browser.
8 Change the default web folder name, if desired.
Choose Rename from the context menu to make the name editable. Type the new
name, then press Enter/Return.
Issues with old web site content
If you used a pre-8.3 FirstClass client to create web site content, you are free to do
nothing, and your content will continue to render on the web. You can add more
content just as you always have.
Caution
If you don't want to use the new web publishing application, don't click the
Appearance button. Clicking this button tells FirstClass to use the new web
publishing features for this container, and your web pages won't display as you
expect.
But you won't be able to use the full power of the web publishing application. For
example, you won't be able to view your content on the web directly from the client,
or apply appearance templates.
You also need to know that any HTML pages won't take on the navigation bars or
other formatting provided by the templates. These pages will basically be standalone
pages in your site.
For these reasons, we recommend that you make your existing content compatible
with the web publishing application.

Switching to web publishing

Switching your old web site content so that it is compatible with the web publishing
application involves just a few steps:
1 Move your Web Publishing folder off your Desktop to another location.
This folder is the My Web Site/Home Page folder, renamed. It contains your
existing content, unchanged. Moving this folder archives its contents, so that you
don't lose them as you switch over.
2 Open Web Publishing from the menu or navigation bar.
This creates a new Web Publishing folder on your Desktop. This will be your new
web publishing environment.
3 Remove any specially named home page document in your old content.
Web publishing can't work properly with content that includes a document
named home page, index.htm/.html, home.htm/.html, or default.htm/.html.
You can either rename your old home page document before copying it, or copy
its contents to a web page created in the Web Publishing folder on your Desktop.
4 Copy your content from the archived Web Publishing folder to the Web Publishing
folder on your Desktop.
We recommend that you do this one page at a time and view each page on the
web, to isolate any problems.
When all content has been copied over safely, you can delete the archived Web
Publishing folder.