The talk was presented at the 1998 Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) Conference.  the purpose was to help people find the resources needed to set up a web site to promote environmental programs.

HTML - "HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language, the major language of the Internet's World Wide Web. Web sites and web pages are written in HTML. With HTML and the WWW, you have the ability to bring together text, pictures, sounds and links... all in one place! HTML files are plain text files, so they can be edited on any type of computer... IBM, Mac, UNIX, whatever."  If you want to see what HTML looks like, choose the view option on your menu above and then choose page source; now you will see what HTML looks like.

Web Page - This is a web page, one file all by itself.  It is composed of HTML and is viewed using a browser.  These files end in htm or html.

Web Site - A web site is a series of web pages all linked together with a common theme.  Usually a home page connects all the pages.

Home Page - This is your front page to your web site.  The home page will usually direct visitors to all the other sections in your web site.

In order to make a web page you will need get some type of software to create web pages; this is called web authoring tools.  There are a number of these web authoring tools; to find one, visit reallybig.com , which lists many of these tools.

For those just starting to make web pages I recommend WYSIWYG editors.  These are just like word processors and anyone that is familiar with a word processor can catch on rather quickly to this type of editor.

My Favorite Editor -

 

Netscape Communicator is my favorite WYSIWYG editor for a number of reason; first off it is FREE!.  I also find Netscape Communicator adequate for all my needs, except for making frames.  I have used this program to make the following three web sites:

Ray's Packard Bell Web Site - This my largest site, over 70 pages taking up 10 MB of web space.  I maintain this site in my spare time and I get 11,000+ impressions per month.  Most of my experience with web pages has been creating this web site.

Ray's Environmental Science Web Site- When I first started on the web I made a few pages on environmental issues.  Creating these pages, I learned how to do the basics.

NHDES Household Hazardous Waste Program - This is the Official HHW Web Site for the State of New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.  I created and maintain this sub-site on the DES web site.

Best Way To Begin -

I would say the best way to begin is to find a tutor to help you.   Unfortunately the 20 minutes I got to talk is far too short to teach you everything you need to know.  Luckily there are many web sites out there willing to help you learn; see this web page for a partial list of those web sites.

Also, if you choose the same editor I use, Netscape Communicator, you will be able to start the same way I did.  I used the Netscape Wizard; follow these simple instructions to begin to learn how to make your own web site.

First make sure you are using Netscape Communicator, if you do not have a copy you will want to click here to obtain a copy.

Now that you have Netscape Communicator you are ready to begin to learn.  See the menu bar at the top of the screen, choose file, new, and from Wizard.  This will then connect your computer to Netscape's web site where they will walk you through a series of steps to teach you about the pieces that make up a web site.

Finally, remember to stick with it.  This very Wizard was how I began a year and a half ago; it taught me all the basics I needed to create my sites.  With some effort and time you too can create a great web page to promote your program.

Another option is to try some of the other web tutorials, like this one called HTML an interactive tutorial for beginners and The Idiot's Guide To Creating a Home Page.

What is Next -

After you learn the basics with the wizard (if you decide to use Netscape Communicator), you then need to spend some time to learn how to make a page on your own.

Make sure you use both your creativity and lots of good information.  A simple looking web page with lots of good information is a lot better than one that looks nice but has no information on it.

You can also make some pages for yourself to simply learn how to make them.  You can put up pictures of your family, information on your favorite hobbies, or whatever else interests you.  There are places free on the internet where you can go to practice and actually post your pages.  Geocities is where I have made a home for my personal web pages, including this web page.  If you would like to get your own free web page then visit Geocities. Other places to get free web sites are listed on this page from Freesite.com.

Once you have your free web space you will want all kinds of free stuff to put on your new web pages. Visit the following free web stuff sites to get counters, mailing lists, etc..

• Free Index - A world of Free Stuff
• HTML Goodies - by Dr. Joe Burns, Ph.D.
• ReallyBig.com - The complete resource for all web builders.
• CNET - This site has info on all aspects of computers, but this one page is particularly useful in making web pages.   This page is called stupid web tricks.
• The Free Site - Home of the Web's best freebies.

Here is one site I really like that helped me learn what to do and not to do when I create web pages.  This site is called Web Pages That Suck; this site shows you bad web sites in order to help you make good ones. This site inspired me in the next part of this presentation, where I will review a number of web sites and point out some things that I would not have done based on my experiences and based on recommendations from the so-called experts.  I am not saying my way is the best way, but I present this in order to give you things to think about when you make your pages.

• Choose your colors wisely - Make your web pages readable.  Bad colors can make a great page unreadable to many.  Wrong choices of color can make the text almost disappear. Click here to see my example.

• Background interference - Also don't use backgrounds that will drown out the text; keep the background light and simple, this can also be see in my example.

• Annoying colored text - Some people love to color text a little too much; this can be annoying and hard to read, check out this example.

• Avoid large images - Keep images as small as possible; if the web page takes too long to download people may not wait to see what other info you have. Design pages for 28.8 modems, as that is what the majority of internet surfers are using, or provide a text only version for those using slower modems.

• Avoid Java - It is slow to download and can have the same effect as a large image.  There are some great uses for java but use it sparingly.

• Allow visitors to adjust frames - Dover does not allow visitors to adjust the frames, but DES does.  Put your arrow right on the DES frame to the left; when you see it change shape push and hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse left and right.  When the window gets where you want it, let go.  This is a nice feature that allows your visitors to see more of what they want to see.  Try the same thing with the top frame from Dover; as you can see it does not move.
• Offer a frames free version - There is a way to escape from a frame; simply choose the frame you want to see the whole page of and right click and choose open frame in new window.  This is not known by many new users and they may still be trapped and may not know how to see what they want. Try this on one of the frames that we are currently looking at and you will see that only one frame opens up and with sites that rely on frames it will create problems.  So offer your visitors a way to navigate your site without frames.  See what I did at my Packard Bell Web Site; when my site is called up click on the kill frames button.  Once the frames are gone I provided a page that allows the visitor to visit every web page on my site.
• Don't use counters - I am guilty of this one, I use counters on my Packard Bell Site
• Most visitors don't care how many people have visited; they are just at your site to get information.
• Counters take time to load, thus slowing down your pages.
• If can look bad if you have a very low count; visitors may say I am only the 12th person here, well there must not be anything good here.
• There are ways to keep count without showing visitors how many people have been on your page.
• Make pages easy to find - Remember that many people may not be familiar with the organizational structure of your agency.
• Your department's organizational structure is a perfect way to organize your files on your web site, however it will be confusing to many of your visitors.  So provide a different navigation structure to your visitors.  This can be seen once you get to the recycling page; here it is easier to find the information that you are looking for.  See how there is a home page with all the links to the recycling information.  This home page has an index of all pages relating to recycling; this is good as it puts all pages one click away from the recycling home page.

• Link to other sites - On the Q&A page I found out that the Ingham County Health Department handles disposal of household hazardous material and it lists a phone number; that is good since I found who does HHW collection for my city and now have a phone number to call.  However, if the Ingham County Health Department has a web site with HHW information, it would be a good idea to provide a link to it, after all I am already on the computer looking for a place to dispose of my HHW, so why make me use the phone if I don't have to?
• Index pages - If you have long pages that go on and on use an index at the top of the page to help people find what they want.  Of course you are better off to break up your information into multiple pages.  This page is a good example of how a page can go on and on.  If I had more time I would have done this differently, but we all only have so much time.

NOW that you have created your great web page you need visitors to come once and then return again.  Here are some simple ideas to accomplish these goals.

• Keep a news list to keep people coming back.
• Include a URL in all your advertisements, brochures and business cards.  That way people that see your message can always get more information.
• Provide a message that is worth coming back to.
• Make your site easy to read and simple to navigate.
• Register with search engines.
• Make sure all your pages are optimized for webbots, etc..

We are the experts at environmental issues, not computers, and we should not be expected to do it all.  However, if you have the time and ambition to learn you can probably create a nice site all on your own.  I have learned all I know in my spare time, unfortunately I have only learned a fraction of the information out there on web pages.