Return To Brinckerhoff HomeFirst, look around at other schools' web sites and decide what you would like to put on your site. If you are comfortable with a word processor (almost any variety - I have most) and email, lay it out using the word processor and send the word processor file to the webmaster, as an attachment. Also include any graphics that you want put on the web page. And don't forget to include any appropriate hypertext links that you want included. Students as well as teachers can help out here. In fact, we need some volunteer Webheads to collect interesting stuff to put on the web pages. If there is enough interest, we could even look into an after or before school activity.
Some of you might prefer to have your class web page on a different computer service, such as AOL, Geocities or Teacherweb. The advantages of doing that are 1) you can do your own webmaking, and 2) you can do it from home, or for that matter, anywhere you can connect to the Internet. If you decide to do this, you can send the webmaster an email with your outside website and I can put a link to it on the Brinckerhoff web. As excellent examples, take a look at Mr. Marrinan's, Mrs. O'Dea's, Miss Blose's and Ms. Straley's websites.
For teachers, WCSD is in the process of setting up email accounts for all teachers. I assume that if you contact Mike or Dave, they will set up a user id and password and (give you instructions on where to) fill in some information on your classroom computer. Then you can send or receive email in your class. Even if you don't have a computer in your room, it is possible to set up a computer, say in the computer lab, with multiple profiles for different people, each protected by an individual password. Then if you send me email from your account, I will make sure it is linked to your name on the web site, so that if people click on your name, their browser should start their email program and start an email to you.
For access to email at home, you will have to arrange some kind of Internet service provider who includes email. There are many of them, some free, some not. Again, after you are set up, click on a webmaster link on the Brinckhoff web site. (not the WCSD main site) and send note. Some teachers already have accounts that they use for personal email. If you email me about something else and you want it to remain unpublished, please say so.
Perhaps the best place to get drawings and cartoon-like pictures is the Internet itself. If you are surfing and see any graphic that you would like to use (that isn't copyrighted, of course), simply move the mouse pointer over the image and click the RIGHT mouse button. That will bring up several choices, one of which is Save Picture As. Left click the Save option, and select the directory in which to save the file. You can also change its name at this point if you want. Remember where you put it and what it is named. Then start an email to the webmaster and attach the file that you saved, by clicking on the paperclip and going to the directory in which you stored it. Include in the note to me which class you are in, and what words if any you want to go with the graphic. I will take it from there.
Most film processing drop off points now offer several digital options, including Kodak Picture CDs, as well as email delivery or posting on their web site. The price for these digital services have dropped remarkably. It does take a little longer though. No one hour turnaround! This is actually the path I recommend for novices. If you don't have a camera, you can even get one of the disposables for not a whole lot more than the cost of the film.
Another option is to use a scanner. There are some at school, that I hope are working. If not, let me know and I will see if I can help out. Most scanners give you a choice of output file types or file extension. For example, "photo1.tif" or "brincksmall.jpg" are complete file names, including the .tif or .jpg extensions. I recommend using .jpg file type, since this will force the computer to compress the file as it stores it. Also, don't go overboard on the scanner resolution, if all you're going to do is upload to the web. If your computer doesn't show you the full file name (the default setting) I recommend that you change your settings. For Win95, if you open a folder and right click on a file or folder, and go to the options setting, you can tick off a box which will stop hiding the file extension. For Win98, go to the bar at the top and select view-folder options-view.
Then follow the same email procedure as above. However, if there are students in the pictures, you must get and submit a Permission Form before it can be put on the web.
One note about file size: photos can be quite large. This is not a good thing, since it will take a long time to upload or download by modem. The Photo CD program and the scanner allow you to set the image size in pixels or pixels per inch. Try to keep it under 600x800 or so total pixels. The scanner software may also give you the option of saving it in a file type of .JPG or .JPEG. This file type involves a mathematical compression so that the stored photo file is not as big. For web use, I usually set the "quality" parameter in the compression to a relatively low setting (30-40%).
Let me know if you have further questions.
Appendix:
hypertext link - when you see an underlined word or phrase, typically in blue, it is an indication that the phrase is linked to another web sight somewhere. Clicking on the link will cause your web browser to jump to that new location.
file type - part of a file name that comes at the end, following a period, and is typically three letters long.
JPG - a file type used to designate a compressed graphics file. This type of compression works best for photographs, with a continuous range of colors.
GIF - a file type used to designate a graphics file compressed in a different way. This compression is best for clip art, which like cartoons, have a limited number of colors. They can even be used to display animation.
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