A.
Edit a Webpage Using Netscape Tools
1. Open the page in Netscape's
HTML editor, Composer, using
one of the three methods below:
a. If acquiring/editing an Internet
webpage for the first time, start
with the webpage showing on-screen in the Netscape "Navigator"
browser. Select
to open the webpage in "edit page" mode in Composer.
Proceed
to A-2.
Don't just "Save" the page; the "Edit Page" step
is essential to acquire any images.
b.
If
opening/editing a webpage already saved on your computer, open
Composer, select ,
navigate to the location of the file, select it and click .
Proceed to A-3.
c.
If
starting a new webpage from scratch, open Navigator, select
This opens a blank document in Composer. Proceed to A-2.
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The paper and globe  icon
located in the upper left-hand corner of the browser
window indicates
that you are in the HTML editor, Composer; A circle with
an N  icon
indicates that you are in the browser, Navigator. |
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| 2. Click on File-->Save As to save the webpage
(and any dependent images, if editing an existing webpage) on your
computer,
in a folder created for that page.
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To keep the webpage and its images together, create
a new folder for the page:
- In the File/Save As dialog box, click on
the icon to
- With the New Folder text highlighted,
type a name for the folder (e.g., "lecture1")
- Double-click on the new folder's icon in the main
display area of the dialog box. (This
will put you inside the folder, and that folder
name should then appear in the field
at the top of the dialog box).
- Adjust the webpage's File Name, if desired,
and click Save.
Filenames: When naming folders and files for
webpages, do not use spaces or characters other
than letters, numerals, hyphens, or underscores. And
always use lowercase letters. These naming conventions
comply with those recognized by the UNIX webserver Polaris
and will help avoid problems with displaying the page
once it is on the UNIX server. |
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| 3.
Use Composer's tools to edit the webpage, and resave. Many
of Composer's tools are fairly intuitive for those already comfortable
with word processing, although somewhat more limited. You may
readily
type new text, delete text and images, apply new formatting, create
links, etc. Composer applies any required HTML (hypertext markup
language) codes in "background" as you work. Resave
frequently.
Specify
the webpage title you want (that
is, the title that appears in the top line of the browser window,
not a title in the body of the page): Select; change the page title and author
as desired, then click .
The webpage title is easy to miss in the browser header, but
if
you forget to change it, an incorrect page title could confuse
viewers later.
Also
in specify
the background image or
color
you want and
click OK.
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You can acquire
a background image from any on-screen Internet webpage
(such as this page) by right-clicking on a blank
area of the page, selecting Save Background As and
saving the background image in your webpage folder. |
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Change
text appearance (face,
size, color, style, etc.) and alignment: Select/highlight the text and use the Format
menu items — or use the formatting buttons in the tool bar.
Insert images: Any
new images you wish to insert into the page should be placed in
the same folder as the webpage itself, and they should be in
.gif
or .jpg format, preferably no larger than 25-50 kb in size so
they will load quickly. Use Composer's Insert Image icon  or menu
to browse for and select the image and
to place it in the page.
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To acquire an
image from the Internet right-click
on the image when it shows in your browser, selecting
to Save Image As, and saving it on your
own computer. Always be sensitive to copyright
issues. You may freely use UMUC images for your
own UMUC classes. A number of class "bar" images
is available at http://info.umuc.edu/de/ezine/template/class_bars.htm. |
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Add
(or edit) hot links: Open
a separate browser window and navigate to the actual page you want
to link TO. Highlight and copy the URL in the address field of the
browser. Return to the Composer window, click in the location where
you want the link, and paste the URL in the webpage. Then highlight
the URL you just pasted, select the link icon in Composer's toolbar ,
paste the same URL in the Link Source field, then click OK.
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Copying (instead of typing) working
URLs helps ensure that links actually function!) Any text
may be made "hot" by highlighting it and selecting
to insert a link; however, in general, it is a good idea
to provide the URL in the text as well as in background
via the link option, especially if you think the page
may be printed. |
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Create
tables as a way to position text and
images as well as to present tabular information. Tables
are often used as a formatting tool in html/web pages. If you make
a table with no border, it won't be seen as a table when viewed
in a browser, but can allow you to more easily define the position
on the page of text and images. Use either the Insert menu
or the table icon 
to create a table. Use this icon only to insert tables.
To edit a table, right-click in the table or use
the
Format
menu
to select the Table Properties option.
Use the Table Properties dialog box to format the table as a whole,
or use the Row or Cell tabs to format parts of the table. For basic
instructions on creating and formatting tables in Composer, see
http://info.umuc.edu/de/ezine/how_to/composer-seven/workwtables.htm.
Copy
items from another webpage: If you have material on another
webpage that you would like to add to the page you are editing,
open that page in edit mode in Composer in a separate window.
As long as both documents are open in Composer, you can usually
highlight/copy/paste from one document to the other with formatting
intact. (Copying from the browser view or copying from a word-processing
document will not retain formatting.)
Preview
often. "Browse"
allows you to view your editing work in the browser (as it will
be seen if you publish the page to the Internet). This is the
only
way to test links, numbering, spacing, and the actual final appearance
of the page. To preview, save the file, then select Composer's
Preview
icon, which opens the page in a browser window. To return to the
Composer page, either close the browser window or select the Composer
button on the task bar at the bottom of the computer screen.
Resave
often,
and when
you are finished editing, resave the page again.
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