Transcript Creating Your Home Page - Monroe Community College

Creating and Maintaining a Web
Site with Manila
Types of Web Editing Software

HTML editors


What You See Is What You Get
(WYSYWYG) editors


Notepad, Simple Text, HomeSite
FrontPage, Dreamweaver, GoLive
Form or Wizard based site creation
tools like Manila
Types of MCC Manila Sites
Faculty/Class


http://web.monroecc.edu/rwalter
http://web.monroecc.edu/emarino
Clubs

and Organizations
http://web.monroecc.edu/FA
Special



sites
Projects/Working Groups
http://web.monroecc.edu/MCCBanner
http:/web.monroecc.edu/MCCMiddleStates
http://web.monroecc.edu/WINS
The structure of a
Uniform Resource Locator for a
Manila site at MCC
http://web.monroecc.edu/yoursitename
Protocol
site name
Server address/domain name
Planning your Web site
What
is the purpose of the site?
Who is your audience?
What do you want to say to them?
Do you want them to talk back?
Design for the web is visual
information management
Documents to be read online must be
concise and easy to navigate.
 No one reads anything anymore. Divide
your message into digestible chunks.
 When creating a menu structure,
remember the “Seven Plus/Minus Two
Rule.”

Planning Your Site
Planning Your Site Navigation

Manila puts
main
navigation
links in one
place
consistently
throughout the
site
Planning Your Site Navigation

Place links to
top level pages
in this area.
Planning Your Site Navigation

Links to
secondary
level content
can be placed
on individual
pages.
Three content components of a
Manila Web site
1.
2.
3.
Text
Images
Gems
(pdf and MS Word documents, Excel
spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations,
sound files, video files, etc.)
Text Content

Much of the text content of your Web site
probably already exists:





Course information sheets
Syllabi
Class exercise sheets
Lesson overview documents
All kinds of current class hand out material
Creating a story/page

Adding text to
a story is done
by typing
directly, or
copying and
pasting text
into the editing
form.
Gems
Text can be part of a story (page) of a
Manila site, or
 Text can be part of a document that is
served up as a gem
 Gems can be thought of as the attachments
to a Manila Web site

Creating a gem

To create a
Gem, just
browse for the
file on a local
drive or any
accessible
resource, such
as the M drive.
Membership and Roles
Manila includes a built-in membership system that lets you maintain a
database of members to send out email bulletins, restrict posting access to
the discussion group and to allow selected members to become editors of
the site.
Membership and Roles
Editorial Roles
There are three editorial roles on a Manila site: Managing Editor,
Contributing Editor and Content Editor. If you run the site, you're
probably the Managing Editor. In that role, you can
•Change the Home Page
•Create Stories, Pictures and Discussion Group messages
•Use Preferences to change the way the site looks and operates
•Maintain the site using the Administration features
•Send Bulletins
•Decide what role others will play on the site
As Managing Editor you can also edit any Story, Picture or
Message on the site, no matter who created it.
Membership and Roles
Editorial Roles
 The Managing Editor can name other Managing Editors, who then
gain the same level of control over the site.
 Any Member can be selected as a Contributing Editor or Content
Editor. This lets them create Stories, Pictures and Discussion Group
Messages, but doesn't allow them to change the Home Page, or
access the Prefs, Admin and Bulletins features.
 Contributing Editors can edit the Stories, Pictures or Messages
they created.
 Content Editors can create and work with all stories, pictures and
Discussion Group messages.
Membership and Roles
The Managing Editor can turn
Membership on or off.
Membership is normally turned on for
a new Manila site and the Home
Page will have a Members box with
links for joining and logging in.
Once someone joins, site
Membership Preferences determine
what kind of access they have.
Membership and Roles
Visitors
Your Home Page is usually open to all visitors,
although there are site preference settings to block
everyone but members, or even editors. Otherwise,
visitors can look at what you have on the Home Page
and follow links to the Stories you have posted. Only
members, can receive bulletins or participate in the
Discussion Group. Visitors can become Members by
following the Join Now link in the Members Box and
filling out a simple form, if membership is enabled.
The Language of Manila

The common elements that make up
most Manila sites are:




Messages (items in the Discussion Group)
Stories (pages)
Pictures (images – gif and jpeg)
Gems (site attachment files)
The Language of Manila


In Manila the message is the basic unit of content. Every time
you upload a picture, write a story or post in a discussion group,
a message is created. Some messages are selected to be
stories, some are pictures and one is chosen to be the current
home page story.
The diagram below shows a very simple Manila site.
Manila Site Components

Messages


Stories, pictures and the home page all
begin as messages in the discussion
listing. All messages have a number.
Stories

Stories can be thought of as the Web
pages of a Manila site. They make up the
“content” of the site.
Manila Site Components

Pictures


Pictures are the gif and jpeg graphic files
that are added to the site and then
included within stories.
Gems

Gems do not start out as messages. They
are resources such as PowerPoint
presentations, PDF documents, Excel
spreadsheets that you offer for
downloading from your Manila site.
The Manila Home Page








Site Name
Tag Line
Navigation Links (shortcuts)
Page Title
Body
Members Box (can be hidden)
Link to Discussion Group (can be hidden)
Calendar (can be hidden, home page only)
Home Page Overview
Although the Home Page may look like an
ordinary Manila Story, it's really a container for
Stories or News Items. The way you set up your
Home Page depends on the kind of site you
want to run. There are three main modes:
 Single Story One Story at a time appears
on the Home Page
 Multiple Stories A configurable number of
Stories (one per day) appear on the Home
Page
Other Manila Pages
Pages other than the Home or Discussion
pages of a Manila site are stories. Each
page will display:
Page Title
Graphics
Body
Discussion Page



Topics
Messages
Calendar
Logging In
Follow these steps to login.
 Enter your email address into the Email
address field.
 If you know your password, enter it into the
Password field (otherwise leave it blank).
 Click Login. If you provided the right email
address and password, you'll be returned to
the Home Page. If you left the password
blank, check your email until you receive the
password and then repeat the steps above.
Changing Passwords
Members can change their Manila password by logging
into the site as usual, then calling up the Sign Up page
http://web.monroecc.edu/sitename/member/signup,
entering a different password and submitting the form.
Other Manila Site URLs
http://web.monroecc.edu/sitename/member/login/,
This will allow you to log in to your site if the login link is not visible
on your pages.
http://web.monroecc.edu/sitename/member/signOutConfirm/
This will allow you to log off your site if the log off link is not visible
on your pages.
http://web.monroecc.edu/sitename/profiles/
This will allow you to view the profiles of all your site members.
http://web.monroecc.edu/sitename/prefs/
This will take you directly to your own site preferences page.
http://web.monroecc.edu/sitename/stats/
This allows you to view certain statistics about your site.
http://web.monroecc.edu/sitename/member/changepassword/,
This will allow members to change their password, once they have
logged in to the site.
Images/Graphics
 Graphics
can be added to a Manila
site and then included in
stories/pages, as long as they are
properly formatted and optimized
for Web display
Web Graphics


Choose graphics wisely. Be sure they are relevant to
your message.
Make sure the size (physical and file size) will not
interfere with your design or slow the download time
of the page




Maximum width – 300 pixels
Maximum file size – 10-20 kilobytes, depending on what else
is on the page
Save graphics with blocked color areas and definite
lines as gif .GIF files
Save continuous tone images (such as photographs)
as jpeg .JPG files
Graphic Format Comparisons

GIF – Graphic Image Format
 Images that display properly using the
8 bit, 256 web color model
 Images with one color displayed as
transparent (gif 89a filter)
 Images that can be saved as
animations – animated gifs
Graphic Format Comparisons

JPEG – Joint Photographic Expert
Group


Images that display a representation of the
24 bit true color model – millions of colors,
such as photographs
JPEG files can be saved across a wide
compression range: (0 – 100)
Graphic Format Comparisons

Overview of Web graphic basics at
efuse.com

http://www.efuse.com/Design/web_graphics_basics.html
Designing with the limitations of
the screen in mind
600 pixels
13-15 inch screen (640x480) resolution
browser safe area
350 pixels