Edit, Publish, and Link to a Webpage (Review)


CSI Staff
Staff Writer
Center for Support of Instruction

Category: » Tech-skills-software » Netscape-composer

This page reviews the basic steps to A. Edit, B. Publish, and C. Link to a content webpage such as a syllabus, schedule, read-me-first, or lecture page for use in a WebTycho class. These steps assume use of Netscape Composer 7.x and an FTP Program of your choice as well as some previous exposure to these programs, and familiarity with file management.

A. Edit a Webpage Using Netscape Tools

1. Open the page in Netscape's HTML editor, Composer, using one of the three methods below:

  1. If acquiring/editing an Internet webpage for the first time,start with the webpage showing on-screen in the Netscape "Navigator" browser. Select File--> Edit Page to open the webpage in "edit page" mode in Composer. Proceed to A-2.
  2. Don't just "Save" the page; the "Edit Page" step is essential to acquire any images.
  3. If opening/editing a webpage already saved on your computer, open Composer, select File-->Open File, navigate to the location of the file, select it and click Open. Proceed to A-3.
  4. If starting a new webpage from scratch, open Navigator,select File-->New-->Composer Page. This opens a blank document in Composer. Proceed to A-2.
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.

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.

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 Create New Folder
  • 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 Save As dialog box. (This will put you inside the folder, and that folder name should then appear in the Save in: 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.

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 Format-->Page Title and Properties; change the page title and author as desired, then click OK. 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 Format-->Page Colors and Background specify the background image or coloryou want and click OK.

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.

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 Insert-->Image menu to browse for and select the image and OK to place it in the page.

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.

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.

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.

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 to format parts of the table. Take a look a the basic instructions for creating and formatting tables in Composer if you are unsure of how to do this or need additional assistance.

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. 

B. Publish Your Edited Webpage Using WS-FTP

Make your edited webpage accessible to others on the Internet by publishing (aka uploading or FTP-ing) it to your UMUC Polaris account and setting appropriate access permissions. (FTP means file transfer protocol/program.) Although you can publish using Composer, typically third-party software dedicated to just FTPing is usually more user-friendly and it includes useful file management capability. 

We have created tutorials for several differting FTP programs. These can be found in the Tech Skills/Software category.

C. Link to your Webpage within WebTycho

1. Test/load the webpage so the webpage is on-screen in your browser.

2. Click once in the URL of the webpage in your browser to highlight the URL. Copy the URL. Use keystrokes Control-C (or select Edit/Copy or right-click/Copy). 

3. Open a separate browser window and navigate to the section of your WebTycho classroom where you want to place a link to the webpage (open a text box in Course Content, a Conference, etc.).

4. Click inside the WebTycho textbox; paste the URL.  Use keystrokes Control-V (or select Edit/Paste or right-click/Paste). 

In some WebTycho text boxes, the ONLY way to paste is using keystrokes Control-V. This means, hold down the Control key on your keyboard while you press the V key.

5. Submit the WebTycho page, then test that the new link works by clicking it.

If more than one browser window is open, clicking the link may open the webpage "invisibly," because it opens in a window in "background." Look on your computer screen's "task bar" (usually at the bottom of the screen) at the buttons that show what other windows are open: select (an)other browser button(s) to look for your page.

RECAP

A. Edit a Webpage Using Netscape Tools

  1. Using Netscape "Navigator", browse/navigate to the webpage you want to edit.
  2. Open the webpage in Netscape "Composer," by selecting File-->Edit Page.
  3. Save the webpage and dependent images on your computer in their own folder.
  4. Use Netscape Composer's tools to edit the webpage, and resave.

B. Publish Your Edited Webpage Using WS-FTP

  1. FTP the webpage and all dependent image files to a web server (Polaris).
  2. Check access permissions for the files on the web server.
  3. Check that the newly published webpage loads correctly in your browser.

C. Link to Your Published Webpage

  1. Copy the URL from your browser address line into your WebTycho classroom.
  2. Click on the webpage link (the URL) in WebTycho to ensure that it works.
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