DE Oracle @ UMUC

1. Open an HTML/web page in Netscape Composer (and Save)

Choose the method that applies:

A. Open new html page (start from scratch)

1. In Netscape Navigator select File-->New-->Composer Page
   (or click the pen-and-paper icon on the status bar [lower left hand corner of window])
2. Select File-->Save As to save the page on your computer.

B. Open Internet webpage in edit mode

1. In Netscape Navigator open an Internet webpage (e.g., http://www.umuc.edu) then select File-->Edit Page.
"Don't just "Save" the page; the "Edit Page" step is essential to acquire the images associated with the webpage.
2. Select File-->Save As to save the page on your computer. If there are images on the page, save it in a folder created for the page. This helps to organize and identify the images associated with that webpage.

Create a folder "on the fly" in the process of saving a webpage that has images:

After selecting File-->Save As and navigating to the folder where you wish to create a new subfolder, select the Create New Folder icon. This pops up a new folder dialog box that allows you to type the name of the new folder.

This pops up a new folder dialog box. With New Folder text highlighted in blue, type the name of the folder (e.g., admn601, lectures, etc). After typing in the folder name, select the folder, then select Open. You must do this step in order to save the webpage and images file into the newly created folder. Otherwise the webpage and images file will be saved outside of the folder.

When first saving a new webpage in Netscape Composer, there is a prompt to enter the Page Title(i.e., the browser Window title). Type a descriptive title then click OK.

C. Open previously saved HTML/webpage

1. In Netscape Composer select File-->Open File
2. Using the Open File dialog box, navigate to the location of the file, select it and click Open.

The in the upper-left hand corner of Composer's Title Bar will confirm that you are in Composer (compose/edit mode.)

2. Apply Composer's Menu Tools and Functions

Most of Netscape Composer's major tools and functions are available on toolbars, as described below, and are similar to those in a word processor.

Global page properties such as background color and "page title" (i.e., browser window title) must be set via the Format-->Page Title and Properties or Format-->Page Color and Backgrounds menu.

If a webpage is to be attached or published,

Specify page title

The page title appears in the top bar of the browser window, not in the text of the page itself. The webpage title is easy to overlook, but a missing or incorrect page title could confuse viewers.

1. Select Format-->Page Title and Properties.
2. Type a descriptive page title (and author) as desired, then click OK.

Specify background color

1. Select Format-->Page Colors and Background.
2. You can either click the Background button to select desired background color from color palette (light-colored is easier on the eye; even white should be specified) or click Choose File to select a background image (Do not use background image unless you will be uploading webpage to the sever). Click OK.

3. Apply Tools on the Composition and Formatting Toolbars

Most of the tools/icons on the Composition and Formatting Toolbars are straightforward, similar to those of word-processing programs. Some tools have web-specific uses or are somewhat problematic; these are noted below.

Composition Toolbar

Publish is Netscape's FTP tool for publishing or uploading a page to your Web directory. (For Adelphi-based UMUC faculty, that is usually on the UNIX/Polaris server.) Other FTP programs such as WS-FTP provide better functionality; therefore, is not recommended to use Composer's Publish feature.

Browse allows you see how the page will look in the Navigator browser. It is an essential step to test hyperlinks, numbering, and overall appearance and layout.

In order to use the Browse feature, you need to ensure that you have saved the page. After the initial save, when you click on the Browse button, you will be asked if you would like to "Save Changes before viewing in Netscape". Browse then switches you into the Navigator browser view of the page. After previewing the page, return to the Composer view either by closing the Navigator window or switching between windows using the tabs in the Windows status bar at the bottom of your computer screen. Preview often!

Link is used to specify the URL for a hyperlink in the page. Creating Links in Netscape Composer is discussed in detail on a separate page, How to Create Hyperlinks Using Netscape Composer.

Insert Image is an important tool for pages that will be published to a Web server, but it is not covered in this page, which focuses on creating HTML for pasting.

Insert Table is an important tool in webpage work, since tables can not only align tabular information but also anchor text and images in designated positions and add visual appeal and emphasis to text via background colors and/or borders. How to insert and format tables is discussed in detail on a separate page, Working with Tables in Netscape Composer.

Formatting Toolbar

You can apply formatting options before typing text or other elements, and/or by highlighting text/elements, then applying the formatting. Several of Netscape Composer's text formatting options may be applied by familiar keystrokes: Control-b for bold, Control-i for italics. All formatting tools may also be found in the Format drop-down menu in Composer's menu bar.

Paragraph Styles gives a limited list of style options, of which Normal and several of the heading levels are the most likely to be useful. Normal is what you should use for most text.

indicates font styles/characteristics: Bold, Italics, Underline.

Highlight a preconstructed list of points (without numbers) and click the Numbered list icon to apply numbering. Or position your cursor anywhere in the line of point one and click the numbering icon; when you hit the Return key at the end of the line to type point two, it will automatically be numbered (and so on).

When you apply numbering, you will see a # sign in place of the actual item numbers. Browse your webpage in Netscape Navigator in order to see actual numbers.

The default style of numbering is indented with no line spaces between the numbered items. To apply a subordinate level of numbering, click the Indent tool.

Highlight a preconstructed list of points (without numbers or bullets) and click the Bullet list icon to apply bulleting. Or position your cursor anywhere in the line of point one and click the bulleting icon; when you hit the Return key at the end of the line to type point two, it will automatically be bulleted.

The default style of bulleting is indented with no line spaces between the bulleted items. To apply a subordinate bulleting level, use the Indent tool.

 "Outdent" and "Indent" tools affect both left and right margins of text and the entire paragraph, not just the first line. (The actual indent command in HTML is <blockquote>.)

Alignment allows you to select whether you want your text to be left-justified, centered, right-justified or full-justified.

4. Copy/Paste HTML into WebTycho

Once your webpage is complete, copy and paste the Source Code of the HTML document directly into a WebTycho text box provided it does not contain images. (Working with images usually requires uploading the images to a webserver.)

1. After a final save of your Composer page, select View-->HTML Source or click on the tab located at the bottom of the Composer window.
In order to return to compose/edit mode, you will need to select View-->Normal Edit Mode or click on the tab located at the bottom of the Composer window.
2. Highlight & copy (CTRL C) the code between but not including the <BODY></BODY> tags.
3. Paste (CTRL V) the copied source code in a WebTycho text box.

For detailed instructions, please refer to How to Copy/Paste HTML into WebTycho.