FrontPage: Preparation
To Prepare:
Collect All Text and Graphics You'll Need for Website.
This should include
- abstract
- proposal
- chapters
- outlines
- works cited
- Samples or listings of dominant colors used for book (assuming you'll want to use the same for website)
- any images used in above items (with citation information)
This may include
- your biography
- photo of yourself
- cover art for book
- elements or icons used for book
- reviews
- list of links for reference
Save to a jump drive or online file storage such as your SCSU U or H Drive (probably your best option), email a copy of the files to yourself (you should zip or compress the files for portability), or burn to a CD. If you choose to burn to a CD or to use a floppy disk, make sure you bring a blank, "clean" disk on which to save your web work.1
Have an idea of how you will organize your site. One way to do this is to create an organizational flow chart. While you can create one on the computer, it's just as easy to sketch it out. Here's a sample web organization:
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Background (Introduction)
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Proposed Solution
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Resources
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You now know how you want your site organized, but how do you want it to look?
No matter what graphics you have or colors you've used for your book, remember that web publishing carries some considerations:
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Color |
Free! Have fun. Remember, however, that not all colors reproduce the same way on all monitors. Maintain a high contrast between text and background. Make sure that background graphics (like the one used here) don't fight with your text. Do you think that this background contrasts enough? What if the text looked like this? Or this? Or this?
If you know what colors you like... write them down. On the web, colors have a code... If you do not use a specific FrontPage theme, you will need to know colors for the following (I've shown the example color along side)
See the color safe web palette from hitmill for reference and codes |
More expensive, though easier to achieve than previously thanks to lower-priced inkjet printers. Still, ink co$t$, and distributing on a large scale can become quite expensive, especially if you go for a solid color background. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Text |
Although FrontPage allows you to use any of the fonts available on your system, only users who have those fonts installed on their system will be able to see the fonts you've chosen. You will find that some of FP's themes specify a certain type of font. A web designer may code the page so that it will use certain font families (Sans-serif, serif, Times). If you absolutely MUST display a headline/banner in a specific font, your safest choice is to create it as a graphic. | You can design with as many or as few fonts as you'd like, can print them at any size you'd like, and easily mix and match. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Format |
It's important to remember that a web page is not a tangible entity. Coding options reflect both the limitations and exultations of the media. Why double space text? You can't write notes in the margins.
Because pages are not usually "fixed" in format (you can change the size of your screen and text will wrap to reflect that), it is difficult to precisely place images/graphics or even set line breaks for effect. It's not impossible, but ways of compensating can make large files or messy text. The major concern for web designers is accessibility. A web designer wants his or her work to be able to be read and understood by many, so simplicity is key. However, designers often use some non-print options to grab attention or convey an emotion. The work "lives" on the screen. Think of the difference between screen and print. Can a print book's text blink, rotate, or |
Set print size that can be designed with certain dimensions in mind. Can set margins, double spacing, and easily overlap elements (for example, text over graphics). Freedom with font choices (see above) and graphics placement. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Images |
Plus: you can use lots of pictures all over the place. Images can be low resolution (72 dpi).
Minus: the more pictures you use, the larger the file, and the longer it will take for your page to load onto another's computer. This page has four tiny graphics (at last count): the eng112 icon, the Google logo, the dance gif, and the background image for the menu. The estimated download times for this page (according to FrontPage) are:
The SCSU Home Page (http://www.southernct.edu)
If you have dialup, how long would you be willing to wait? |
Again, ink costs. The more images, the more ink used, and the higher the cost per page.
You can often place images more precisely, but images have to be at a much higher resolution (and have a bigger file size) in order to print decently. |
? Can a print magazine link to Next: The Process
Notes
1.Although the work is published on to the web, the site is also saved on a drive so that the website creator can access the work to edit. This is called a "local" copy. Even if you do not plan to make major changes to your site, you should save a copy of your site locally, "just in case." Think of it as the same type of backup you would make for any important files or schoolwork. You don't simply delete your last essay once it's printed (at least I hope you don't!); you will save the file on your hard drive or on disk at least until the end of the semester.