Description:
Kompozer is a FREE web authoring tool. Simply go to Kompozer's Home Page and download the FREE application to get started.
If you don't know where a web page would be useful in your class, a good place to start would be with a Class Web Page. Class pages are a great way to communicate with parents and even students at home. You can include things like information about your self, what happens each day in your classroom, classroom rules, important reminders and links to web sites that might be useful to them.
A little more in depth:
Behind the scences of creating a web site there is a lot of complicated, technical information (like HTML code and tags) and a lot of information that you don't necessarily want you to learn if you want to create a simple web site. Kompozer is a great short cut around the technical method of creating a web page.
When you open Kompozer you will notice tabs at the bottom of the screen, these are the different views in which you can see your page. I'll explain:
Normal: This is the view you want to operate in if you have never seen HTML code before. It resembles Word in that it has a familiar nagivation bar at the top of the screen (New, Open, Save, etc.). It has easily accesible, familiar features that will not be difficult to navigate if your familiar with Microsoft Office.
HTML Tags: This view would be helpful to you if you've seen HTML tags before but your not very familiar with them. This tab shows you each HTML element with a "comment" next to it describing which element has been used. For example: If you write a paragraph, in the upper left corner will appear a small, yellow "p" (denoting that the HTML tag "p" has been used for paragraph). Each element used will have that small, yellow "comment" next to it.
Source: This tab is for the HTML code expert. If you have never seen HTML code before this tab will be totally confusing to you... DON'T TOUCH IT! Although it looks complicated, it is not as bad as it looks (once you get familiar). I have supplied some links below that lead you to some simple tutorials that will walk you through the explanation if you are curious about the meaning of the code. My suggestion, if you don't understand the code, is to not touch it; this way you don't mess something up you can't fix.
Preview: This tab is meant to show you what the page you created will look like on the web. If you have links they will not work until the page is on the web; but the view should be pretty accurate.
Things you want to know
Linking:
When you open one "New" file you are creating one web page. When you create several web pages, you get a web site. This site (consisting of the several pages) needs to be connected in some way so that, when its on the web, the viewer can navigate easily through the web site. There are a couple of ways to do this and they all use links.
It may help you to think of this as a graphic organizer. You can have one main page (Home) that connects (is linked) to each page in the site. To do this you would have to insert a link, that goes back to your Home page, on every page in your site.
Another option is to have a menu on every page that links to every page (this is the option I have used in my example). This involvles creating a table and is a little more complicated.
Formatting:
You should know that HTML is not used much to do formatting (ie. backround color, borders, highlighting, etc.). Kompozer allows you to do some of these things through the "Normal" tab, but much of the formatting you will need to use CSS. This is another technical code (like HTML) to which you have probably not been exposed. Luckily, Kompozer provides a CSS cheat button located at the top right of the screen. It will let you chose to edit the formatting options such as Background, Text, Borders, Box, Lists...
Email:
For any page you create you will want people who view your page to be able to contact you with questions or comments. You can do this by putting something like "Contact Me" on your page, highlighting it and clicking the "Link" symbol at the top of the screen. Type you email address in the space provided.
Take a look at this Class Web Site I've created as an example.
Check Out These Links for more help:
Introduction to Kompozer
Quick Start Guide for HTML Code
