Basic ICT Course for Teachers of English
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Week 5: Making a Webpage Using Yahoo Geocities

If you already have your own webpage, you can skip this part and take a week's vacation at the beach. Just post one of your activities from last week or even a different original activity to your webpage and send us the address so we can visit you. If you don't have a webpage, you really need one. A website is great for storing Internet activities and links to other activities you may have developed. You can send your students to your page for homework.

You can also post your resume and keep track of your successes. You can read my CV at

http://www.oocities.org/bjohnnyus/cv.html (short version)

or

http://www.oocities.org/bjohnnyus/biography.html (longer version)

Making a webpage isn't that difficult. Just follow these instructions: (Note: Yahoo isn't the only place you can get a free site, but since we all have Yahoo IDs we might as well stick with them.)

(1) Go to http://geocities.yahoo.com/home/ (Sign in if you haven't. You can use the ID you got for the course.)

(2) Click the link for a Free Website. SIGN UP NOW!

(3) Choose a topic. This will choose the kind of ads they'll put on your page. You have to pay if you don't want ads.

(4) The next page will give you your sites address. Save it in your favorites (bookmark it) AND write it down somewhere.

(5) Click on BUILD YOUR PAGE NOW!

(6) You can use the page wizards, but I usually go to the PageBuilder. It's like a primitive word processing program.

(7) When you click on PageBuilder, it will take you to another page where you can choose a template or just go to the PageBuilder and make your own format when you arrive at the page. If you like any of the template, feel free to choose one or just enter directly into the PageBuilder. It takes a while to load and will open a small window on your computer. DON'T close it.

(8) The window that finally opens is just like a Word Processor. Feel free to look around the menus and see what you can add. Play around with them. You can always erase anything you don't like and just don't save it until you are sure you want to keep what you have added. Check out the HELP information. Many of your questions will be answered there.

(9) If you want to upload a file (for example a HotPotatoes activity), just got to File-Upload files and images. You can upload up to 5 files or images at a time. Use EXAMINE to find the files or images on your computer. Be sure the NAME of the file is written as ONE WORD. This is very important because if it has multiple words, it won't upload. The fastest files to upload (and logically view) are .txt, .htm, or .rtf. File in .doc are very slow. HotPotatoes .htm files load rapidly. Not all types of images can be uploaded: try to stick to .jpg.

(10) Once your files have successfully been uploaded, you need to create a link on the page. Just go to the Help menu and they will show you how.

(11) You can also open text boxes and either write directly on your page or cut-and-paste. Again, check out HELP for hints on how to do this.

I'm not going to complicate this introduction with too much information. If you have specific questions, check out HELP or write me or the other members. Just don't be afraid to make a mistake…it's the best way to learn. Just play around with the site and see what you can do.

 

Copyright ©2003 by Janos Blasszauer