Jane,
Try to find out which version of Office and Publisher you will be using,
because MSFT has changed the html coding engine and how Publisher produces a
web site over the years. It would be best if you knew which version you were
working with before the class started. I do think that Publisher is a better
choice than Word for your purposes, as it will be easier for the kids to
layout the pages. There are a lot of good templates the kids can use. You
might also find out if the Adobe Suite has Photoshop or Photoshop Elements,
as I would imagine that images will be a big part of any kids website, and
how you handle images in Publisher web pages again varies with the version
of Publisher.
Be sure to review the main link I gave you before:
Prepare, publish, and maintain your Publisher Web site:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA100947601033.aspx
And in particular the instructions on how to upload pages. If you aren't
going to upload the pages, then this is moot. But once again, depending upon
whether you are using Vista or XP, HTTP uploading or FTP uploading, there
are a lot of differences. FTP uploading, and not using any forms in your
websites is the easiest to deal with. If you are going to upload, you might
get in early and get the FTP connection established. Uploading problems seem
to be one of the most common problems in this group.
Publisher and the Web 2003:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/CH062559071033.aspx
Hopefully you will be using Pub 2003. Here is a link to MSFT articles about
using Pub 2003. And if you have Pub 2003 on your personal computer, then the
Help section is pretty good and worth studying. It is far better than Pub
2007 Help which was really shortchanged.
Publisher 2003 - What's new in web design for this version:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/pages/80555.aspx
You might want to read this article before jumping into the MSFT articles.
David Bartosik explains some of the specifics about how 2003 works that will
probably be important to you. And while I am talking about 2003, be sure to
go to Tools > Options > Web tab and study the options there. You will want
to uncheck "Rely on VML..." and "Allow PNG..." in every case. You might also
want to uncheck the option about incremental uploading...it only works with
HTTP uploading and FPSE. And before I forget it, don't use a Master Page in
a web publication.
Web Publication Changes Made in Version 2002 of Publisher :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/pages/81262.aspx
Hopefully you won't be saddled with using Pub 2002 as it is the worse
version of Publisher for web building IMHO. Never the less, you might want
to read this along with the article about 2003 to get an idea of the
evolution of the product.
Designing and creating Web sites 2007:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/CH100793371033.aspx
Though you probably won't be using 2007, here is a link to the MSFT articles
about using Pub 2007.
Understanding background padding in a Publisher web (aka white space) :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/archive/2006/01/07/80563.aspx
Publisher pages use absolute positioning and are fixed width and left
justified by default. And though it is possible to edit the code directly to
center the pages, this is certainly beyond the scope of your camp.
Compress graphics file sizes to create smaller Publisher Web pages:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA011266301033.aspx
As I indicated above, I would expect that kids will want lots of graphics
and images, but depending upon the version of Publisher you use, if you
insert a "print formatted" image into a web publication, Publisher 2003 does
not automatically resize and optimize the image for the web. This referenced
tool will resample and compress inserted images to 96 dpi. Once again, you
should check the computers you will be using to see if the SP has been
installed and whether the compress graphics tool has been added to the
picture tool bar. And if you do have access to an image editor such as
Photoshop Elements, you can explain to the kids about how to resample and
optimize images for the web before they insert them.
How to Thumbnail in Publisher Web Publications :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/pages/80553.aspx
Once again, I would anticipate that the kids will want to know how to click
on a thumbnail and get a larger image, so understanding how to create and
use thumbnails might be important to you.
Including external files in a Publisher web :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/archive/2006/01/07/80561.aspx
This may be beyond what you will get into in a week.
Web safe fonts in Publisher 2003 web publications :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/archive/2006/01/06/81275.aspx
Another place to explain the difference between print formatted publications
and web formatted publications.
Add a page to your Web site:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HP100676881033.aspx?pid=CH100793371033
I don't know if you will be using a Publisher template, but the kids will
certainly be wanting to add pages. Its important that you understand how to
add a page, and at the same time add that page to the navigation bar. If you
have 2003 on your home computer, read up on "navigation" in Help. The navbar
wizard is a handy tool, but it can get messed up quickly. Be sure to note
that the wizard built navbar will be using relative links vs. absolute
links. How to build good navigation in a site seems an important part of
what you may be doing.
Publisher web publication forms 101:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/archive/2006/01/07/80564.aspx
Publisher web forms require FPSE and HTTP uploading. I include this link for
your information, but you should probably avoid forms in the kids webs.
Uploading and getting the forms to work is one of the biggest issues in this
group.
Web forms :
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/CH063576891033.aspx
David Bartosik a former MVP included a series of articles by other authors
that were related to Publisher web sites. Here are links to some that might
be of interest to you:
How To Layout Your Web Pages by Herman Drost :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/pages/80814.aspx
How to Create an Effective Web Site Navigation Structure - Part 1 by Herman
Drost :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/pages/80830.aspx
How to Create an Effective Navigation Structure for Your Site Part 2 by
Herman Drost :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/pages/80831.aspx
How to Prepare Images for Your Web Site by Herman Drost :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/pages/80829.aspx
How to Prepare Images for Your Web Site - Part 2 by Herman Drost:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/pages/80828.aspx
Look, we all know that Publisher is not the best tool for producing
websites, but given the scope of what you are trying to do in the limited
time you have, it is probably a good choice. With that said, it is probably
important that the kids know that Publisher is a DTP and is converting the
publication to HTML in the background, and that if they ever want to get
serious about web building they need to understand coding. One way to expose
them to the code is when you Publish to the Web, direct the output to a
folder on your hard drive where you can find it. I usually suggest the
Desktop. Then the kids can open the .htm files with NotePad to see the code.
Point out to them that a code editor such as Dreamweaver, Web Expression and
the ol' FrontPage allows the code to be directly edited and thus you do not
have the limitations of Publisher. At the same time by using Publisher you
have the opportunity to explain the difference between print medium and web
medium, and how you can do some things in each that you can't do in the
other...that it requires a different mindset and different design
techniques. In this respect I think Publisher can be an excellent tool for
you as it give you a logical way of showing the difference between the two
mediums.
I hope all this helps. As a teacher I am sure you are busy and I hope I
didn't overload you with too many links and too much information. Good luck
and if you have any questions, please post back.
DavidF
