Ever since I built my first Web page in 1994, I've seen the great
potential Web pages hold for classroom teachers. Think of the
possibilities for posting class assignments, developing and displaying
student projects, and keeping parents abreast of what their kids
are doing.
Yet teachers, like most Internet users, have been slow to learn
how to construct Web pages. Students are 10 times more likely
to have a Web site than teachers; in most districts, a teacher
with a professional-looking Web page is the exception rather than
the rule.
Why aren't teachers building their own Web pages and providing
guidance to student Web designers? Probably the biggest reason
is a lack of technical skills. But some new products take the
mystery out of Web page construction:
Dreamweaver 4
Macromedia,
Inc. (800) 470-7211. No doubt about it, Dreamweaver is currently
the hotshot program of choice by professional webmasters for commercial
Web sites. (See Hotbot.com
and the Smithsonian's Star-Spangled
Banner Site, , for examples of Dreamweaver sites.) It's widely
used by many Fortune 500 companies and high-dollar international
Web sites -- and by Electronic School.
Although Dreamweaver's interface might seem confusing and downright
clunky to new users, no one else has such sophisticated features
and clean HTML coding. One of Dreamweaver's standout features
is its support for customization using different programming languages.
Users can add to or modify any Dreamweaver menu, object, dialog
box, or palette. Nonprogrammers can easily customize Dreamweaver
by using its History feature to record a series of actions and
turn them into new commands.
Most Web-authoring programs generate such complex proprietary
HTML code that there's little possibility of editing them by hand
or with another Web-authoring tool. (FrontPage is notorious for
this -- which explains the sneers it gets from top webmasters.)
But Dreamweaver generates clean HTML and leaves imported HTML
alone unless the user makes manual changes. If asked, it will
fix things that are noncompliant or nonfunctional, and it will
produce an HTML document that can still be edited by text editors.
The result, if anything, is cleaner than before.
When Dreamweaver is used in combination with Macromedia's companion
Web products (Flash 5 and Fireworks 4.0), the resulting pages
are some of the most innovative on the planet. The question for
potential customers is: Can I learn how to harness all that power?
For average computer users, the answer is a resounding no; you
will not master Dreamweaver and her sister applications (Flash
5 and Fireworks) without investing enormous amounts of time, energy,
and money in books and training workshops. (In case you haven't
looked lately, commercial computer workshops for big-name products
from Adobe, Microsoft, and Macromedia can run up to $500 for a
one-day session.)
Dreamweaver's cost is a big stumbling block for most school
districts. On the one hand, progressive computer instructors realize
the need for their high school Web-publishing classes to learn
the industry standard for high-end commercial Web pages. Yet even
with discounts from Macromedia, the cost for just a 10-pack runs
several thousand dollars. Few schools have the budget to spend
that much on classroom software.
FrontPage XP
 Microsoft
Corp. (800) 426-9400. Microsoft will be unveiling its new
line of Office for Windows soon, followed by a new version of
Windows later this year. These two product lines are named XP
(for the Windows Experience). Hence, the name Frontpage XP, also
known as FrontPage 10, FrontPage 2002, and FrontPage 5.0. Yes,
they're all the same, and yes, it's confusing.
 FrontPage
XP continues the long line of successes in the earlier versions.
It has become the standard Web-authoring tool for the majority
of small businesses, school systems, and personal Web pages. Because
it is so popular, many if not most Internet Service Providers
offer a FrontPage option with their commercial Web services for
home pages. Using the software tool called FrontPage Server Extensions
(installed by the ISP), users can open up their Web page material
directly at the Internet storage folder; when changes are made,
the Web page is updated instantly as soon as the user saves in
FrontPage.
This online updating is a great feature for schools, businesses,
and individual users. Large school and business Web sites can
password-protect folders so many people can work on their assigned
Web pages without fear of anyone messing up someone else's Web
page. And the familiar Windows interface makes training in FrontPage
easier than the proprietary authoring programs.
Although many commercial webmasters sneer at FrontPage because
it does not always create the "clean" code they prefer, countless
others find FrontPage a welcome tool for creating and managing
Web sites.
Major changes in the XP version include a new Photo Gallery
feature that allows the user to quickly build a layout display
of photos or images. Another enhancement is beefed-up drawing
tools such as auto-shapes, drop shadows, Word Art, and text boxes.
Because the shapes are also in Microsoft Word XP and Microsoft
PowerPoint XP, users can easily paste any shapes they have created
in other Office applications directly into FrontPage.
A really cool feature is that users can easily add automatic
Web content to their Web site by inserting MSNBC headlines and
weather forecasts, MSN search, and Expedia maps. These linked
content markers are updated daily by the respective sources, so
users can have continuously updated content without having to
update their Web document.
Users can insert Discussion Board interfaces and dynamic Online
Surveys, complete with easy-to-add radio buttons, drop-down menus,
and check boxes. These neat new features are courtesy of Microsoft's
new SharePoint technology.
FrontPage XP includes a bonus clip art CD with more than 25,000
images. New FrontPage templates using coordinated colors and designs
have been added, making a grand total of 67 different options,
which include coordinated bullets, buttons, background, page banner,
horizontal line, and font styles. The pros might sneer at FrontPage,
but for the rest of us, it's a desirable program.
GoLive 5.0
Adobe
Systems Inc. (800) 833-6687. GoLive 5.0 has overcome problems
in the 4.0 version (indexing bugs, slow performance, etc.), so
Adobe is finally in the running to make a strong showing against
market leader Dreamweaver.
GoLive has adopted Adobe's tried-and-true look, which in many
ways makes Dreamweaver's clunky interface look like a $10 shareware
program. Of course, the elegant interface is only familiar to
people who have used other Adobe products. A new user is likely
to be heading immediately to Amazon.com for GoLive 5 for Dummies
(which is, by the way, a good book for novices).
 GoLive
uses "floating boxes" that highlight the program's drag-and-drop
simplicity. There is tight integration with other Adobe packages
such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and LiveMotion. Files from the
fellow programs are treated as Smart Objects, allowing users to
optimize and manipulate them within GoLive. This Smart Links feature
is a great time-saver that gives Adobe a genuine advantage over
competitors. (Many graphic designers use Adobe Photoshop regardless
of their Web-authoring program.)
I really like the point-and-shoot tool, which connects objects
and actions with a single move of the mouse. GoLive's updated
interface looks identical on Windows and Mac machines, allowing
for easy integration in the thousands of school districts running
both platforms.
If you attend a demonstration of GoLive and see an expert put
the program through its paces, you will be itching to try it yourself.
Just be prepared for a fairly steep learning curve -- although
less than the one for Dreamweaver.
iTeach.com
Tom Snyder
Productions. (800) 342-0236. Of all the programs reviewed
here, this is the only completely online product, requiring nothing
installed on the computer. But it's the wave of the future, and
I'm sure many other educational software companies will soon have
competing products. iTeach.com offers a one-year subscription
for $50 (volume discounts available) and a free 60-day
trial. (Log on, and enter this promotional code: Cat5.)
Tom Snyder's catalog boasts that anyone can create a Web page
in less than 10 minutes. As an experienced computer user, I built
mine in less than five. I really like the ease of use and the
clean-cut interface. For a novice who has never built a Web page,
this product might be just the ticket.
Cookie-cutter templates allow users to create professional-looking
Web pages quickly. The popular Web Quest is a welcome tool in
these templates. Other options include calendars, homework assignments,
vocabulary worksheets, class newsletters, and crossword puzzles
(which students fill in online or with printouts). There is also
access to an online file storage system that gives the user 50
MB of storage space, including a nifty photo album for viewing
and organizing digital pictures.
Advanced users will find a few drawbacks with the Web software.
The cookie-cutter templates leave few options for image placement.
You can upload your own images to supplement the sparse clip art
collection iTeach provides, but unless you crop your pictures
offline, they will stick out in the templates. The inability to
import HTML files created offline is a far more serious omission,
and I expect Tom Snyder will address this problem in the future.
I do like the fact that teacher pages are easy to find. Parents
and students can go to iTeach.com and type in their zip code to
find their teacher's home page. Teachers can also password-protect
pages to ensure student privacy, allowing only parents with the
password to view student photos and online work.
Kidspiration
Inspiration
Software, Inc. (800) 877-4292. Although it is not technically
a Web-authoring program (hey, I'm not a lockstep reviewer), I
just have to mention this stellar new offering, which allows for
a really neat way of using the Internet in the classroom. Inspiration
advertises this program for grades K-3, but I can see kids as
old as middle-schoolers, as well as ESL and special education
students, benefiting from the organizational tools in this nifty
program.
I quickly built a page about elephants using a template page
in the Science section and created a number of links to elephant
resources on the Internet. The great thing about this program
is that students can quickly learn the concept of linking text
and graphics to Internet resources -- skills that will carry over
naturally when they build Web pages.
Mark my words: I expect Inspiration to carry this to the next
level and provide subscription Web space, which you'll see in
the next versions of Inspiration and Kidspiration Web-authoring
software. The company that can do this -- simply -- with the best
features will have guaranteed customers for the next 10 years.
Even as it is, in an era where many classrooms have at least
one broadband Internet computer, Kidspiration software is great,
allowing students and teachers to create projects that can be
quickly opened to display the power of Internet resources.
I particularly like the voice of the Kidspiration narrator,
who pronounces the names of animals, objects, and other graphics
as the mouse hovers over them. This can help the youngest students
learn vocabulary, and it's just plain fun for the rest of us.
Netscape Composer
Netscape Communications
Corporation. (650)254-1900. I've always had a fondness for
Netscape Composer. The best thing about Composer is that it's
free,
and the next best thing is the number of online tutorials showing
how to use it. I have one on my
own Web site.
The clean-cut nature of Composer is apparent the moment you
save your first file. It allows you to start and edit individual
HTML files without having to jump through the hoops of a proprietary
format.
Netscape Composer offers an easy-to-use format for anyone looking
to design a personal site or just a beginner page for students
or teachers. It helps with everything from links to tables to
image insertion, and it's easy to edit the HTML and preview your
fledgling page.
 For
the user who wants a basic Web page with images, background texture,
and a choice of fonts and colors, Composer is at least as easy,
if not easier, than any other product available. And because Netscape
Communicator (the name of the entire program) is an integrated
product with e-mail (Messenger component), Web browser (Navigator
component), and Web authoring (Composer), users can stay with
one program for all their Internet needs.
I recommend that Netscape users with older, slower machines
stick with version 4.76 instead of upgrading to the new 6.01 version.
6.01 Composer includes some neat new features (replacement skins,
drag-and-drop images, an improved spell-check, and HTML numbering
for color selections), but it's basically the same package, and
6.01 doesn't run very well on machines with less than 128 MB.
In addition, 6.01 has received criticism (mainly problems with
Javascripts not displaying properly) from longtime Netscape fans,
including the original creator and founder of Netscape, Marc Andreessen.
Unfortunately, it looks as though Netscape is going the way
of Apple in the computer world. While still very popular in many
schools, Netscape has lost market share overall to Internet Explorer,
which is now running on 92 percent of all computers on the Internet.
Netscape was the first browser for most people in the mid-1990s,
but those glory days have become just another footnote in computing
history.
SiteCentral
Knowledge
Adventure. (800) 545-7677. This CD from Knowledge Adventure
offers a lot of Web-page goodies in a well-constructed package.
A comprehensive 150-page manual helps novices learn about Web-page
construction and Web-site protocols.
I really like the great collection of clip media -- over 10,000
pieces, including animated GIFs, photos, sounds, backgrounds,
and icons. Users can play with the neat sounds and clip art, then
freely drag objects onto their Web page from the SiteCentral menu.
The program is a fairly true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You
Get) interface, and the user doesn't have to know any additional
HTML programming.
Users will also like the special effects in the SiteCentral
toolbar. The Cool Stuff button can insert the current time, a
monthly calendar, e-mail hotlinks with graphics, a slide show
applet, and even an online page counter. There is also a nice
photo editor to lighten or darken digital pictures.
One flaw of this program: The interface to publish Web pages
to free Web sites like Geocities does not work. Getting pages
from the computer to the Internet has always been the most confusing
aspect of Web-page construction, and SiteCentral faces the same
problem of proprietary Web interfaces, making uploading Web pages
difficult for novices.
 SiteCentral
also uses a confusing nonstandard extension for the saved files
(.OWS for OneWebSite), which complicates matters. Users will be
well-advised to save files to the hard drive as HTML files and
figure out their own method of getting the files to their Web-page
provider. I did that and was successful, but novices will need
a big helping hand from their local Web-page guru to get the uploading
right. (I recommend uploading with the ever-popular freeware WS_FTP
program for PC users and Fetch for Mac users.)
In addition to making its software work smoothly with uploads,
Knowledge Adventure would be smart to include a year of free Web-site
access, as iTeach.com does. But I'm sure company officials have
heard this advice before and are working on their own online service
for the future. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why people
don't have Web pages on the Internet: Nobody has made it simple
enough. If it were easy, everybody would have a Web page.
Web Workshop
Sunburst
(800) 321-7511. Web Workshop 2.0 is designed for grades two through
eight, and Web Workshop Pro is for grades six through 12. These
hybrid CD offerings from Sunburst are in many ways quite similar
to the SiteCentral product. Both programs rely on cookie-cutter-type
templates and drag-and-drop placement of items on the Web document.
 The
2.0 CD contains colorful clip art and icons, but the collection
of clip media is not very extensive (no photos and only 30 MB
of content). I'd also prefer to see the images in JPG or GIF files
instead of the nonstandard BMP files for Windows machines.
The Pro version CD offers much greater flexibility and has the
ability to import a wide range of multimedia, including MOV, AVI,
WAV, MP3, GIF, and JPG files, as well as copying and pasting from
text documents. Its preview feature enables viewing and editing
of Web pages before uploading to Internet.
As with all Sunburst products, these programs come with excellent
ring binders crammed with tips and activities.
What's to come
These Web-authoring programs are a mixed bag, with some very
expensive and some requiring almost as much training as learning
a second language. Yet with only seven years of actual use by
consumers, it is still a technology area very much in flux. Nobody
has developed a "perfect" product for mainstream users, and it's
unlikely we'll see one anytime soon.
But as we begin to see the inexorable change in this decade
from dial-up connections on 56K modems to the much faster broadband
connections made possible by DSL, cable, and wireless technologies,
I'm sure we'll see much more interest in easy-to-use Web-page
tools. People whose computer use is now limited to e-mail will
become interested in subscription-based or free online Web-authoring
tools.
There will always be expensive software tools and highly trained
webmasters who wow us with their amazing Web content. But someday
we'll also be wowing each other.
Russell
Smith is an educational technology specialist at Region 14
Education Service Center in Abilene, Texas, and contributing editor
to Electronic School.
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