| Possibilities for kinds
of Web spaces (forms of Web pages) |
Advantages of this
kind of space
|
Drawbacks of this kind
of space
|
| 0 |
Other
sites to which links are possible |
- Avoids
using any disk space for articles because the host site, e.g.,
CFO Magazine, CIO Magazine
- Makes
articles available from their sources, which increases the ease
of immersing students in authentic situations and problems
- Requires
very little understanding of HTML--just enough to point to the
article pages
|
- Requires
updating links to articles when sites are reorganized
- Makes
access vulnerable to sites ceasing to make articles availablee
|
| 1 |
Commercial
providers, e.g., Xanedu, that
scan materials, satisfy copyright provisions, and make instructor-selected
materials available to students for a fee |
- Makes
copyrighted material available on the Web from the provider's
site
- Avoids
the need to find a scanner and someone to scan materials
- Presents
an attractive index
- Requires
very little understanding of HTML--just enough to point to the
login page
|
- Requires
viewers to pay the provider for access, usually for a specific
period
- Requires
sufficient planning to comply with production timetables
- Imposes
the provider's format for indexing and access
- Minimizes
the opportunities for learning to create and manage Web pages
|
| 2 |
Pullen
Library pages developed by subject liaison librarians to facilitate access
to electronic materials available through the library. It may be helpful
to download materials from Galileo and other sources such as the electronic version
of a journal (journal locator) and make them available through a Web
page created for that purpose. Netscape 4.7 permits downloading of
many files that IE 5+ does not. |
- Takes
advantage of librarians' expertise to locate digitized library
holdings
- Creates
access through pages that librarians create
- Lets
faculty participate in organization aspects to tailor the presentations
- Permits
free access for university-authorized purposes
- Requires
very little understanding of HTML--just enough to point to the
index page
|
- Requires
sufficient planning to permit searching for and organizing materials
- Imposes
a single format for indexing and access
- Minimizes
the opportunities for learning to create and manage Web pages
|
| 3 |
DocuWeb, GSU service for transforming paper copies
of materials into pages made available to students on the Web
|
- Enables
materials that only exist on paper to go on the Web through scanning
- Avoids
the need to find a scanner and someone to scan materials
- Permits
password-protected materials to be treated as if they were paper
copies in library reserves for copyright purposes
- Requires
very little understanding of HTML--just enough to point to the
login page
|
- Requires
sufficient planning to comply with DocuWeb's production timetables
- Imposes
DocuWeb's format for indexing, which makes accessing the files
tedious from students' perspective
- Minimizes
the opportunities for learning to create and manage Web pages
|
| 4 |
In a course management system, e.g., in WebCT, which is supported at
all USG schools. WebCT includes modules for course content,
discussion board, quizzes, student web publishing, and chat.
Putting stuff in WebCT
|
- Makes
getting web space easy because courses come with Web space
- Permits
monitoring who has accessed which pages
- Facilitates
making course backups, including content pages
- Allows
content pages to be replicated for other courses, e.g., all sections
in a multi-section course
- Permits
free access for university-authorized purposes
- Creates
opportunities for owners to develop capability for Web page development
|
- Increases
the difficulty of making the site available to persons other than
students because the owner must make specific requests to webct@gsu.edu
for user accounts
- Consumes
time with a tedious file uploading and management procedure (will
be more FTP-like in the next version)
- Functions
as a closed container with access through MyWebCT signon
|
| 5 |
On
a unit, college, or university site (on www.gsu.edu). Unless you
are the keeper of the server, you only tend to site content.
Putting stuff on a site
|
- Gives
the owner control over:
- Organization,
content, and formatting of pages
- Others'
access to the site, which can be partitioned into password-protected
and unprotected areas
- Permits
multi-section courses to be served from a single site, which minimizes
course overhead
- Enjoys
(on www.gsu.edu), institutional-level reliability
- Permits
free access for university-authorized purposes
- Creates
opportunities for owners to develop capability for Web page development
|
- Requires
specific request to the appropriate site administrator to initialize
the site
- Requires
owner (or assistants) to have HTML and some site management expertise
- Requires
additional requests to site administrator for more space
|
| 6 |
On
a personal site |
- Enjoys
all the advantages of a unit, college, or university site
- Permits
use of features, e.g., active server pages and Java applets, that
institutional sites may not permit to ensure access control
- For
ISP-enabled sites, offers ISP provision of hardware and infrastructure.
Creates opportunities for owners to develop capability for Web
page development.
- Permits
access at the owner's discretion
- Creates
opportunities for owners to develop capability for Web page development
|
- Requires
personal funding
- Bears
a non-Georgia State address
- For
personally-provided servers, requires attention to hardware and
infrastructure matters, e.g., security and reliability
|
| Possibilities
for forms of Web pages (kinds of Web spaces) |
Advantages of the file
type
|
Drawbacks of the file
type
|
| 1 |
HTML
(Hypertext Markup Language) pages created with an HTML editor--the
native format for Web pages |
- Gives
short loading times for Web viewing due to small file sizes
- Permits
reuse and incorporation into other pages
- Affords
the most flexibility in page design and site management
- Creates
opportunities for owners to develop capabilities for Web page
development and site management
|
- Requires
skill in editing HTML for maximum flexibility
- Requires
an HTML editor, e.g., Dreamweaver, FrontPage, GoLive
|
| 2 |
HTML
pages created through other programs, e.g., Word, Excel, Access
Word
*.doc files saved as *.html files: Because browsers interpret strings
of tab and space characters as a single space, it is helpful to
format multi-column text in tables rather than with tabs and spaces.
For example, syllabi often have multi-column formats. Formatted
with tabs/spaces, such text gets run together when browsers present
an HTML version of it.
|
- Minimizes
the HTML editing skill required to create pages
- Permits
reuse and incorporation into other pages
- Permits
creation of HTML versions of views or objects (Excel and Access)
- Creates
some opportunities for site owners to develop capability for Web
page development
|
- Increases
file size with default Microsoft formatting codes
-
Increases difficulty of editing out unneeded formatting codes.
A Microsoft download for Office 2000 makes it possible to
filter out some (but not all) of these codes from HTML files
that Word and Excel create. In Office XP, the command to filter
out these codes is Save as Web page, filtered.
- Impedes
using the full capabilities of HTML
|
| 3 |
pdf
(Adobe portable document format) files, print image files created
by the original page editor, e.g., Word, which invokes Adobe Acrobat.
|
- Requires
using only the "save as pdf" command in the editor program,
e.g., Word. The only HTML skill required is to link to the *.pdf
files.
- Impedes
reuse, which preserves authorship authenticity.
|
- Requires
license for Adobe Acrobat to create files.
- Requires
viewers to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in (free).
- Requires
an Adobe Accessible Acrobat Reader download to permit
text to be available to screen readers. Without the download,
pdf files are not ADA compliant.
- Impedes
reuse and incorporation into other pages
- Makes
bigger files than equivalent HTML pages, which require more space
and take longer for viewers to load, including waiting for Acrobat
to launch.
- Precludes
editing except through the original editor recreating the pdf
files.
|
| 3 |
Word
*.doc files
|
- Permits
viewing and downloading of *.doc files
|
- Relative
to HTML files, increases file size, which increases loading time.
Loading time is further increased by the need to launch Word first.
|
| 4 |
Excel
*.xls and Access *.mdb files
|
- Permits
viewers to download native Excel and Access files,
preserving all application functions
|
- Unless
it is important for viewers to have the *.xls and *.mdb files
so they can use them in Excel or Access, file size and loading
time can be minimized by creating HTML files from objects in Excel
and Access and making those available on the Web. Because Access
*.mdb files are often large, use Tools|Database Utilities|Compact
and Repair Database (in Access) to minimize file sizes before
putting them on the Web.
|