The Basics of AOL Press

www.wtvi.com/html/aolpress

What is AOL Press?

AOL Press is free software provided by America Online for both Windows and Macintosh computers, which allows users to create webpages for the internet in a "What You See is What You Get" environment. It is simple, but straightforward and effective. Other webpage creation tools are available and detailed in my workshop, "Basic Webpage Writing," a six hour class. AOL Press can be downloaded from http://mmsd.org/webpub/aolpress.htm.

What terms and concepts do I need to know?

1. webpage: a file on the internet containing text and multimedia elements, which can include pictures, sounds, movies, and animations.
2. HTML= hypertext markup language: The language of internet.webpages. Similar to "tagging" like early word processors did.
3. link: A webpage referecence to another address on the internet. Text links are underlined in most browsers (like Netscape). Images can also serve as links.
4. GIF/JPG/PICT image format: Different types of image files that are used when creating webpages. Most basic graphics are saved in GIF format. JPG images contain millions of colors and are used for most photos.

Getting Started

After you have installed AOL Press, launch the program

• After AOL Press is installed, its folder on the hard drive should be open. Double click the icon for AOL Press 2.0 (you may want to create an alias of this program and put it in your Apple menu or Launcher Items in the System folder for easy access later)
• From the START menu choose PROGRAMS, then navigate to AOL PRESS 2.0

Close the welcome window you see first. If you are starting from scratch, choose FILE - NEW - NEW PAGE. It is also possible to start with a "template file" which someone else has already started for you.

If it is not already, save the webpage in a NEW FOLDER called "html" in a location you desire. For workshop purposes, create this folder on the desktop. Name the webpage "index.htm" (without quotes) if it will be your starting page. For the rest of the files you save, AVOID SPACES AND SPECIAL CHARACTERS IN THE NAMES AND USE ALL LOWER CASE. USE THE EXTENSION .htm or .html at the end of each file.

1. Entering Text

Enter text in AOL Press like you do in a word processor. The following text options are available from the shown toolbar buttons, or from menu options:

• Align text to the left or to the center.
• Increase or decrease the size of selected text.
• Create a bulleted list. (From the FORMAT menu, choose EXIT LIST FORMAT to turn off.)
• Create a numbered list. (From the FORMAT menu, choose EXIT LIST FORMAT to turn off.)
• Change the text color.
• Spell check.

Some of the buttons allow you to change options and insert features unique to webpages:

• Insert a horizonal rule, which can be used as a page divider.
• Insert a table, and specify the number of columns / rows.
• Change document options, including background color, background image, and default colors for text, unvisited links, and visited links.

2. Making a Link

Link (also called a hyperlink): A webpage reference to another address on the internet or another webpage on your site.

• Text links are underlined in blue in most browsers (like Netscape).
• Images can also serve as links.
• Links can also connect to sound clips, movie clips, downloadable files, and executable programs.

Two Different Kinds of Links:

• Absolute Links: Like the link you made to CNN, absolute links include "http" and the full pathname of the file you want to link to. Example: "http://www.cnn.com"
• Relative Links: These are used for linking webpages created on your computer. They come in three varieties:
  • "file2.html" links to another file in the same folder/directory
  • "pages/file2.html" links to another file in another folder/directory inside the folder (in this case, the directory "pages")
  • "./file2.html" links to another file in the folder/directory above the present one.

Create Links:

1. Highlight the text you want to make into a link by clicking and dragging over the text with your mouse.
2. Click on the Link tool, which looks like links in a chain: (.)
3. Either:
   • Absolute link: type "http://www.cnn.com" in the blank box beside "URL."
   • Relative link: click "browse" and locate the file on your hard drive (a webpage you previously created) that you would like to link to.

3. Inserting a Graphic

BIG CONCEPT: For webpages, images are saved SEPARATELY from the text files. This is different than what you are used to in word processing.

First, save the graphic you want into the same folder as your webpages. Do this by:

• Clicking on the photo you want in Internet Explorer or Netscape and holding down the mouse button. Then select SAVE PICTURE AS or DOWNLOAD IMAGE TO DISK and choose to save the photo in your html folder.
• Right click the picture and choose SAVE PICTURE AS. Choose to save the photo in your html folder.

Advanced tip: You can create a new folder in your "html" folder and name it "images." Then save all your images in that folder (nested inside the html folder) to keep things more organized.

Click on the insert image button in AOL Press (it looks like a mountain photo with a blue arrow pointing to the right).

Browse to find the picture you want to insert.

Choose different image alignment options as desired (right, left, top, bottom). This controls how the image behaves with relation to the text around it. You don't have total control over image position, but you can text wrap or control where text aligns with text on the same line.

Click OK to close the options window.

You may have to preview the picture to see it displayed properly.

4. Previewing the webpage in your browser

In your web browser, choose FILE - OPEN and click browse if necessary. Command-O (Mac) or Control-O (Windows) is a shortcut to this menu.

Locate your webpage in your html folder and open the page you want to see. All images should display correctly and links should work.

5. Putting your site on the internet

Copy your entire html folder to a floppy disk and give it to the person responsible for maintaining your school website.

Want to learn more?

If you are interested in learning more or want instructions for using Claris Homepage or Microsoft Frontpage to create webpages, visit http://www.wtvi.com/html