Re-post of On-line HTML workshop

[Zvi -dot- Newman -at- ECITELE -dot- COM]

Hi everybody,

Here is a re-post of Al Rubottom's recent item about an On-line HTML workshop, for the benefit of anybody who missed it.  I'll try to post a few more On-line educational resources within the next few days.

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Zvi:
In case you missed it, here's a msg I posted not long ago
about an on-line HTML "workshop" that I think is worth the
$20 he charges. He promises to send out 16 mailings, in the
form of eight or more lessons [called tutorials] and other
informative technical notes, about how to create HTML
documents/pages, with much related info. Most of the
mailings are 20k+ or so in size, some up to 30-40k.
The latest session, #7,  has already started, but there may
be more planned, and if you ask, he may let you enroll in
the current session late, since it's your time anyway.
I also attach a FAQ file for yr edification.

Al Rubottom  /\  2108495 -at- mcimail -dot- com


Techwrlers:
I recently subscribed to Thomas Copley's Links Workshop to learn
more systematically about HTML. I know there are many good books
that you can buy [or borrow] to learn from, and I've looked at many.
I believe there is value in such a workshop [cost = $20] and so I
include an excerpt from his Welcome msg below as an introductory
description. Anyone interested in more info should send an
e-mail msg to info -at- arlington -dot- com . [I have no link to Mr. Copley,
other than as a satisfied consumer of his "product."]

Excerpt [from Thomas Copley's welcome msg] follows:

Q4)  What subjects will be covered and what is the time table?

A4)  I have prepared the following brief overview, but please keep in
mind that this is only a summary.  I will cover these subjects, as well
as others not in the overview, in considerable depth, at least within
the limits of an eight week workshop.

A.  "Getting started with WWW."  This topic includes:

    * Getting access to the Web.

    * Client-server applications.

    * How to read a URL.

    * Linking to specific Web resources such as hypertext pages,
      gopher, FTP, telnet, and others.

    * Orienting yourself in Webspace.

    * Setting up a personal SLIP/CSLIP/PPP connection to the
      Internet.

B.  "Understanding Web browsers."  This topic includes:

    * Different kinds of Web clients including Netscape
      Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, NCSA Mosaic,
      Arena, Lynx, public clients, text browsers, and Agora.

    * Strengths and weaknesses of different Web clients.

    * Getting started with DNS.

    * Basic navigation commands.

    * Saving and using bookmarks.

C.  "Discovering and finding links."  This includes:

    * Searching using Alta Vista, InfoSeek, Inktomi, CMU Lycos,
      WebCrawler, Open Text, Wandex and others.

    * Using navigational home pages such as Yahoo.

    * Querying with Veronica.

D.  "Making a statement with home pages" including:

    * The purpose of a home page.

    * What you can and cannot do with a home page.

    * Sample home page designs.

    * First steps in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

    * Organizing your bookmarks with HTML.

E.  "Excellence in home page design."  This topic includes:

    * Principles of good home page design and layout.

    * GIFS, inline images, and image maps.

    * Headings, titles and subtitles.

    * Proper use of anchors.

    * Advanced topics in home page design including, forms
      and CGI scripts.

F.  "Building interest in home pages" including:

    * USENET Newsgroups and mailing lists.

    * IRC, BBSs and MUDs.

    * Linking from other home pages.

G.  "Understanding Multimedia formats" including:

    * Sound -- RealAudio, audio mpeg, and wav

    * Video -- AVI, MPEG, and QuickTime

    * Image -- Progressive JPEG and GIF

H.  "How to understand Internet programming" including:

    * Java Applets

    * JavaScript programs.

And, lastly, I will discuss the future of WWW including VMRL.

Q5)  How can the WWW help me?

A5)  The WWW is already an important, and will become an even more
important display, communications and collaboration vehicle for
exchanging all kinds of information on the Internet for both business
and pleasure.  One of the most exciting aspects of the Web is that it
is very effective at blending text, graphics, sound, program applets,
and video into a free-form, yet seamless hypermedia presentation that
can be served up to your desktop computer.

Q6)  Will the workshop be just another reference source or will it be
different?

A6)  It will be quite different.  I have been developing distance
learning materials and teaching electronically for many years, and have
learned how to take you through a step-by-step learning process
starting with the basics and building towards a sophisticated level of
knowledge.  During the Make the Link Workshop you will learn by
doing--that is, I will provide easy to follow exercises designed to
give you a quick start with the WWW.  I make it a practice to always
explain the purpose of any exercise and to let you know what the
exercise is intended to accomplish.  My purpose is to demystify and to
simplify, not to obfuscate and needlessly complicate the explanation. I
have received a great deal of positive feedback from participants in my
online workshops.  I enjoy communicating this information and helping
others to gain proficiency and confidence in their skills. I can help
you in this way too.
Subject: LINKS -- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Dear Workshop Participants:

Thank you for participating in the Make the Link Workshop ("Links
Workshop" for short).  Many of you have participated in a previous
Arlington Courseware workshop.  More than half of the Links
participants, however, are new to this style of distance learning.  I
have had the opportunity to exchange messages with many of you, both new
and old customers.  I appreciate learning about your interests and
questions.  The objective of this FAQ is to answer some questions that
are often raised about the workshop.  If you are an "old hand" much of
the material in this piece may cover topics with which you are already
familiar.  If so, please feel free to skip to those topics that are of
particular interest, or that are new.

I am really delighted by everyone's obvious enthusiasm for the subject
matter of the workshop.   Please keep your questions coming.  I will do
my best to answer as many of them as I can.

Here are some important e-mail addresses in case you want to contact us:


     links7 -at- arlington -dot- com     Questions about the course content.

     tcopley -at- arlington -dot- com    Administrative questions about the
                              conduct of the workshop.

     accounts -at- arlington -dot- com   Questions about your account.

     support -at- arlington -dot- com    Technical questions.

     info -at- arlington -dot- com       Obtain an announcement for the workshop.

     mailbot7 -at- arlington -dot- com   Resend a workshop document (including
                              this one).  Place "send help" on the
                              subject line of an e-mail message to
                              mailbot7 -at- arlington -dot- com to get a list of
                              available documents and further
                              information.


Here is a list of topics that will be covered in this document:

1)   What happens if my payment does not reach you by the deadline?
2)   Can the workshop be paid for by credit card?
3)   Where do I send payment?
4)   How do you fill in the blanks on an e-mail form?
5)   May I wire transfer my payment to your bank?
6)   Can you give me an estimate of the amount of time that the daily
     tutorials will take?
7)   Do I have to log on every day?
8)   How will my questions be answered?
9)   I am not sure that I have a Web browser available.  Is this a
     problem?
10)  I do not have access to a full Internet connection. I can use
     e-mail only.  How may I still benefit from the workshop?
11)  Will the workshop cover e-mail servers?
12)  Which software package will you be using?  Netscape?  Mosaic?  or
     something else?
13)  How can I get Netscape?
14)  What should I be able to do?  What are the minimum skill
     requirements that I need to participate fully?
15)  Will it be possible for me to work from more than one e-mail
     account?
16)  Will you be repeating the workshop?
17)  Does distribution by a private mailing list qualify me for a site
     license agreement?
18)  How can I print out the workshop materials?



1)  What happens if my payment does not reach you by the deadline?

a)  This is the question most frequently asked by overseas
participants--with good reason.  There are delays in overseas mail, as
well as extensive paperwork, due to dollar exchange restrictions, that
can add processing time.  As a result, I have extended the due date for
payment for all participants, both domestic and overseas, until
April 8, 1996.  No further general extension will be made.
However, in exceptional situations I will make extensions beyond the
8th on a case by case basis.  If you feel you fit into this category
contact me personally via e-mail at tcopley -at- arlington -dot- com -dot- 


2)  Can the workshop fee be paid by credit card?

a)  Unfortunately, no.  I hope to add this capability at a later date,
especially because of the added convenience to overseas participants.
However, I am unable to accept credit cards at this time.  I apologize
for any inconvenience.


3)  Where do I send my payment?

a)  You send your payment to me.  My address is:

     Thomas P. Copley, Ph.D.
     Arlington Courseware
     862 Arlington Avenue
     Berkeley, CA  94707-1938
     U.S.A.


4)  How do you fill in the blanks on an e-mail form?

a)  You don't.  Print out the form on your printer.  If you don't have
access to a printer, simply write down the relevant information by hand.
Then send it to me by regular postal mail, along with your payment.
Whichever you do, don't forget to include your e-mail address.  The
course is conducted entirely by e-mail.  Without your e-mail address we
can't get your lessons to you.  If you no longer have the sign-up form,
please send a blank e-mail message to mailbot7 -at- arlington -dot- com with "send
signup" (lowercase) on the subject line, and another copy of the form
will be sent to you automatically.


5)  May I wire transfer my payment to your bank?

a)  Yes.  Please contact me via e-mail at tcopley -at- arlington -dot- com for
details.  Unfortunately, my bank charges me a $15.00 incoming wire fee
for this service, and I must pass this charge on to you, making your
total payment $35.00.


6)  Can you give me an estimate of the time the daily tutorials will
take?

a)  The workshop is conducted entirely by e-mail.  Once or twice a
week for the duration of the workshop you will receive a new e-mail
tutorial, technote, or digest.  The amount of time spent on it depends
entirely upon you, your experience with both computers and the Internet,
and how far you want to go.  None of the material is especially
difficult.  My role has been to select the best information from the
hard-to-wade-through masses of it available and present it to you in an
easy to  understand way.  My best guess is that the average person will
spend perhaps three to four hours per week with the workshop itself.
However, you will most likely want to schedule in at least a couple of
hours more each week to experiment with the WWW and HTML.


7)  Do I have to log on every day?

a)  You do not need to log on each day.  You will receive several
tutorials, technotes, and digests that will be mailed to your e-mail
address. If you do not log on for a few days, or even for a week or
two, the mailings will simply accumulate until such time as you do.
The material is designed to be self-paced, so if you miss a few days
at a time you should be able to keep pace with the other workshop
participants with one good "catch-up" session.  However, there
is no necessity to work at any particular pace.  I will be available to
answer questions throughout the workshop and for several weeks
thereafter at the e-mail address tcopley -at- arlington -dot- com -dot- 


8)  How will my questions be answered?

a)  The most frequently asked questions will be answered globally; that
is, the questions and answers sent to everyone participating.
Consequently, your question may even be answered before you get a chance
to ask it.  Very technical questions will be referred to the appropriate
expert help.  Very individualized questions will be answered
individually.


9)  I am not sure that I have a Web browser available.  Is this a
problem?

a)  First of all, you should find out for sure whether or not you do
have a Web browser.  If you are on a UNIX system, try typing "www" or
"lynx" at the UNIX system prompt.  If that does not work, then ask your
system administrator why your organization does not have a Web browser.
Lynx and the WWW line-mode browser are free, and can be very useful
programs if you have no other form of access to the Web.

There are ways around not having a Web browser directly available on
your system.  Do you have telnet?  If so, you can telnet to a computer
that has a public Web browser.  Here is a list of telnet addresses to
try:


(You login as "www" and no password is necessary.)

   Domain name                Port    IP number*        Where
   -----------                ----    ---------------   ------

   www0.cern.ch               23      137.138.24.189    Europe

   info.funet.fi              23      193.166.0.1       Europe

   www.njit.edu               23      128.235.251.25    USA

   gan.ncc.go.jp              23      160.190.10.1      Japan


     * It is not necessary to use the IP number, although it is
       occasionally useful to have it.


Here is a sample command you can use to telnet:

     telnet www.njit.edu

If your organization has some sort of TCP/IP local area network (LAN)
that is connected to the Internet, ask your system administrator how to
get the computer you are using connected to it.  Popular Web browsers
for the IBM PC (Windows) include Netscape Navigator, NCSA Mosaic, and
WinWeb.  Browsers are also available for other personal computers and
workstations.  If your organization does not currently have a way for
you to connect your computer to the Internet, consider a commercial
Internet provider.  (See question 10.)


10)  I do not have access to a full Internet connection.  I can use
e-mail only.  How may I still benefit from the workshop?

a)  What I recommend, if the service is available, is that you get an
account, accessed with a modem, for the duration of the workshop or
longer.  These services often offer SLIP or PPP connections, which
directly connect your computer to the Internet over a modem.  The price
has been steadily dropping on this kind of account, and it is not
unrealistic to think of spending only twenty or thirty dollars per month
with moderate usage.  The best list of Internet providers that I have
found can be accessed with the URL:

     http://thelist.com/

another useful list can be found at:

     http://www.herbison.com/iap_meta_list.html

If the above possibilities prove unworkable, perhaps you should postpone
taking the workshop to a later date.  I say this, not because you would
not get anything out of it, but because I believe that there is no
substitute for having a hands-on learning experience, which, if you do
not have access to some sort of Web browser, would not be possible.


11)  Will your workshop also cover e-mail servers?

a)  I am going to give some limited coverage to WebMail, as people may
have heard of it and want further explanation.  It provides a very
limited way for people without a Web browser to participate. However, I
do not recommend this approach for learning the WWW.  You really should
have, at the very least, remote access to a Web browser.


12)  Which software package will you be using?  Netscape?  Mosaic?  or
something else?

a)  I try to teach the workshop in a manner that is independent of any
software or platform.  Most likely more than two-thirds of WWW users are
browsing with Netscape Navigator, so there would not be much point in
covering the same ground with Mosaic.  It would be tantamount to my
teaching French in a Provencal accent, when I'd already taught it using
a Parisienne one.


13)  How can I get Netscape?

a)  The simplest way is to ftp to the address:

     ftp2.netscape.com

You will find the Windows, UNIX, and Mac versions in the directory:

     /2.0

You can also get Netscape via ftp mail by sending mail to:

     bitftp -at- pucc -dot- princeton -dot- edu

To obtain the Windows 3.1 version of Netscape, use the message:

     open ftp2.netscape.com
     bin
     cd 2.0/windows
     get n16e20.exe
     quit

To request the Windows 95 version of Netscape, use the message:

     open ftp2.netscape.com
     bin
     cd 2.0/windows
     get n32e20.exe
     quit

For the Mac version, use the message:

     open ftp2.netscape.com
     bin
     cd 2.0/mac
     get Netscape2.0Installer.hqx
     quit

To ensure that they can be sent properly by e-mail, each of the above-
mentioned files has been uuencoded.  In order to actually make use of
them, you will have to use a program called "uudecode" to reverse the
encoding process.  This program is readily available.  Netscape is a
VERY large program.  It will be sent to you as a series of e-mail
messages.  Make sure that you have at least 3.5 megabytes of storage
space available for e-mail before requesting this program through
ftpmail.  Once you receive the program in segments, you will need to
paste them together in a text editor, and save it as one file, and then
uudecode it.  Alternatively, you can save each segment into a separate
file, and then concatenate those smaller files together into one large
file before uudecoding.


14)  I am a bit concerned about the computer skills I should have.  What
should I be able to do?  What are your minimum skill requirements?  What
do I need to know to be able to participate fully in the workshop
exercises?

a)  You don't need a whole lot of skill:  basic keyboarding, mousing-
around, how to load programs, some simple telecommunications stuff.
That is one of the nice things about the Web.  You don't have to know
very much to start receiving its benefits.


15)  Will it be possible for me to work from more than one e-mail
account?

a)  Yes, but I will only be able to send the tutorials to one e-mail
account.  If you have more than one account, you need to let me know to
which account you want the course materials sent.  Once you have the
tutorial, you can treat it as you would any other text file.  You can
forward it to your other account, print it out, or carry it around on a
floppy disk.


16)  Will you be repeating this workshop?

a)  If this one is not repeated, we certainly will be offering other
workshops of interest.  You can send e-mail to info -at- arlington -dot- com at
any time to check the latest workshop schedule.

17)  I want to distribute the course to staff members who indicate an
interest.  Distribution will be via a list on my SUN mail server. Does
this qualify me for a site license agreement?

a)  Yes, of course.  The idea behind the site license is to make the
workshop more affordable for organizations that have several individuals
who wish to participate.  If, for instance, ten people want to take part
in the workshop, the organization would save $100 by purchasing the site
license instead of paying the combined fee of $200.00 (10 x $20.00).
There are only two conditions:

First, the organization must agree not to release the materials to
persons outside of the organization.  What this means is that people
outside of the organization should not be able to download my workshop
by WWW, FTP, gopher, or by other means.  Your system administrator will
know how to restrict access.

The second condition is that the purchaser of a site license must agree
to distribute the course materials to the various participants, as the
license entitles you to receive them at only one e-mail address.  In
addition, the purchaser must collect the participants' questions, pool
them into one message, and then forward them to me.

Despite the cost savings of a site license, quite a few organizations
have opted to purchase individual subscriptions for their participants
as a convenience to them, because it eliminates the "middleman."


18)  How should I print out the workshop materials?

a)  All workshop documents are in ASCII text entirely.  If you wish to
export the workshop materials from your e-mail program and import them
into your favorite word processor or text editor, you will have to take
a few things into consideration.

First, the workshop materials are UNIX text files, and each line ends in
a linefeed.  If you are on a DOS/Windows system, all of your text files
will end in a carriage return AND a linefeed.  Therefore you will have
to add a carriage return to the end of each line in order for it to
print properly on a DOS/Windows system.  Each line in a Macintosh text
file ends in a carriage return ONLY, so the linefeed ending each line in
our UNIX text files will have to be converted to a carriage return.
There are standard DOS/Windows and Macintosh utility programs for making
these translations.  Also, many text editors and word processors for
both DOS/Windows and the Macintosh will perform these translations for
you.

Secondly, when printing text files it is always very important to use
mono-spaced typefaces (fonts) such as Courier or Monaco in order to
ensure proper spacing.

Finally, be sure to use relatively small margins in order to keep the
line breaks in the right places.

     Hint: If your word processor gives you a choice,
     import text files as "text only."

I hope I have answered most of your questions.  I look forward to more.

Tom Copley

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) Copyright 1995-6 by Thomas P. and Barbara L. Copley.  All rights
reserved.  No reproduction in any form is permitted without the express
written permission of the authors.


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____________________________________________
From Steve (Zvi) Newman

  Marketing and Technical Documentation
  Synchronous Transmission Systems
  ECI Telecom Ltd.
  Petah Tiqva, Israel

                Tel.:   972 3 9268034
                e-mail: newman -at- ecitele -dot- com
_____________________________________________





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