March 14 workshop

For this workshop we will cover several areas:

1. Check the progress on Earl G.'s American Legion WordPress site & see where we can offer assistance
2. Set up a slide show which displays a series of images in an infinite loop
3. Demonstrate the proper way to set up a template site following Microsoft guidelines
4. Explore a website dedicated to the Expression Web package which is rich in reference material.  

A musical interlude

Just to see if anybody's paying attention.

Be patient music starts at about 0:45

youtube music -- opens in new tab

enjoy

Feb. 1 Workshop

For this workshop we will build a WordPress blog for our fellow club member Earl G.  Although the blog will be built using WordPress, which is a blogging software package, we will make it look like a traditional website.  Also, WordPress makes it very easy to update content through its built-in dashboard.  This will make it easy for Earl & his group to send out notices about the activities of his group.

January 11 Workshop

There will be a PowerPoint presentation on the subject of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  Search Engine Optimization refers to a collection of techniques to improve a site's ranking when using search engines such a Google or Yahoo.

Also a demonstration of the Expression Web feature called SEO Checker. The SEO Checker analyzes a website using techniques similar to what a search engine would use. The SEO Checker also provides a detailed report which identifies problem areas for the site's designer to address so that a site's ranking can be improved.

December 7th Workshop

For this month's workshop we will continue building a website from scratch - not using templates.  We will demonstrate the following:

• Continue building the layout of the site from last month
• Build & style navigation buttons
• Validating the html code
• Creating a Dynamic Web Template which is used to automatically style other pages on this site

November 9 workshop

For this month's workshop we will have two demonstrations.

First, we will demonstrate editing & publishing posts to a WordPress blog/website. Then we will demonstrate how to add an RSS feed icon & widget to this site. The RSS Links Widget allows you to add a link to your blog’s post. This makes it easy for your readers to stay updated when you post new content as they are automatically notified whenever you post something new.

Then we will demonstrate building a single page website from scratch.  Up to this point we've been using templates but this time we will start with a blank page & build from there.

This demonstration will cover the following:

• Create a Home page
• Create a Webpage Layout using div tags
• Styling the various sections of the webpage, which includes:
• The banner, top navigation menu, the left column & the footer    
• Adding Meta tags

Then we will add navigation to the site for the following:

• Horizontal top menu
• Left side navigation menu

The June 8 workshop

We will cover:

CH8 - just a brief discussion since the subject of html code we try to avoid at all cost.

CH9 Using Tables for Tabular Content
How to create a table

• Change the appearance of a table
• How to use the Tables Toolbar
• The history of tables used on the Web
  
  

Then we'll see how far we can get into CH 10 - Cascading Style Sheets

Up to this point we have learned to create & add content for a website.  A website without styling is boring & this is where CSS comes in.  The author of our book calls CSS the most powerful tool on the web.

• What  are Cascading Style Sheets  
• How to create new styles from scratch
• How to modify existing styles using the styles tools
• How to use styles to change the appearance of words, sections or whole pages