Creating Web Sites


If you need to create web pages for your organization s web site or intranet, or if you want to create pages for your own web site, you can design the pages as publications and then have Publisher convert them to the necessary HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) format. You don t need to know anything about HTML, because Publisher takes care of the coding behind the scenes.

Using Publisher s Web Site Creation Tools

As with other types of publications, you can use a wizard to guide you through the process of creating web pages, or you can create them from scratch. Here you create a page for Adventure Works by using Publisher s web site creation tools, which help you generate a professional-looking web page with very little effort. Let s create a simple web site:

1. On the File menu, click New to display the New Publication task pane.

2. Click the Web Sites publication type in the Start from a design list, scroll through the thumbnails in the right pane, and then click Waves Web Site .

A new web site publication appears in the right pane, and the Web Site Options task pane appears to the left. The web site currently has one page, called the home page , which includes text and graphic placeholders.

3. In the See also area at the bottom of the Web Site options task pane, click the Insert page link.

The Insert Page dialog box appears, as shown in this graphic:

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Think you don t need a web site?

If you don t have access to the Internet or don t have any need to create pages for a web site, you still might want to skim this topic to get an idea of Publisher s capabilities. Then if you want to distribute a publication that people can view on their computers even without Publisher installed, you will know how to convert the publication to HTML format so that it can be viewed in a web browser.

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4. Click the down arrow next to the Available page types box, click Price list , leave the other settings as they are, and click OK .

Publisher adds a second page containing a price list to the web site.

5. Repeat the previous step, this time clicking Story in the Available page types list to add a story page to the web site.

Publisher adds the story page after the main page and the price list.

6. Click the Background fill and sound link at the bottom of the task pane.

The Background task pane opens, as shown in this graphic:

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You can use this task pane to add backgrounds, colors, and sounds to the web site.

Information about  

Adding sound effects, page 190

7. Click the Texture fill (Newsprint) gradient option (the second square in the fifth row) to add that background to the page.

8. In turn , display each of the other two pages, and apply the Texture fill (Newsprint) gradient option to them as well.

9. Close the Background task pane, press the F9 key to change the zoom setting to 100% , and if the home page is not already displayed, click the 1 button in the page controls at the bottom of the work area to display the first page.

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Converting publications into web pages

To turn an existing publication into a web site, open the publication, click Save as Web Page on the File menu, and in the Save as Web Page dialog box, click Save to convert the Publisher file into HTML format.

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The results are shown in this graphic:

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10. Save the file as Web Site in the My Documents folder, making sure that Web Page is selected in the Save as type box of the Save As dialog box.

Publisher converts the publication into HTML format.

Adding Text and Graphics to a Web Site

Now you can start replacing placeholder text and inserting graphics. Luckily, you use the same techniques to work with text and objects in a web page as you do when you are working with them in other publications. Follow these steps:

1. Select the Home Page Title placeholder text, and type Mojave Desert Jeep Tours . Then select the text again, and change its size to 16 so that it sits on one line.

2. On the home page, double-click the first graphic (the flower) to display the Insert Clip Art task pane, type cactus in the Search text box, and then click the Search button.

3. When the search results appear in the task pane, click a cactus graphic to insert it onto your web site.

We chose the first cactus graphic in the first row.

4. Double-click the second placeholder graphic (the eggplant), and replace it with an appropriate graphic.

We inserted a sun graphic that appeared in the results of a search on the word sun .

5. Save Web Site , open the Flyer publication, and copy the first two paragraphs of the main text (but not the sold-out dates). Then close Flyer , select and delete the text in the text frame on the home page of Web Site , and then paste the flyer paragraphs into the frame.

6. Click No when Publisher asks if you want to use autoflow, and then drag the frame s lower-middle handle downward until the frame is long enough to hold all the pasted text.

7. Close the Insert Clip Art task pane.

8. Select the text of the second paragraph, click the down arrow next to the Style box, and click Flyer Text in the drop-down list. Then click Drop Cap on the Format menu, and click the Remove button.

The formatting of the second paragraph now matches that of the first, as shown in this graphic at 66% magnification:

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Overlapping objects

Whenever possible, you should avoid overlapping frames on web pages. Publisher treats the overlapping objects as one item by creating a rectangular area, called a graphic region, to contain them. Graphic regions are downloaded as one graphic and take more time to appear than separate objects. Publisher alerts you if objects are overlapping by displaying a thick red border around the graphic region. If you feel the effect is worth the longer download time, you can leave it as it is.

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9. Before you move on, scroll to the bottom of the home page, and replace the logo placeholder with the logo from the Brochure publication.

10. Move to page 3 , replace the title with Join Us for a Fossil Dig , and replace the placeholder story text with the paragraphs you copied from the flyer, reformatting the second paragraph as you did in step 8.

11. Select the text of the quote placeholder on the left, and type Our fossil dig tours are one-of-a-kind in the Mojave Desert area. Sandy Rhodes, owner of Adventure Works .

12. As a final touch for this page, add an appropriate graphic and delete the graphic caption.

The results are shown in this graphic:

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Adding a Price List to a Web Site

You want to fill in the final page of the web site, which is a price list. To speed up the process, you can reuse the information you already entered in the price list table in the brochure. Follow these steps:

1. Save the Web Site publication, and then open the Brochure publication.

2. Move to page 2 , and click the price list table (not its title) once to select it.

3. Click Select and then Table on the Table menu, and then copy the table.

4. Close Brochure , move to page 2 of Web Site , and scroll the top of the table into view.

5. Select the text of the first cell of the table, paste in the copied information, and then click Yes when Publisher asks if you want to extend the table to contain all the information.

6. Scroll to the bottom of the table, which has been extended so that it overlaps the second table on the page. Delete the unused bottom row of the first table, and then delete the second table.

7. Reformat the first cell s text so that it is not bold, and then left-align it.

8. Delete the line breaks from all the rows, and then resize the first and second columns until all of the tour descriptions appear on one line.

Information about  

Resizing columns, page 134

Resizing columns:NEED XREF The table now appears as shown in this graphic:

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Adding sound or video

You might want to add sound or video files to a publication that will be viewed on the Internet or on a company intranet. To add a background sound to a web page, display the Insert Clip Art task pane, check that only the Sounds check box is selected in the Results should be list, and then search for the sound file you want to use. To insert a video file, click Picture and then From File on the Insert menu, navigate to the file you want, and then double-click it to add it to the web page. You can then move and resize the video file s frame as usual. You will have to preview the web site in your browser to hear the sound or view the video.

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9. Scroll to the top of the page, click an insertion point before Price List , and then type Tour and a space.

10. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and copy and paste the logo from page 1.

Adjusting Interactive Web Elements

When you set up this web site, Publisher created navigation bars that contain three hyperlinks on each page. You can click these hyperlinks to move from one page to another. Follow these steps to make some adjustments to the hyperlinks :

1. Move to the bottom of page 1 , and notice that although the second and third hyperlinks have been updated to reflect the new titles of their pages, the first hyperlink still reads Home Page .

The same pattern is followed on all three pages.

2. Select the Home Page text in the first blue oval on the left side of the page, and type Mojave Desert Jeep Tours .

3. Click any of the three grouped ovals to select the group, and then resize the group s frame until the text in each of the three hyperlink buttons fits on one line.

This graphic shows the results at 100%:

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4. Move to page 2 , and notice that although the hyperlink text has been updated to match page 1, the oval sizes have not. Resize them now, adjusting the table size as needed to accommodate the new size of the ovals.

5. Repeat step 4 for page 3.

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Adding hyperlinks

To convert existing text to a hyperlink, select the text that you want to convert, and click the Insert Hyperlink button on the Standard toolbar. In the Link to area of the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, select the appropriate option. Then type the address of the location you want to move to when the hyperlink is clicked (or select the appropriate page option if clicking the hyperlink moves you to another page within the same web site), and click OK. Publisher underlines the text and changes it to the color designated for hyperlinks. To turn an object into a hyperlink, select the object, and then follow the procedure for text hyperlinks. To turn just part of an object into a hyperlink, click the Hot Spot button on the Objects toolbar to display the Insert Hyperlink dialog box, where you can specify the options you want.

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Adjusting the Background

As with other publications, you can easily change the color scheme, background color, or background texture of a web site. You can change the color scheme by displaying the Color Schemes task pane. However, suppose you want to change the background texture, but not the color, to something more appropriate for Adventure Works. Follow these steps:

1. Move to page 1 of Web Site , and click Background on the Format menu.

Publisher displays the Background task pane shown earlier.

2. Click the More backgrounds link at the bottom of the task pane, and when the Fill Effects dialog box appears, click the Texture tab.

The dialog box displays the texture options shown in this graphic:

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When you click a texture block in the Texture area, Publisher displays the results in the Sample box so that you can get an idea of what the change will look like. You can make other adjustments to the background on the Gradient, Pattern, Picture, and Tint tabs.

3. Experiment by clicking a few textures and viewing the effects in the Sample box. Finish by clicking Parchment (the texture that resembles sand in the third box in the first row), and then click OK .

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Slow web pages

Think twice before you add too many graphic elements to web pages. Though graphic effects such as textured backgrounds can brighten up a web page, they can muddy your message, and they also take longer to download than simple backgrounds do. If you think speed is going to be important to your viewers , you might want to stick with a solid color background.

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Notice that the Parchment texture is now selected in the Background task pane, and is titled custom.

4. Apply the Parchment texture to each of the web site s other two pages, by displaying the page and clicking the custom thumbnail in the Background task pane.

5. Close the Background task pane, and save your work.

The results are shown in this graphic:

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Web forms

The process of setting up a web form so that it retrieves information correctly can be tricky and time consuming. Before you attempt to set up a web form in Publisher, you might want to contact your Internet service provider (ISP) for more information about their requirements. If the form you need is complex, you might be better off creating the web page in a more sophisticated web-design program, such as Microsoft FrontPage. If you want to add a simple form to a web page in Publisher, click the Form Control button on the Objects toolbar, and click one of the form control types on the drop-down menu. (For more information about the different types of form controls, see Publisher s Help feature.) You can then draw a frame for the control, enter your form s information, and move and format the control s frame as usual. (To ensure that the form works properly, do not overlap any form control frames.)

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Previewing a Web Page

When you create a publication that you will print on paper, you can see all the elements on the screen pretty much the way they will look on paper. However, when you create a web site, Publisher can t show you the dynamic elements, such as functioning hyperlinks and moving graphics. It is important that you preview your Publisher-produced web sites in a web browser before publishing them for the world, or even others in your own organization, to see. Follow these steps to preview the Adventure Works site:

1. Click the Web Page Preview button on the Standard toolbar, make sure the Web site option is selected, and then click OK .

Publisher starts your web browser ”in our case, Microsoft Internet Explorer ”and displays the home page of your web site, as shown in the graphic on the next page.

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2. Scroll through the page, checking all the elements carefully .

3. Click the Join Us for a Fossil Dig hyperlink to check that it is linked to the correct page, and then click the Tour Price List hyperlink to move to that page.

4. When you have finished looking over the web site, click your browser s Close button to return to Publisher.

Depending on the web browser, some elements might appear differently than they do in Publisher. For example, text might be formatted differently or might wrap differently. If possible, view your web site in more than one browser to be sure that it works for all potential viewers, and then make any necessary adjustments to the Publisher file.

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Sending web pages to a web server

When you are ready to publish your web site, you can use Publisher to guide you. With the web site file open, click Options on the Tools menu, and then click the Web Options button. On the General tab, you can enter keywords, separated by commas, which web search engines will use to categorize your web site. (For example, Adventure Works might enter jeep, tours, Mojave Desert, and fossils.) In the Description box, enter a short description of your web site s content. On the Browsers tab, select the type of browser you expect your audience to be using. When you are finished, click OK. To begin transmitting your web files to your ISP, click Save As Web Page on the File menu. In the Save in box, click FTP Locations. Select your FTP site, and then click Save. (If you need to add an FTP site, you can get the necessary information from your ISP.) Publisher will then transmit the files using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). If you prefer to use a different FTP program, click Save As Web Page on the File menu, designate a folder in which to save your web site, and click OK. You can then access the file and send it at any time. For more information, consult Publisher s Help feature and your ISP.

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Online Traning Solutions - Quick Course in Microsoft Publisher 2002
Online Traning Solutions - Quick Course in Microsoft Publisher 2002
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 76

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