[WEB4LIB] Learning curve: HTML or WYSIWYG

[Elizabeth L. Brown]

I agree with what the others have said.  Teach your librarian/students the 
fundamentals and THEN show them some software tools for creating web 
pages.  Start with something simple, like notepad, and then move on to 
specialized software.  I've used Homesite for this purpose.  It's a popular 
package and it has  a free 30-day trial you may download from here: 
<http://www.macromedia.com/software/homesite/download/>.  It has both a 
code editor and a WYSIWYG tool.

The Library of Congress has a fundamentals workshop/tutorial on-line, 
created for the folks (classroom teachers and school librarian/media 
specialists, mostly) who use its Learning Page.  Not only is the workshop 
free, it's in the public domain, so you may use it and/or adapt it without 
asking permission.  It's here:
"Basic HTML: An introductory look" 
<http://memory.loc.gov/learn/educators/workshop/html/basic.html>.
This is one of several workshops offered.  The others are listed here: 
<http://memory.loc.gov/learn/educators/>.

Betty Brown
Learning Page Reference Librarian
Library of Congress

At 08:32 AM 10/29/01 -0800, Michelle Rempel wrote:
>Morning!
>
>I'm likely going to be doing a day session with some of the librarians in 
>our region on basic web design and HTML.  I'm a purist and prefer to teach 
>HTML as I think that the difficulty level is less than trying to teach a 
>WYSIWYG.  Also, the librarians would be better equipped to sort out any 
>HTML problems later.  Finding a software product that they would all want 
>to purchase and possibly arranging licensing is a concern as well.
>
>I've explained my point to my boss, but a more technologically savvy 
>librarian is asking about WYSIWYGs.  What opinions do you have?  From a 
>learning and training standpoint, what have you found to be best?  Would a 
>WYSIWYG encourage librarians to create and update a website more than 
>HTML?  I should mention that I've done the HTML route before and found 
>that most pick up on it quickly.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Michelle Rempel
>Peace Library System