LIONS CLUBS INTERNATIONAL DIST. 322C1

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Creating Your Lions Club Webpage - the Steps

[    Home Page  Webmaster | Server | Design | Create It! | Proof & Publish | Maintainance | Other Information ]



1. Select your webmaster


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2. Locate a server - there are several options

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3. Design the website

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4. Create it!

You've thought through what to include and how to organize your page. Now comes the actual creating of the page. There are several ways to do it. Beginners often choose one of the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) page creation computer programs. A good WYSIWYG editor is AOLpress 2.0 Freeware and can be  downloaded at http://www.davecentral.com/2320.html .   These make perfectly acceptable pages and, unless you get interested in HTML coding, may be all you'll ever need. Several of these applications offer evaluation or time limited versions for download from the Internet. A few are even free! One very thorough listing of these is Dave Central . Several other websites also offer such download opportunities: Tucows and WinFiles among them.The major browser suites, Netscape Communicator and Microsoft Internet Explorer also have components for webpage design. Microsoft also markets a separate wysiwyg application called Front Page.

If your webmaster does invest in a program to make the page, the club should decide whether it wants to "own" the application or whether the webmaster is expected to donate the use of it to the club but continue private ownership. The programs can range from under Rs500 to well over Rs 1000  for a year so this can be an important consideration if such a program is not already available to the webmaster.

Even if you're using a wysiwyg program, it is still important to keep accessibility in mind; just because the program doesn't "make" you insert alternative text for your graphics, for instance, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it! If you have webpage experience, keep in mind the content material of this help site and go to it!

For those of you using the template, save it to your hard drive, using your File menu and selecting "save as". Then you can bring the page up in a word processor, note pad, or other editing program and substitute in your club's information. The most important sections are the where and when of meetings and the Lions links. If, to get the page up quickly, you want to skip the history, community and projects sections and the other links, that's fine. Those sections can be added at a later time.

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5. Proof and publish it

First proof it yourself, on your computer. Make sure the internal links work and that the graphics load. One pitfall of the wysiwyg programs is that they tend to link graphics to the local machine and not the server. If you have trouble with this, it's best to consult the Internet Chairman or another Internet expert.

To upload your files to the server, you will either use the servers own loader programs (available on some commercial servers and all of the free ones) or a file transfer protocol (FTP) program. Again there are several of these available for download - see Dave Central or another of the resources mentioned above. They are generally self-explanatory but you should feel free to ask your expert support people for help getting started if you're a bit confused.

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6. Maintain it

It's very disappointing to visit a website with out of date material and this is particularly important for Lions Club websites. At the very least, maintain the current meeting time and location and, if you list officers, keep them current.
It's also nice to redesign your site ocassionally, especially as you learn more about the business at hand.

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7. Other sources of information

How to's:
A Beginner's Guide to HTML , HTML Quick Reference , Introduction to HTML , Official HTML Specifications

Associations:
HTML Writers Guild , Internet SocietyAssociation of Internet ProfessionalsInternational Webmasters Association

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If you need more help, please contact the Internet Chairman

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