Students learn to create personal home pages

More student home pages on the World Wide Web may include intricate backgrounds, images and borders, thanks to a workshop held before spring break. The Society of Women Engineers and the Dining Philosophers jointly organized the "Jumpstart Your Home Page" session to address issues in designing interesting Web pages. Approximately 35 students gathered in the Alumni Room of the Towne Building to find out the basics of creating and developing personal home pages. Engineering freshman Scott Raven presented background information necessary for beginners to establish their own pages. Raven provided an information packet and summarized the rudiments of HyperText Markup Language -- known as HTML -- the programming language for formulation of Web pages. "This is not as difficult as it may seem at first," Raven said. "Books such as HTML for Dummies and HTML and CGI Unleashed are sources to consider." Raven discussed the various command options and parameters needed to manipulate the HTML language for the Netscape browser. Heading styles and font sizes enhance the visual possibilities for users, according to Raven. "I never realized the numerous options available to maximize the appearance of a [home page]," explained College freshman Michael Joseph, who attended the event. After Raven presented the basic information, Engineering junior Alexander Shteynberg focused more on actual examples and details. "There are many easy ways to make home pages interesting and fun," Shteynberg said. He discussed the options that hotlinks and the HTML commands and language provide. Shteynberg cautioned that private information and password programs should not always be used on beginners' home pages. He stressed that security is a real concern for home page users. Shteynberg fielded questions from the audience about everything from borders to how to improve existing home pages. Attendance at the workshop surpassed expectations, Shteynberg said. "I was surprised by the turnout. I didn't expect that many people to attend," he added. "We even ran out of information packets." Shteynberg said he was glad a program like this one was directed at undergraduates. " I am used to teaching courses to computer consultants and professionals," he explained. "It is nice to see something for students." Shteynberg said this course and similar programs are vital since on-line multimedia seems to be spreading throughout today's society. Such sessions also provide the most accurate and up-to-date information, he said. Students generally reacted positively to the mini-course. "The workshop was very interesting and productive," Engineering freshman Juan Ahues-Vasquez said. "The basics that I learned here will be very useful when I attempt my own home page." Most of the students who participated in the event said they hoped to actually produce their own personal Web pages. Joseph said he understood the basics but realized that he has "a long road ahead of him" leading to the creation of his own home page. Several students said they attended the class out of sheer curiosity, hoping to acclimate themselves to HTML. Engineering freshman Sharon Teo said she felt that the "informative" course answered some of her basic questions and problems. She said she plans to fashion her own WWW page "when I have time."