Creating a Website @ The Virtual Vine

Do NOT copy text or graphics from this page and paste onto other websites!

You may however, provide a link to this page.

If copying or printing directly from this page, please indicate the source. Thanks.

Frequently Asked Questions About Creating a Website

First of all, be forwarned that I'm not a "techie" type person. The tech guy at my school says that I've got a little bit of a techie mind! :) What I know I've learned the hard way ... trial and error. So .... I only know what I know!

Before you start building your website you need to decide exactly what purpose and goal you have for it. Is it a website to keep parents informed? Do you want a place for students to interact? Will it be a teacher resource site? You also have to decide how big you think it will be at it's maximum. If you're looking to design a large website, then I wouldn't suggest starting with a free site. You'll probably only end up moving it. Once you have an idea of what you want, then you'll need to move forward with the creation of the site.

Q: How do you get started?

A: First you have to have a place to host your site. It might be a place that's free or one that costs, but you have to have a place to "park" your site. :) If the place you choose to host your site has page building software, then you're in business. If it doesn't, then you have to have page building software as well.

Q: Where are some of the free webhosts?

A: Geocities

www.geocities.com

Schoolnotes.com

www.schoolnotes.com

Bravenet.com

www.bravenet.com

Scholastic.com

http://teacher.scholastic.com/tools/

50 Megs

http://www.50megs.com

I recently got an email from Gerri recommending another free site for public school teachers. And in her email she stated that it made a lot of sense to use this site because a lot of school systems had filters in place now that blocked sites like Geocities and Bravenet. THAT is so true! This past week I tried to check out site after site at Geocities and was blocked by our school's filter! Anyway, this is the specifications that she sent for the site:

http://www.lunarpages.com/education/

Offers a free web hosting account to all K-12 public schools in the U.S. Open to any district administrator, school principal or classroom teacher. As part of the program, Lunarpages will provide a FREE web builder, FREE domain name, FREE unlimited phone and email support, unlimited email addresses and FTP accounts, 500 MB storage, and 20 GB data transfer for each new account. There is no restriction on the use of the account opened in conjunction with this program, provided it is opened by a school official and is used for educational purposes.

Private schools, colleges, churches, day cares and schools outside of the United States are not eligible to participate.

Unlike other free educational site hosts, where you're uploading a page into the subdirectory of someone else's account (which many district filters will block) at LunarPages, you are actually getting your own account.

If your site doesn't qualify for the free educational program, I highly recommend their regular account (which is what I have.) Here's what you get for only $96 a year:

-Free domain name for life
-Up to 5000 MB storage
-Unlimited email accounts plus SpamAssassin
-FREE CoffeeCup Web Design Software including VisualSite Designer, CoffeeCup HTML Editor, CoffeeCup Direct FTP, CoffeeCup Web Video Player.
-Shopping Carts, Blogs, Chat and much more!

Thanks for taking the time to share all of this, Gerri! :)

Q: What are some other good webhosts?

A: I use ArborHosting.com and I've referred a lot of people to them. I've never heard anyone say anything bad about them, and I've heard many compliments for them. I've been tremendously happy with my services there. Steve is the owner and he moved my whole site for me from Geocities. They are quick to get back with you for technical assistance. They're very affordable and never once has my site been off line or "turned off" since I've been with them, which started in Oct. of 2001 unless it's for scheduled maintenance which takes place in the wee hours of the morning.

Q: How much does it cost?

A: I did pay $9.95 for The Virtual Vine and I pay $5.95 for The Teacher's Bookbag a month. Both are at ArborHosting.com. For $9.95 I got 50 MBs of storage, unlimited bandwidth transferral, and unlimited hits. All of this means a lot to me because when my site was at Geocities, I only had 15 MBs of storage and I was almost to capacity after 10 mos. I also did not have unlimited bandwidth transferral and they'd turn my site off so much that I couldn't even get on it to make updates. I also have a lot of other benefits that I don't really know what they're for. ??? But they're there if I ever need them! :) Downside for some might be that ArborHosting.com does not provide page building software. You have to bring your own with you.

11/03 I had to upgrade The Virtual Vine to 150MBs because I'd used up all 50MBs of storage that I'd previously had. It took me almost 4 years to use that much space. I had a choice to either upgrade the site, delete pages, or don't add any new information. I contemplated those choices about 3 seconds! :) Now The Virtual Vine costs me $19.95 a month, and they also moved it to a new server. Moving it caused all the counters except the one on the homepage to start over, so I lost all that data. The new server also counts the site logs into the amount of storage space that you've used. I'm not crazy about that at all, because the last time I looked at it, that information was using about 26 MBs of storage space and that's a lot of space for something I don't even look at. I'm working on getting that reduced to a smaller amount by reconfiguring the logs and such.

4/04 A couple of months ago, someone emailed me that Arbor Hosting no longer provides unlimited data transferral. There is now a cap. I recently checked the website myself and I don't see data transferral mentioned and it use to say unlimited hits/data transferral. So I guess it's true. So please be aware of that change if you're interested in having them host your site.

4/06 I don't remember when exactly, but I've had to upgrade the site again and now I've upgraded to 300 MBs of storage and a whopping $29.95!!! This is it for me!!!!! After this, I'll start deleting from the site. I'm also probably going to add a button this summer to the pages so that people can donate to help defray the costs if they'd like. $30 out of my own pocket a month is ridiculous! :)

Q: What do you use to build your webpages?

A: I've used Geocities Page Builder, Netscape's Composer, and now I use Front Page 2002. Of the 3, I LOVE Front Page. To me, it's very easy to use. It allows me to add all the bells and whistles that I couldn't get with Composer, and Page Builder is only for Geocities customers. So on my site, you'll see pages built with all 3 types of software.

I hated Page Builder because what you saw in the editor was not what you saw online. And what you saw online wasn't what you'd get if you tried to print the page. Netscape was OK, but I didn't like the fact that you can only add html tags one at a time. I have to use a lot of scripts on my pages and that just wasn't going to get it. The drawback on Front Page is that while the other two were free, Front Page cost me $180 at Office Depot. You can download Composer off the 'net. But I feel it was money well spent.

Dreamweaver is said to be the best software for building a website. I've also had a little opportunity to work with Dreamweaver, but not a lot. (It's on my computer, I just don't work with it) I find Front Page easier to use, but that could be because that's what I'm use to. Dreamweaver is mega expensive .. about $600, but I just learned that educators can purchase it for as little as $99. Here's the link:

http://www.macromedia.com/resources/education/sales/epl.html#dreamweaver_prices

This info was just shared with me, so I don't know anything about the program or the company that's selling it.

Q: Where do you get the clipart/graphics for the pages?

A: The best place to get graphics is to go to a website that you like and see where they got theirs. But please do not take their graphics. If they're using graphics from somewhere else, then there should be a link on each of their webpages to direct you to the site of the graphics designer. I've had people take graphics from my pages and paste them onto their pages and then give me credit for the graphics. Ex. Graphics courtesy of The Virtual Vine (and a link back to me) I'm not the graphics designer. The graphics artists put a lot of time into their work and they deserve to be given credit for that. If you want to use their graphics, then you should go to their site and download it from there OR join their membership. Make sure you read and agree to abide by their Terms Of Use before doing either.

A lot of the graphics designers are no longer providing linkware graphics. Linkware is when you use their graphics, and in return you have to provide a link back to their website. They're no longer providing these graphics because of graphics abuse, and I can understand their frustration. I'm now having to put "no right click" scripts on my pages so that people don't steal their graphics from my pages. Because of the abuse, many of the graphics designers have gone to selling paid memberships. You pay a fee and then they allow you to use their graphics. Their graphics are password protected. And many of them now will not allow you to use their graphics even if you pay, if you don't put the "no right click" script on your pages. They're definitely not going to allow you to use their graphics if they see graphics abuse on your site.

There also seems to be a rash lately of graphics artists who opened paid memberships, but for whatever reason now are shutting their doors. I know of 3 that I joined that's done this. Hope this trend doesn't continue. To me, graphics are what makes a site. It allows the "webmaster" to imprint their personality on their pages. That's why you'll always see "cutesy" on my sites. That's just my personality! :)

Q: Is it OK for me to copy stuff off your website and put it on my webpages?

A: No. There's a lot of information shared on the Internet and it would be almost impossible to find the original creators of many, many, many things. So a lot of teachers especially, share information and a lot of teachers' webpages have a lot of similar stuff. But it is not alright to go to someone else's website and copy stuff from their webpages and put it on your webpage ... even if you do say "borrowed from The Virtual Vine or copied from The Virtual Vine" That is not good 'netiquette. If you'd like to share info from that page with your visitors, then put a link to that page and let the people go there to see it. From what I understand about copyright laws, you can't copyright an idea, but you can copyright text. So even though all the ideas on my webpages are not my own, the text that I put there is. So that's why it is not OK to copy text from one website and paste it onto another.. This is why you see at the top of all my webpages now:

Do not copy and paste text or graphics from this page onto other websites.

You may however, provide a link to this page. Thanks!

Q: What can I put on my page as far as copyrighted material?

A: As budgets become tighter, people are getting stricter with this, so my recommendation would be not to put things on your site that you know are copyrighted. In the past I have done this, but giving credit to the owner. I'm now in the process of removing any copyrighted material from the site. Most teachers create these websites in the spirit of sharing, not to make money, but it just isn't worth getting in trouble. The problem with this is that teachers are a creative and sharing bunch. If they have a need for something, put enough of them together and they can/will create something to fill that need. So it's often hard to tell what's teacher created and freely shared, and what's copyrighted.

Q: Why do you need a link back to your homepage/index page on each of your website pages?

A: Not all of your visitors will visit your pages by first going to your homepage/index page. Therefore, if they visit one of your website pages without first going through your homepage, they can't use their "back button" to get to your homepage and navigate your site unless you provide them with an icon to do that. And if they want to explore your site further and are unable to do that, it makes it very frustrating for your visitors. So make sure you either place an icon to get to your homepage or a navigation map on each of your website pages.

In addition, you should always have an icon on each page for your visitors to email you with comments, concerns, suggestions, or broken links. Some nice visitors will take the time to do this if you provide them a means to do so.

Q: How do you get all those cool effects on your pages?

A: Those are called scripts and are written by "techie" guys and gals. You can get the scripts free at Dynamic Drive and Javascripts. They are also linkware.

Q: What is a domain name?

A: A domain name is when you pay to use a certain name. thevirtualvine.com is my domain name. When at Geocities I payed $35 a year to use the name. Now at ArborHosting.com they renew my domain name each year for free. If you don't renew then you can end up losing it. So it's imperative to stay up to date. To me, a domain name just makes it easier for my visitors to remember the site URL. Lots of times if you can't remember, or don't know a sites URL, then you can try their name and .com and it will pop right up.

Q: What is a URL?

A: That is the website's address, like http://www.thevirtualvine.com

Q: What is the difference between a website and a webpage?

A: It took me quite a while to figure this one out. One reason being is that when I'd ask someone, they'd tell me the wrong answer or totally confuse me. :) A website is your whole site. My website is The Virtual Vine.

A webpage is a page of/on my site. "Apple Pickin' Time" is a page on my website, therefore it is a webpage. Your website is made up of one or more webpages. At the moment, my site probably has about 106 pages. 1 website, 106 webpages.

Q: What is a hyperlink?

A: A hyperlink, or link, is "something" that will take you from one webpage or website to the other. Many times it's in blue, but it doesn't have to be. But when you hover your cursor/mouse over it, you'll see the cursor change into a hand or something. This is a hyperlink ... http://www.thevirtualvine.com It's what links things together on the web, like a huge spider WEB!

Q: Do I have to get permission from other site owners before linking to their site?

A: No. Unless there's something wrong with your site (like it was a porno site or something), other site owners probably feel honored that you liked their site enough to provide a link to it. And if for some reason they do not want you to provide that link, they could always ask you to remove it. However, I've NEVER had that happen.

Q: I just received a free trial of Front Page. I am totally lost! I don't know where to start in creating a web-page. Could you give me some direction as to begin, or a web site that could help me?

A: First right click on the blank page and click on PAGE PROPERTIES. This is where you put your page name and if you click on BACKGROUNDS, you can fill in your background. If you want anything other than colors, you have to download your graphics to your computer first (I'm assuming that you're getting them from the 'net). Once you get your background set up, you're ready to go.

Q: How do I add/change the title to my page?

A: The title is what you see in the title bar at the top of a page when you click on the page. It's also the title that's given your page when people save it in their Favorites or bookmark it. To add/change the title for the page in Front Page, open your page and click on the page; then right click. Click on PAGE PROPERTIES. Then on the GENERAL tab, fill in your page name in the TITLE box and click on OK.

Q: How do you create layered backgrounds? Like with 2-3 on top of each other.

A: You layer the backgrounds using tables. First you start with your Page Properties and put in your first background. Then you make a table, say one row/one column/95% of the page. Then fill in the background for the table. That's your second layer. Then to make the 3rd layer, put anther table inside that table using the same dimensions. You can keep doing that for as many layers as you want.

Q: I followed your directions on making a layered background but can not get them all centered. Could you explain how to get it centered? Also, when I put in the table I can only type half way down the page. How do you get the cursor at the top? Mine just won't budge. I would really appreciate any help or advice!!

A: To center a table: click on table, then right click; click on TABLE PROPERTIES. In the pop-up box, look at the top where it says LAYOUT and then ALIGNMENT. Click on the drop down box and choose CENTER, then click on OK @ the bottom. That should center your table.

To move the cursor to the top of your table: Try this. Click on the table, then right click. Click on CELL PROPERTIES. Under LAYOUT, click on the VERTICAL ALIGNMENT drop down box and choose TOP, then OK. That should move your cursor to the top of your table.

Q: People are telling me that things are overlapping on my page (pictures on borders), but they're not on my computer. How can I see what they're seeing?

A: If they're not overlapped on your computer, then you must have your screen resolution set to where it shows smaller images (1024x768 or something like that) than what they're seeing. Mine's set @ 600x800 which is now the average for most visitors to my site. If you want to see your site in that view, then go to your Control Panel (probably under MY COMPUTER), click on DISPLAY, then SETTINGS. Look at the bottom of the pop up window and you'll see a sliding button where it says SCREEN RESOLUTION. If yours is set higher than 600x800, then you can slide it to Less and the screen resolution should get smaller. Then click on APPLY and OK. Then go check your site. You can always go back and reset it to what it was. If that's what's happening, then that's why your graphics are overlapping your border.

Also, if you want to see how others are viewing your site with different browsers, then you can download the different browsers. Then view your site with each browser. I've found the most difference in using Netscape. Sometimes it sees things totally different and a lot of the animations and things do not work for it. Fortunately, a lot of people don't use Netscape as their browser. The biggest majority of the people that visit my site are using some version of Internet Explorer (IE) with a screen resolution of 600x800.

Q: How do you make the webpage resize for different resolutions? My screen resolution is 800x600. When I view the page in another browser with a higher resolution, it is totally changed.

A: After you've set up your background for your page, add a table with invisible borders. Set the table margins for percentages rather than pixels. If you want to give this table the same background as the one on the page, then do that and set your table margin to 100%. If you're going to use a different background for the table than the one that you've used on the page, set the table margin for 90 - 95%, or whatever you choose. By doing this using page percentages, no matter what resolution the viewers computer has, the table will fill 95% (or whatever) of the viewers page with the table. therefore your information.

Q: I purchased some graphics from Whispy Hollow and I got them today. I loaded the zip file in my pictures. When I tried to insert the picture on a page it won't go there. Can you please explain to me how you use the zip files, where you load them, and how do you get them on a new page.

A: The first thing you have to do is unzip the file that Melly sent you. You'll need WinZip or something similar to do that. Once they're unzipped, then you insert the graphics just like all the others that you have on your site.

Q: Can you tell me how you add text to a banner or quilt square?

A: You have to have a program that will add text to images. I have Paint Shop Pro 8, but there are also other programs as well ... you may have something comparable that came on your computer. Look for a program that will edit photos.

Q: Where can I get a guestbook?

A: Bravenet.com

Q: I have tried unsuccessfully to add a guestbook on my site. I copied the the script and went into html and put it in the body but it didn't work. I tried pasting directly on the index page and all the script shows up. What am I doing wrong? Do you have to put a logo on the index or does that just automatically show up? I'm at a loss at what to do with this.

A: You're just adding a link onto your page to your guestbook, which is really on the guestbook host's site. So, what you need is guestbook text or a guestbook graphic, and then you just add the link to the graphic or text. So when the visitor clicks on the graphic or text it takes them to your guestbook on the guestbook host's site. You configure your guestbook on their site. At least that's how Bravenet has theirs set up. The "html" script that they give you is actually a URL to your guestbook.

Simply put, they're just giving you the link to your guestbook. You're not adding the guestbook to the pages, just the link. So add the link like you would to any other site.

If you want a guestbook graphic on your webpage, then you have to supply the graphic. Lots of webpage sets come with guestbook graphics to use. Some do not, so you can use a text link instead if you like.

Q: I am still using Yahoo Geocities for my server. I have many pages done in Pagebuilder that I have been trying to convert to Front Page. If I do a copy-paste, they come in but they have something that looks like text boxes around them. I can erase what is in these dotted boxes, but I can't seem to get rid of these dotted boxes. Have you tried moving your stuff and had success? It is taking me forever to redo all of these pages in Front Page by copying one picture at a time.
A: With my Geocities pages, this is what I do. Open the page in Front Page (not cut and paste). Fix the page, then save it again.

Everything in Page Builder is done in tables. That's what the dotted boxes are. You know how to remove the text, but not the box. Once you've removed the text that you need, simply click on the box, then go to the tool bar and click on table, then select table, and it will highlight the box. Then go back to the top, click on table, again, then delete table. It will delete the box. It might look like it's still there, but once you click somewhere else, then the box will disappear.

Q: I don't have Adobe to post some blacklines I've made and I've heard you can do it with Microsoft Word. Do you have any idea how to do this? Under File, there is a Web Page preview and what I see when I look at my pages doesn't look right--things are too crammed together. Do you know this process?

A: Well, you are right ... you can save Word Documents like pdf files. I had never tried it, but just did it. Just load the Word Document up to your server with the .doc file extension. Then link to it. When you click on the link, it will give you a pop-up window ... click on Open and there it is! I love learning new stuff like this. :)

Q: How do you upload a Word document?

A: Save the document in word. It will have a .doc file extension. Then find the document in Windows Explorer and copy it into the correct website file.

To do this, open Windows Explorer. I open my website files (click on NETWORK PLACES, then your WEBSITE ADDRESS). All your website files should pop up and will stay open on the left side. Then I go back and open the file where the Word document is at. Then I copy the Word document and paste it into the correct website file. Then you have to provide a link from your website page to the place where the document is at.

Q: How do I insert pdf files into my webpage? I found one tutorial that leads me to believe that I have to buy something...is this true?

A: All you have to do is upload your pdf file to your server, then provide a link from your page to the file. No big deal, no new software required. Your pdf file will of
course have a .pdf file extension instead of .gif, .jpeg, or .html.

Q: How do I convert a Word document into a pdf file? There is no "pdf" button or anything to select in Word to convert it ??? Is a pdf even what I'm looking for? I want to provide some letters/handouts to parents that teachers can print out to use as a resource, is pdf what I want?

A: You do need a program that will save your files as .pdf files. If you have a scanner, you can probably use that program ... that's what I use. I scan them in and save them as pdf. But, you don't have to have pdf files for that. You can save and print Word documents as well. Save your files you want to print as Word documents (.doc files), then upload them to your server and provide a link to them. Voila! You're in business!

Q: How do you make a page that has enter and then you go to the index page? Like I want to do a Halloween page that you enter to get to index. Also, how do you put music on a site and do you know of places where you can get the music?

A: The page that you're asking about is called a "splash page". To create one, just create the page like you would any other page, then where you put "ENTER", link it to your index page. BUT, you'll have to name the splash page "index.html" and rename your old index page something else ... maybe "index2.html". Then you'd link the splash page to the "index2.html" page. The reason for this is so that when people go to "www.thevirtualvine.com" (insert your web address there), they'll go to your splash page and link to your old index page. If you leave the old index page labeled "index.html" they're going to continue going straight there instead of to your splash page.

I've only got music on one of my pages because it can be annoying if your visitor is listening to their own music. Your music will play simultaneously with their music ... not good. :) Also, a lot of people don't like music on the pages, but if they're not listening to their own music, they can turn it down or off.

To load music, download the file just like anything else, then add it to your page. To add it to the page .. in FrontPage, open PAGE PROPERTIES. About midway down on the GENERAL tab, you'll see BACKGROUND SOUND, then LOCATION. Click on BROWSE beside LOCATION. Find your midi file (the music file) and open it in the BROWSE window. Then underneath that, you'll see LOOP. Configure it there as to how you want the music to play [ how many times or check FOREVER if you want it to play continuously].

As for places to get your music, do a Google search for whatever type of music you want, then download it into your folder for that particular page.

Q: I am trying to change my index page to where it has 2 tables beside each other. I have tried all day to figure out this. When I add my first table, it won't let me put another table beside it. I want to have a form similar to how you have your index. Could you please help me with this?
A: FP isn't going to let you put two tables side by side. To get this effect, you have to set up one table and have it divided into two COLUMNS. To get the space between the columns, you have to adjust your CELL SPACING. The larger your number for your cell spacing, the wider the space will be between the two columns.

Q: How do you disable the "right click" on your webpages?

A: Go to www.dynamicdrive.com and type "no right click" into the search and the script to disable the right click should pop right up. Then you have to copy the script and insert it into your page editor. I also disable the IE graphics grabber by placing this tag in the HEAD

Most graphic artists require this as well.

Q: I am trying to do a no right click on my site. I went to dynamic drive and looked at the directions. I went on my site and did insert, web com, advanced, html. It wouldn't let me copy and paste the script so I tried typing in the script and it says I have a error. I have redid this several times and I can't get it. Is there some way to copy and paste that script? Also, I am trying to add this on a page that is already finished. Do you have to add this before you add tables and graphics to a page?
A: To add "no right click" script (or any html/scripts), open your webpage in FP. At the bottom of the page, click on the tab for HTML. That will show you all the html for your page. Insert/paste the script where the instructions tell you to put it (the "no right click" on my pages goes in the BODY of the page). I always put my scripts in the same place (no right click at the bottom of the page) so that if I want to go back and make sure it's there, I don't have to hunt for it.

Then when you're finished pasting in the script, click on the NORMAL tab again and you'll see your page once again minus the html. Your script is now in place. Voila! :)
Adding scripts or your own html is easy with FP. That's the main reason why I purchased it.

And no, you don't have to add the script to the page first. It can be added at any time. I just try to make sure that I've added it before I save it to the web (for obvious reasons).

Q: I am now trying to add snow to my enter page. I got on Dynamic Drive and copied the script and pasted where it said. I copied the graphic but when I preview ,it just has boxes with a red x in them falling. I know I am leaving something simple out but I am so sick of doing this over and over. Could you please tell me where I am making a mistake.

A: It's hard to answer this question because the scripts are all different. If you're using their graphic and you downloaded it, then the problem is probably that you need to change the script to match where you have your graphic uploaded. Simply put ... the script needs to tell the computer where to look for the graphic. Sounds like you've got the script in place, you just need to fine tune the part dealing with the graphic.

If you're using your own graphic, then you'll need to delete what they have and add in yours. Just look at the file where you have the graphic and the graphic name and make sure the script echoes it.

Q: What is bandwidth and bandwidth theft? Is adding a link on your site to someone else's bandwidth theft?

A: Bandwidth is transferral of data. Every time someone visits your site, they use some of your bandwidth because the data on your site has to be viewed by their computer and that info has to be transferred. The more info you have on your pages (especially graphics and photos), the more bandwidth is used each time someone visits your site. Some people have to pay depending on the bandwidth transferral on their site. So the more hits they get, the more they may have to pay if it goes over their bandwidth transferral limit. That's why the sites at Geocities get shut down so much if someone has a lot of visits to their site. Geocities now has a very low bandwidth transferral policy on their free sites. After two or 3 people have visited a page it may be over it's bandwidth transferral limit so they cut the page off for an hour. Then the next hour it starts all over again.

As far as putting links to sites from your site, that is acceptable. Teachers do not put all the time and work into building these websites for no one to come and visit them. They expect and want visitors. So if you provide a link to their site, that indeed is a compliment to their site. IF it is causing undue hits to their site that they can't afford, they could always request that the link from your site be removed. I've never had that happen and I have literally thousands of links on my site to other sites.

Q: People can't get to my site unless they type in www .com. They can't just do a search and find it. Can you help?

A: One reason may be that your splash page is titled something other than the name of your site. Your main page should ALWAYS be titled the name of your site or at least something with that name in the title. The title bar is what you see when you go to a website and you look to the very top of the page, or if you bookmark that page. That's where you want to see it say the name of your website. That's one of the main places that search engines search for information. Each page of your site should be clearly titled as to what's on that page so that the search engines can find it, but also so that once someone has bookmarked it they'll know what it is they've bookmarked. That's why I started adding "@ The Virtual Vine" to all my pages. Because there are a ton of Bears pages, now when someone bookmarks my Bears page it says, "Bears @ The Virtual Vine." That lets them find what they're looking for a little easier and helps with the bookmarking, too.

Also, you may have to submit your site to Google before it will get picked up by the search engines. If your site got a lot of hits on its own, you might not have to, but without a of hits, you might have to do that. You can look on the Google website and check out how to submit your site.

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Tip: One of my best investments into building a website (other than Front Page 2002) was to purchase Elizabeth Castro's book HTML for the World Wide Web. It has allowed me to understand and discover things that I would have never figured out on my own ... or it would have taken me forever to do so! So if you're going to be working with HTML (and to use all the guestbooks, scripts, and stuff you'll have to) this book is a good investment.

Online Website Classes: I recently received this message about Virtual Univ from a Kindergarten teacher.

<<I took a course through www.vu.org You pay a $15 and can take up to 3 classes. I took a basic HTML class and received professional development hours. You actually make a web page and put it on-line. The instructors help you with any problems.
registration for fall begins Aug 18 and "classes" begin in September for about 6 weeks. Another session begins in October or November.>>

I checked out the website, and the classes are $15. There's one I'd also find interesting, more advanced than the basic webpage. So after school starts and I get settled in, I might take one of the classes. If anyone else has any input on this, please let me know.

If you have still have questions, email me and I'll try to answer them. I don't mind at all trying to help. I do mind having to type this stuff over and over again, so that's why I built this page. :)