creating a legal web site jeremy malcolm a presentation to wascal on 21 may 1997
TRANSCRIPT
Creating a Legal Web SiteCreating a Legal Web Site
Jeremy Malcolm
A presentation to WASCALon 21 May 1997
Introduction Introduction
At the beginning of 1995 there were no Australian law firms on the Web
A Web page is a cost-effective form of promotion that can also add value for existing clients
In this seminar you will learn:– What is involved in developing a Web site– How to create or prototype your own site
AgendaAgenda
Preliminaries– Should I try to do it myself?– What do you need to get started?
Web page design Tools for Web creation Web page coding Spice up your Web site PowerPoint, FrontPage and Hotdog demos
Should I do it myself? Should I do it myself?
Professional Web design/construction– Dedicated graphic designers, programmers,
marketers and tech-heads– Will probably not be formally qualified
Do it yourself– Prototype page can be improved later– More control– More frequent updates– Save money!
What do I need?What do I need?
Internet connectivity:– Dial-up Internet connection (eg. IAP Direct)– Web hosting
Next Publishing http://www.online.next.com.au The Internet Lawyer http://www.internetlawyer.com The Seamless Website http://seamless.com Shark Net http://www.sharknet.com Inherent.Com http://www.inherent.com
– Your own permanent connection (Lotus Notes)
Design - planningDesign - planning
What do you want to communicate? Get ideas from similar sites “Rough-out” site with pen and paper
– Flowcharting– Idea tree
Less is more– too many images, fonts, styles, too much text
Design - contentDesign - content
Distinctive contenthttp://www.msj.com.au Children’s paintings
http://www.pictonwarlow.com.au Humour
http://www.minters.com.au 3D animated logo
http://www.claytonutz.com.au and news bulletins Refresh the content
– updated links and info– a regular magazine section– tell people what's updated and when.
Design - promotionDesign - promotion
Know your users– Gauge the site’s success
Hit counters Log file analysers
– Offer a mailing list, visitors' book or feedback page to enable people to express their interest.
Market the site (http://www.submit-it.com)– Don't spam - in 1994 Laurence Canter and Martha
Siegel spammed 6000 newsgroups
Design - graphicsDesign - graphics
216 colour palette Graphics packages
– Paint Shop Pro– Adobe Photoshop– Microsoft Image Composer
Reduce download times– JPEG for photos, GIF for artwork– “Text-only” alternative
Tools for Web creationTools for Web creation
WYSIWYG– What You See Is What You Get
HTML editors– See the HTML code you are writing– Better fine-tuning, less redundancy
High-end products– Database integration– Interactivity
Tools: WYSIWYGTools: WYSIWYG
Dedicated Web publishing software– Microsoft Frontpage 97– Adobe Pagemill 2.0
Word processors– Microsoft Office 97– Wordperfect 7
Other– Netscape Navigator Gold 3.0– Microsoft Publisher 97
Tools: EditorsTools: Editors
HotDog Pro 3.0– Market leader - and Australian!
HomeSite 2.0– Simpler than HotDog– Shareware version available
Many free products Notepad.exe
Tools: High-endTools: High-end
Lotus Notes 4.5– Domino Web server converts Notes to HTML
Macromedia Internet Studio 2.0– WYSIWYG authoring, ODBC connectivity
NetObjects Fusion 2.0– ODBC, graphical authoring, site management
Microsoft Visual InterDev 1.0– FrontPage, programming, IIS etc.
Web page coding - basicsWeb page coding - basics
<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>Title of page</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>This is a heading</H1>
<P>This is some paragraph text.</P>
</BODY></HTML>
Tags for formatting, headings, paragraphs, lists, image placement, fill-in forms
Tags come in <B><I>pairs</B></I>
Web page coding - more tagsWeb page coding - more tags
Simple image tag<IMG SRC="image.gif">
Hyperlink<A HREF="index.html">Link text</A>
Table<TABLE><TR><TD>First column</TD><TD>Second column</TD></TR></TABLE>
Spice up your Web siteSpice up your Web site
Java– Java applets (navigation windows, visual FX)– Javascript (browser-detection, totalling figures)– Also Jscript, VBscript– Can be annoying, like the <blink>tag </blink>
when used over-indulgently. ActiveX
– Installed on system or downloaded as needed– Generally only for Windows users
Spice up… - sight and soundSpice up… - sight and sound
Frames– Will tables do the trick?
Style sheets Image maps RealAudio
– ISP needs to have Realaudio server. Encoder and player software available free from http://www.realaudio.com.
Background music
Spice up… - movementSpice up… - movement
Animation– GIF, Java, CGI (SSI), Shockwave– Can be annoying, especially if borrowed.
Video, Quicktime VR VRML Software
– Links to freeware/shareware– Developed in-house
Spice up… - interactivitySpice up… - interactivity
Live content CGI scripting
– Feedback form, message board, visitors book– FrontPage Server extensions
Dynamic HTML– Advantage: client-side– Disadvantage: Internet Explorer 4.0 only
SummarySummary
If you want control, develop your own site Keep the content fresh and interesting High or low end sites - from $200 per year to
$200+ per week High or low end tools - from WYSIWYG
editing to database integration Web coding is just marking up text Spice it up - but accomodate older browsers
Where to get more informationWhere to get more information
Microsoft Site Builder Networkhttp://www.microsoft.com/sitebuilder
Home Page Construction Kithttp://gnn.com/gnn/netizens/construction.html
Beginner’s Guide to HTMLhttp://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html
HTML Workshop and Survival Guidehttp://www.mcp.com/general/workshop/