Topic_7_Student_Page

= Topic 7 Student Page = = Publishing Web Content and Making it Searchable and Accessible =

//** Student pages are for submitting your assignments. As a member of this wiki, you have permission to edit these pages. Please feel free to post reminders or important notes that might also assist other class members. **//

===7.1: Discussion – Hosting and Publishing on the Web === Getting web content hosted and published on the web Creating web content is only meaningful if the publisher has a method of sharing it with the targeted audience. While some web publishing platforms allow file transfer directly within a webware interface, many content management systems (CMSs) and static websites are often uploaded and maintained on a host server using file transfer protocol (FTP) software. Learning how to choose a domain name, select a web host, and how to use a reliable file transfer program to upload content is especially empowering to educators wanting to use this medium to its full potential.

Step 1: After completing the assigned readings related to getting content hosted, discuss the following:
 * What type of forethought should be put into selecting a domain name? What right or wrong choices are there as far as name selections go?
 * How would you explain in plain English how to go about purchasing and registering a domain name? How long does this typically take? What should a potential user be wary of?
 * What type of web hosting would be the most beneficial for the typical educator wanting to create a classroom website for students and their parents? What types of hosting should educators recognize as “overkill”?
 * What are some ways an educator could research a particular web hosting service (beyond what the service says about itself on its own site)?
 * Are promises of “Unlimited site traffic” or “Unlimited hosting space” really viable offers by hosting providers? Why or why not?

Assessment Refer to the Discussion Checklist in the Course Resources folder for more information on how you will be evaluated.

7.2: Free Hosting and FTP Activity – Using free/low-cost web hosting and free FTP programs
In this activity you will find and register for free or low-cost web hosting. Then, using an FTP program of your choice, upload any web pages you have made in this course. Learning that this process is not as “technical” as you may have feared, you will feel empowered by this important act of publishing. Complete the following activity:


 * Step 1:** Using search terms such as “free web hosting reviews,” find and register with a free or low-cost web hosting service. Look to register with hosts that allow FTP, as well as a service that could meet the needs of the average educator. Reliability and range of services should also be considered.


 * Step 2:** After exploring your new account, choose and install an FTP program to use with this account. Search for the top free FTP clients, such as those found at @http://www.technobuzz.net/top-10-ftp-clients/
 * 1) After installation of the FTP software, find an online written or video tutorial on the respective FTP client and quickly learn how to use it to transfer files to your new free/low-cost web hosting service.
 * 2) Using your chosen FTP software, transfer any web page you have made (prior to this course or during this course) to the web host.
 * 3) To complete this activity, include the following in a summary of one to two pages.
 * A statement of which free/low-cost web hosting service was chosen, including your rationale for why you chose that host
 * A brief description of which FTP program was selected, including your rationale for why you chose that FTP client
 * A hyperlink to the uploaded material at your website
 * A reflection or personal growth statement regarding new concepts and skills acquired from this activity


 * Step 3:** Post your summary and hyperlink to the table below.
 * ====**Student**==== || ====**Hyperlink**==== || ====**Summary**==== ||
 * Curt ||  ||   ||
 * Faye || [|Faye html] || This was a very difficult assignment for me. I now understand how to create an html from skratch and how to get it onto a free web host. Although a simple prosess, you must know all the steps involved and how to get around. With all the web makers and hosts this is almost an unneccessary process, but a very good learning experience. The free hosts do put a lot of pop up adds on your site, but how else to pay for it. ||
 * Joe || [] ||  ||
 * Marcia || FTP and web hosting || I chose ZeroCatch because it was a free web host and not currently blocked by the firewall at Dakota Ridge. I chose FileZilla as an FTP program because it was free and suggested by the book chapter in our readings (SEO Bible). New skills: using FTP client, not hard. Concept of assignment: that you can move html created on the computer to a free home on the web, if it is only one page then not too complicated or time consuming. Downside of ZeroCatch: Ads!!! They blink and otherwise distract. This is why you may want to pay for a service. Using FTP gives you insight into directories and how the computer/server searches for things, connects and moves information. ||
 * Michelle || [] || Easy, lots of downloads; a history; background transfers; proxy support; a passive transfer mode; and the ability to perform recursive downloads, uploads, and deletes. IT's free and Betty, Mike, Joe, and Curt were and Joe showed me how. I transferred my html and using the keyword index was essential for us to know prior to doing it. I actually watched a tutorial on the smartftp and saw the index word but did not get further with that site and decided to switch to bravehost. ||
 * Mike || [] || I chose Bravehost.com because I was able to get a lesson on it from people in the class. It is also a free site and it has both the hosting and the FTP in the same exact place. It is hard to argue with a free site as long as the site is able to do what you need it too. It was also pretty easy to understand how to use it. Did have a little bit of a problem getting it to transfer over on the jeffco web browser. ||
 * Betty || [] || I chose Bravehost.com because it incorporated both a host and the ftp system all in one site. I thought this would be less confusing than trying to maneuver between two different sites. Once we were able to figure out the index.html file name, it was easy to do. ||

===7.3: Discussion – Search Engine Optimization === Understanding how to create a website is important, as is learning how to post/upload it to the Internet. But web content must also be “searchable,” so that our target audience can easily and quickly access our information. Understanding how search engines work allows designers to create websites that capitalize on searchability.


 * Step 1:** After completing the assigned readings related to search engine optimization (SEO), discuss the following:
 * What is the most simplistic way of describing search engine optimization to a person who has never heard of it before?
 * Would the SEO goals and techniques of a small business website owner be different or similar to an educator with a website or a student-generated website?
 * At what point in the web design is it best to learn about SEO? Why?
 * What are the best SEO techniques? What are the worst or most unethical methods (black hat) sometimes used to achieve search engine optimization? Are there consequences for trying to “trick the system”?

Refer to the Discussion Checklist in the Course Resources folder for more information on how you will be evaluated.
 * Assessment**

7.4: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques
In this activity you will work to make your web content more “searchable” by web crawlers and indexing spiders by applying a series of self-chosen SEO techniques. Referring to the second website (Final Project – Classroom Website) you created in this course, perform three to five search engine optimization techniques to make your site more searchable. Free online SEO tools may be used to help analyze or perform each technique. See SEO Tools at @http://www.seocompany.ca/tool/seo-tools.html
 * Application of SEO Techniques**


 * Step 1:** Take a “before” screenshot of your web page or site (print screen key) before using the first technique.


 * Step 2:** After the first technique is implemented, take an “after” screenshot showing SEO improvements made.


 * Step 3:** Add a brief statement of what was done and why or how this will affect SEO rankings.


 * Step 4:** Repeat Steps 1-3 for the remaining SEO techniques chosen.


 * Step 5:** Post your SEO techniques to your table below.


 * ====**Faye**==== ||
 * ====**SEO technique**==== || =====**Before Screen Shot**===== || ====**After Screen Shot**==== || =====**Statement of What, Why and How**===== ||
 * Directory Search tool || [[file:SEO snapshot.tiff]] ||  ||   ||
 * 1. I have Ski instructor in my title and in my http address. ||  ||   || To make search engins find my site easier. ||
 * 2. I have added "ski instructor", "ski lessons", "ski" as many time as it made sence. ||  ||   || This is to help my site be found easier. ||
 * 3. I also renamed my images using the key words. ||  ||   || Again to get the key words in as many times as possible. ||
 * For Accessability I named all my pictures and used the mouse over with descriptions. I also followed the basic rule for having my menu at the top of my page so a voice reader can read it better. ||  ||   || These two items are to help in accessablility, readers have an easier time reading my site and even if the photo does not come up people can read what the picture is of. ||


 * ====**Joe**==== ||
 * ====**SEO technique**==== || =====**Before Screen Shot**===== || ====**After Screen Shot**==== || =====**Statement of What, Why and How**===== ||
 * Used the site [] an html validator. It gave me a read out of errors || [[file:SEO.docx]] ||  || I used the validator but I was unable to find where the errors occurred to correct them. ||
 * Key Word Search || Use the term science || Intentionally used the words Middle School Life Science and Body Systems || When creating the site, I intentionally used the words to focus the search engine to concentration on middle school science. Age appropriate searches and lessons. ||
 * Mobile device operation || 3 column themes page with navigation on top and on left side of screen || 2 column theme page with navigation on top and on right side. || This allows users who come to my site on a mobile device to easily navigate web site ||
 * Titles for images || No titles to images || Use titles with all images so that a text to speech reader would be able to read the title of image and links. || I never thought of using titles or tags until I took this course. Now I intentionally add titles and descriptions to all images. ||


 * ====**Marcia**==== ||
 * ====**SEO technique**==== || =====**Before Screen Shot**===== || ====**After Screen Shot**==== || =====**Statement of What, Why and How**===== ||
 * text keywords || [[image:Before.jpg width="141" height="277"]] || [[image:Home_(Englewood_Schools_Assistive_Technology).jpg width="134" height="283"]] || When building the site, I used the words "Assistive Technology" over and over in the main page text which is my "landing page". After reading about the importance of this page, I went back through and removed the acronym AT where it made sense and replaced it with more Assistive Technology. ||
 * meta name description ||  ||  || I went into the general settings of my webpage and added keywords into the description of the website which were placed into the metatag coding of the landing page in addition to the meta keyword tags. Search engines will index these and they show up high in the source code . ||
 * title || Couldn't show a before, since it was there from the get-go. || [[image:Englewood_Schools_Assistive_Technology-2.jpg width="281" height="79"]] || When building the site, I used the title, Englewood Schools Assistive Technology, which effectively has all of the keywords in it. It did not need to be changed for further SEO. When page crawlers look at the site the first place they index is the title. So I was lucky with my title and URL. ||
 * alt names for images || couldn't show a "before", because it is a behind the scenes thing in Google sites. The "after" screen shot shows the site activity to see how the names were changed. || [[image:Recent_Site_Activity_-_Englewood_Schools_Assistive_Technology.jpg width="277" height="129"]] || I named all of the images with meaningful tags that refer to AT. Crawlers “see” the alternative text for an image and index it. The crawler will otherwise skip the image. ||
 * Use Google || I did find SEO tools for google sites in the general settings for the website you need to use Google Webmaster Tools Verification and then submit a sitemap for crawlers to see. There is also a google site analyzer to look at stats. || I'm not sure I want to be found outside of the district....but I went ahead and did it: had to set up a Google Webmaster Tools account and a Google Analytics Account. || I tried some of the SEO analyzers, but most do not recognize my site since it is https:// (I get an error code) I did run some analyzers on the www.SWAAAC.com website to see how they work.

I think the Google SEO tools are going to work, but it will take some time to find out. ||


 * ====**Michelle**==== ||
 * ====**SEO technique**==== || =====**Before Screen Shot**===== || ====**After Screen Shot**==== || =====**Statement of What, Why and How**===== ||
 * || [[image:screenshot.png width="395" height="229"]] ||  ||   ||

Mr Lundy's Website Integrated Math || Mr Lundy Chatfield Integrated Math || I felt that the more specific I got with my title the better chance it had to be seen. Also I included Chatfield instead or website. ||
 * ====**Mike**==== ||
 * ====**SEO technique**==== || =====**Before Screen Shot**===== || ====**After Screen Shot**==== || =====**Statement of What, Why and How**===== ||
 * Titled my header different || Changed my header:


 * ====**Betty**==== ||
 * ====**SEO technique**==== || =====**Before Screen Shot**===== || ====**After Screen Shot**==== || =====**Statement of What, Why and How**===== ||
 * Used the site @http://validator.w3.org/ an html validator. It gave me a read out of errors || [[file:Markup Validation Service.doc]] ||  || I could see how and where the changes needed made in HTML, but since I am not a programmer, I was unable to make any changes. ||


 * ====**Curt**==== ||
 * ====**SEO technique**==== || =====**Before Screen Shot**===== || ====**After Screen Shot**==== || =====**Statement of What, Why and How**===== ||
 * [[file:Accessibility features and SEO techniques.doc]] ||  ||   ||   ||