Let’s Make a Web Page - Review

When it comes to computer skills in our home, they are limited to making documents and surfing the web.  I have become much more tech savvy over the past few years; but, I am no where close to being as tech savvy as teenagers are.  That being said, even though my teens seem to be quite adept at technology, before we encountered “Let’s Make a Web Page” by Phyllis Wheeler, none of them knew how to actually code a web page.  Phyllis Wheeler is “The Computer Lady” from MotherboardBooks.com.  She has put this e-book together to introduce children, age 8 and older, to the basics of making web pages. 

     The Basics:  This 60 page e-book contains an introduction for parents, 9 lessons of varying lengths that children around ages 10-12 can complete with little to no parental assistance (under age 10 would require more parental assistance), an appendix covering how to upload the created page to the internet, and an appendix with troubleshooting helps.  Kids are guided, in a conversational style that is very easy to understand, through setting up a web page featuring an interview.  You will need to download a web page editor if you don’t already have one on your computer.  The instructions correlate with CoffeeCup Visual Site Designer, which offers a 30-day free trial installation.

     What We Did:  Once I downloaded the e-book onto my computer and my IPad, I wanted to spend some time reading through it myself (so I could not sound quite so stupid to my son if he had a question, ha ha!).  For an adult, it is an easy read, although, for me to actually go through and create a web page it would have taken me some time.  I loved having the e-book on my IPad.  By doing this, I was able to save paper and let my son use the book on the IPad while he was creating on the computer.  He is fifteen (for a few more days), so there were parts of the e-book that were a little young for him, but, he wanted to create a web page so badly that he could overlook that.  It took him roughly 45 minutes to complete each lesson.  He and a friend have a social networking page and a blog together and they do a lot of polls and interview type things, so he had plenty of information to draw from for his work. We already had CoffeeCup installed on my computer, so all he had to do with it was update the software and it was ready to use.  He is saving money to purchase his own domain name so that his web page can really be his own publication.  (Part of his web page design involves using some licensed images, so he can’t put it up officially until he has the permission for those images.)

     What He Learned:  In Chapter 1, he basically compiled the information that he wanted to include on his page, including pictures.  He typed this information into the Notepad on the computer and saved his pictures on the computer.  In Chapter 2, he learned how to set up and begin using CoffeeCup.  This involved getting a new page started, learning a few code basics (like beginning and ending symbols), setting up a page background (complete with different effects or a photograph), and adjusting other properties of the web page.  In Chapter 3, he learned how to import his text from the notepad into CoffeeCup and adjust the properties of his text by changing sizes, colors, etc… Lesson 4 covered adding photos and adjusting those in placement , size, and orientation.  Lesson 6 was one of his favorites! It covers surfing the internet for animations.  Phyllis gave some suggestions of websites to look at and actually shows how to use one of the sites to add animations to the web page.  Chapter 7 gave him opportunity to preview his work in a real browser so he could see if it was looking like he wanted it to look.  Phyllis gives several suggestions for places to look on the internet for images to use for backgrounds and how to use those.  (I am so thankful that she does this because the amount of information that comes up when you just try to search is overwhelming.) She also gives some hints about page layout and how to adjust things.  In lesson 8, he got to experiment around with adding sounds to the web page.  In Chapter 9, Phyllis shows how to add links to other websites to the web page.  James got to learn how to make text actually have a link attached to it so that when someone clicks on the text, they will be taken to the linked website.  The final chapter involves setting up the computer so that his web page is the start page on my web browser.  I have IE, Chrome, and Firefox on my computer.  The instructions go through using Firefox, so that is what he used.  He is now working with his friend to edit and add more features to make their page look ‘cool.’

What We Thought:  This was a great introduction to web page design.  It really piqued his interest and made him want to do more.  I can really see kids who are in 6th – 8th grades enjoying this immensely!  We have had fun with it and learned a lot.

Let’s Make a Webpage is available from MotherBoard Books for $19.95.  Phyllis has several other e-books also.  Many of my friends on the Schoolhouse Review Crew have reviewed this book as well as Logo Adventures from MotherBoard Books.  To read their reviews, click on the banner below.