In this issue...
MCLI Web
Our address is the same but now our web server has moved onto a bigger and
faster host. MCLI has been on the web since December 1993, first chugging
along on a Macintosh SE/30 through November 1994. During that time, our server
logged its first 100,000 hits, nothing by today's standards. We then moved up to
an Intel 486 running BSD Unix. And thanks to the still increasing amount of traffic
we attract, our new home is a DEC Alpha that is also host to the Maricopa
Community Colleges central server.
We track our
daily counts,
for what the numbers are worth, and we are now tracking over 10,000 hits per day. But
the most valuable measure is the increasing volume of e-mail we recieve generated
by what people see on our site.
But we will not be caught resting on any laurels.
Special thanks to Eric Johnson, of our District Information Technologies Services,
for helping set up and maintain the servers. Also, thanks go to programmer
Kurt Leinbach who is adding the interactivity to our web services.
Measuring the Web
How big is the web?
"I dunno"
It's huge, sprawling, growing at rates of 100%.
They estimate that at the current rate the entire world will be on the web by
2004.
Growth of the World Wide Web
by Matthew Gray
explains methodology and results for measuring the size and growth of the web
which can be see as listed in the
comprehensive list of WWW sites.
Network Wizards
Internet Domain Survey publish growth stats and estimate it by the numbers of Internet
of addresses (domains).
The last WWW User Survey from Georgia Tech
Graphics and Visualization Center was the largest self survey of wen users. Even if
the results are questioned because they measure those that already are enamored by
the web, the numbers indicate many interesting demographic trends
And finally,
Win Tresse's
Internet Index
publishes some less mundane statistics.
HTML Corner: Auto Jumpin' Web Pages
Okay, you NetScape fans, here is another HTML "trick" for your arsneal...
Let's say you create a web page that will display for 2 seconds and then automatically
jump to another web page? Or even jump through several web pages like a slide show?
This is part of NetScape's ability to execute "client pull" meaning, you, the NetScape
user (client) "pulling" data from a web server.
So how do you do it? Re-call that the basic HTML document contains two parts a
head and a body:
<head>
:
:
</head>
<body>
:
:
</body>
where the BODY contains all the HTML that is displayed on a web page and the HEAD
contains extra information about the document. The most common element of the HEAD
is the <title>...</title> tag which contains the string of text that
identifies the web page (and is displayed in the title bar of a web browser.
The HTML we add to the HEAD is the META tag:
<head>
<title>My Jumpin' Web Page</title>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="2; URL=http://www.abc.com/">
</head>
The http-equiv="refresh" tells the NetScape browser that the
web page is to be "refreshed" or reloaded at a regular time interval. This
interval, in seconds is the first parameter of content="...". NetScape
will wait in this case two seconds and then connect to the URL listed.
We've prepared a little example that is a 3 page slide show of the Sonoran desert.
Note that the "pull" will stop if you click the stop button or any of the arrow buttons.
Otherwise, you will see 3 screens that will load into your copy of NetScape and then
"jump" back to this page. Try it now! If you
are suitable impressed, you can see how this was done by looking at the
HTML source for the three pages.
Some sites have used this technique as a countdown (a screen full of "10"'s then
"9"'s then "8"'s...
Another use is for developing multimedia applications that will launch NetScape.
Ley's say you are producing an animated overview of a project and you want to
give the user an option to connect to your home page. With many multimedia authoring
languages you can program a button to launch an external application. But this would just
bring up a web browser that jumps to whatever home page they have set as a default.
Using the <META ...> tag you could create a little HTML file that
would have an "auto-jump" to your web page.
For example, in Macromedia
Director you can create
a script for a button that looks like:
on mouseUp
open "myhome.html" with "NetScape"
end
where "myhome.html" is an HTML file that jumps to a web site.
Top o' the Web
Every issue we will highlight
a great web site, a completely un-empirical
personal judgement on our part...
This issue, at the Top of the Web is
Click
the Interactive Magazine
from Australia. Click takes advantage of NetScape tags but does so in a lean, clean,
elegant (no <blink> tags here!) manner. But more importantly, the content
is compelling, well constructed with excellent layout. The first issue features
"Writing for New Media".
And as a tie, just because of its immense value is:
Yale C/AIM WWW Style Manual
because it does much, much more than give you the nuts and bolts of
HTML tags. Within the C/AIM guide are excellent, well-founded
suggestions for the design of infomrative and attractive pages.
And watch out for those "clown pants" pages!
Sites of Intrigue
-
- ArtsEdNet
- is an online service developed by the Getty Center for Education in the Arts to support the needs of
the K-12 arts education community.
Biology
- CELLS alive!
- unique images of microbial
pathogens and leukocytes interacting with microbes
- The Visible Human Project
- from the National Library of Medicine is creating a complete,
anatomically detailed, three-dimensional representations of the
male and female human body.
Computers
- CafeMac
- the culture, politics, science, and art of Macintosh.
(found this one on Microsoft network!)
- Macintosh SuperStore
- Buy Macs on line
- UI World
- lists useful resources for interaction designers involved in the design of
GUIs, kiosks, CD-ROMs, CD-Is, ITV, consumer electronic products and games.
- What is Object-Oriented Software?
- by Terry Montlick of Software Design Consultants
- Bare Bones Software, Inc.
- "state of the Art Software that Doesn't Suck" are
makers of the greatest and most under-rated HTML tool for the Macintosh,
BBEdit
-
The Coming Software Shift
- by George Gilder was first published in
Forbes ASAP, August 28, 1995.
- Aladdin Systems
- Makers of Stuffit software, especially worthy is the free StuffIt
Expander for Macintosh and Windows
- Software Publishers Association
- is the principal trade association of the PC software
industry. Its 1,150 members represent the leading publishers in the business, consumer, and
education markets.
Earth Science
- ERC Earth Observation Images Database
- includes Space Shuttle images
- Grand Canyon Tour
- These Grand Canyon junkies
show you around the finest backpacking place on the planet.
Education
- TI Calculator Home Page
- from
Texas Instruments includes information on the
education uses of grpahing calculators as well as resources for their program in
Calculator-Based Laboratory (CBL)
- Educational Software Institute Online!
- hosts the world's largest and finest collection of K-12 educational software
(more than 7,000 titles) from over 300 publishers.
- Latitude28 Schoolhouse
- is designed to make educational
materials accessible to students of all ages.
Government
- US Tax Code On-Line
- allows you to access the complete text of the United States Internal Revenue Code,
Title 26 of the U.S. Code (26 USC)
History
- Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP) Web
- is a collection of resources for scholars and students of the
history of print culture in any place, language, or period.
Internet
- Usenet Info Center Launch Pad
- your source for information on Usenet and newsgroups.
- DejaNews Research Service
- is the largest collection of indexed archived Usenet news anywhere.
- Webmasters Reference Library
- a comprehensive reference for webmasters and HTML authors. A definite bookmark.
- HTML 3.0 and Netscape 1.1
- shows how to use NHTML to comply with the HTML 3.0 draft
- What Makes a Great Web Site?
- contains design tips for any web weaver:
"What are the essential traits of great web sites? After you visit
a site and find yourself staying awhile, what makes you stay? A
sense of humor helps. Flashy graphics are nice. But the
fundamental traits that make a site work are more elusive. This
article will break down the essential characteristics of great
web sites into some easily followed rules of thumb."
- UCS Knowledge Base
is a searchable database of some 12,850 listserv, majordomo and listproc mailing lists
at 298 sites
- The PostMaster!
- From NetCreations, with this new service, you fill out one form,
click on one button and -- presto! -- your announcement is automatically posted to over 100
of the most popular Web sites and publications on the Internet.
- Magical Mystery Trip
- got to a random URL
- Atlas to the World Wide Web
- reviews several hundred different Web sites plus provides information about the
history of and access to the web.
- Build A Web Site, The Programmer's Guide to Creating, Building and Maintaining a
Web Presence
- by net.genesis and Devra Hall, explains HTTP basics very clearly and simply. It
includes a thorough index of HTML 2 and 3 commands and sample CGI scripts. The scripts from
the book are available.
- Introduction to HTML
- a tutorial from Case Western Reserver University
- McKinley Internet Directory
- is an on-line directory of described,
rated and reviewed Internet resources.
Law
-
Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure
- explains how intellectual property law
applies to Cyberspace and makes legislative recommendations to Congress
to fine tune the law for the digital age.
- Electronic Public Information Center (EPIC)
- is a public interest research center that focuses public attention on
emerging civil liberties issues relating to the National
Information Infrastructure, such as the Clipper Chip, the
Digital Telephony proposal, national ID cards, medical record
privacy, credit records, and the sale of consumer data.
Library
- Internet Public Library
- seeks to challenge and redefine the roles and significance
of libraries in an increasingly distributed and digital world
Literature
- Abbey's Web
- dedicated to the life and works of author Edward Abbey.
- The River That Flows Uphill:
A Journey from the Big Bang to the Big Brain
- the book by William H. Calvin that chronicles the human journey with that of a river
raft trip through the Grand Canyon.
- The Tech Classics Archive
- offers works by 30 classical authors, in English translation. This
searchable collection is a non-commercial, student-created
Web site.
Mathematics
- Calculus and Mathematica
- from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and The Ohio State University,
is an innovative calculus course which uses the full
symbolic, numeric, graphic, and text capabilities of
Mathematica
Significantly, there is no textbook for this course-only a sequence of
electronic notebooks.
Medical
- MedSearch America
- is the first and only employment service on
the Internet dedicated solely to the Healthcare industry.
Multimedia
- QuickCam page
- an un-official but informative guide to the powerful tiny digital camera
- Multimedia World Online
- the multimedia magazine
- AGORA Digirati
- is a new on-line community center designed to
foster collaboration among new media and creative professionals. It is
a digital interpretation of the ancient agora, the
first market square in Athens, Greece.
- multimedia.edu
- is "the world's first dedicated multimedia production school"
and is associated with the Vancouver Film School.
- CD-ROM On-line
- the electronic guide to CD-ROMs
- RAD Technologies
- introduces PowerMedia, multimedia authoring for the
World-Wide Web. A complete authoring and delivery solution for
the next generation of interactive advertising, marketing and
sales presentations, product and company kiosks, and the coolest
training and distance learning ever.
- NewMedia HyperStand
- is the new online home of NewMedia magazine. Don't trip over
those "construction" signs!
- Cross Platform Page
- lists resources for using various file formats on multiple platforms, including
descriptions of the formats and links to various applications. Very comprehensive.
Music
- Blues Access
- the distinctive blues magazine
Poetry
- madness
- is a poetry site and has SAZ and Revolt (another
group) on it's main page.
Reference
- Websters Dictionary
- provides a point-and-click client interface (for non-linemode browsers) for
accessing the various Webster's dictionary services on the Internet.
- Strunk's Elements of Style
- Write it right!
- MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources
- by Janice R. Walker, Department of English, University of South Florida
- Free Internet Encyclopedia
- is an encyclopedia composed of information available on
Internet. There are two main divisions. The MacroReference
contains references to large areas of knowledge, FAQs where
available, and pointers to relevant areas of the MicroReference.
The MicroReference contains short bits of information and
references to specific subjects, sometimes with instructions on
finding the specific subject inside a general reference. Each
specific subject will reference its general subject in the
MacroReference if one is present.
Religious Studies
- Bible Gateway
- search the bible in seven languages
- TorahFax in Cyberspace
- daily information from Rabbi Zalmen Marozov
Teaching and Learning
- Center for Advanced Instructional Media (C/AIM)
- at Yale, was founded in 1987 to explore the educational
potential of new interactive multimedia computing technology.
- Institute for Academic Technology (IAT)
- With support from IBM, the IAT
facilitates the widespread use of effective and affordable
technologies in higher education.
- Using Computer Conferencing to Enhance Classroom Instruction
- by Karen Schwalm, developed out of many workshops, orientations, and informal
conversations with faculty members at the Maricopa Community
Colleges and elsewhere, all of whom were using (or planing to
use) computer conferencing in their courses.
- Assessment & Evaluation on the Internet
- identifies resources of particular interest to the assessment community.
- NovaNET
- is an on-line Integrated Learning System with instructional
material in more than 150 subject areas.
-
Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE)
- is a
regional agency established in 1953 by an interstate compact among 15
western states.
WWW News : 10-04-95
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI)
Maricopa County Community College District
The Internet Connection at MCLI is
Alan Levine --}
Comments to levine@maricopa.edu
URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/webnews/951004.html
