Create a Yahoo! account for your branch. Go to My Yahoo! and at the top left corner is a link Sign Up. Fill in the required fields, and then you are ready to log in to Yahoo! with your Monarchist League branch account.
The next step is to log into www.geocities.com. Select the free version of the web page, and select a basic layout. It's not that hard to do this yourself. (The free layout forces you to accept the advertised links on the right-hand side of the screen, but you get what you pay for, and given all the great features available, this should not be that much of a concern.)
First, you will probably want to upload some pictures. From this page, you can right-click on the two images above and save them to your desk-top. Then, use the Easy Upload link on the right of the screen to load those images to your online account. Upload any other images you want to display, as well.
Next, to create the web page. I recommend that you use the Yahoo! PageBuilder. This is an easy-to-use Java application which allows you to create a web page with a very user-friendly graphical user interface. Click on Yahoo! PageBuilder, which will bring you to a new page. You should see a link Launch PageBuilder. If you do not, you must either install Java, or turn it on. Instructions for either of these are right on the page.
Note: Save often. This tool, while very powerful, does not have an Undo feature. If you do something wrong, you must go back to the previously saved version.
This launches a new page which allows you to place text and images on the page. The most relevant tools are:
1. Text (button on toolbar). This allows you to create a box (which you can resize) to create some text.
2. Pictures (button on toolbar). This allows you to insert an image. To use an image which you uploaded, you must select the directory User Files.
3. Link (button on toolbar). This allows you to create a link. Either highlight text or click on an image, and then select Link. There is a drop-down box of which you will want to use Web URL if you want to link to an external web site or My Files if you want to link to another page on your geocities account. You can then brouse to find the file you wish to link to.
4. Insert -> Basics -> Counter (menu item). Add a counter to your page (see below).
5. Bold (button B on toolbar). Highlight text and click to make the text bold.
6. Italics (button I on toolbar). Highlight text and click to make the text italicized.
7. Select two or more objects and select Arrange->Align (menu item). Allows you to align objects (usually, Column Left or Column Centered).
8. Format -> Page Properties (menu item). Allows you to add a title to your page, add keywords (useful for search engines), and an author. Also click Center Page, as this centres your page on the web browser, as opposed to left justifying. (Personally, I think it looks better centred). Also, you can change the size of your page. I would recommend that you only change the height, as appropriate.
9. Text colour (T with painter's palette on toolbar). Hightlight text and select this to change the colour.
The New, Open, Save, and Preview buttons on the tool bar should be self explanitory.
Notes:
1. You can double-click on an image to bring up more information about it. One of these is Screen Tip. Fill this in for each image, as this is what a blind user will hear when his or her reader processes the page. If you do not fill this in, the reader will simply read the name of the file.
2. Try to keep most of your home page to a height of less than 1000. Most people will not scroll down, so have all your most important information at the top!
3. Save often.
4. There is no spell checker. Get your branch members to proof read what you have done. :-)
5. Do not underline, as most people will interpret this as a link and become annoyed when it doesn't link anywhere.
6. Forgive the use of American English. I only use American English when I am explicitly referring to text which explicitly appears on the screen.
7. Don't change the colour of the links. This tends to annoy users.
8. Try to keep the look-and-feel of all your pages the same. It distracts users if the layout and design of web pages changes from page to page. Also, a change in the look-and-feel indicates to the user when he or she is following an external link.
9. You can cut-and-paste between web pages. If you have some images and text you wish to copy from one page, click on those items (holding down the Shift key) and use Ctrl-c. Then, open your new page (either by using New or Open) and in that page, paste using Ctrl-v.
These are most of the links which I have used to create these pages. If you need help, don't hesitate to email me at dwharder at alumni uwaterloo ca. I will update these pages as more comments are received.
1. branch name,
2. physical region (regions, counties, etc.),
3. contact information (probably the branch chair),
4. any preliminary information you would like included,
5. any other pages you might want.
Please send this information to the webmaster at dwharder @ alumni.uwaterloo.ca. If you have any additional requests, for example, a default background colour, the request can be made, but such requests should be reasonable in length.
