HTML Writers Guild Newsletter
Volume 6, Number 2, 24 January 2000
http://www.hwg.org/
mailto:editor@hwg.org
Table of Contents
1. Featured HWG News Tip: Search Engine Placement
Next Issue's Tip Topic: The Worst Web Design Mistakes
2. January Town Hall Meeting is This Thursday, 6:30 p.m. PST
3. Enroll in a HWG Online Course Today!
4. Upcoming HWG Conferences and Meetings
5. The HWG Newsletter FAQ Newsletter
This issue of HWG-News is sponsored by:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Searchbutton.com
http://www.searchbutton.com/hwg
Get FREE Web site search and reporting today! Improve your sites'
navigability and usability with site search and reporting solutions
from Searchbutton.com.
There's no hardware, software, or implementation downtime. Your site
visitors will gain instant access to the information they want and you
find out a lot about your visitors. Premium service options available.
Sign-up is quick and easy; plus a special offer for HWG members!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Featured HWG News Tip: Search Engine Placement
(Kynn Bartlett, HWG-News Editor, hwg-news-tips@hwg.org)
The Guild's foundation is members helping members, sharing our expertise
and knowledge to improve our skills in the craft of web design. Everyone
has something to teach, and something to learn! In keeping with that
spirit, the HWG-News Newsletter HWG-News features member-submitted
"tips" in each issue, in the space between articles and announcements.
Anne McKay won a great HWG T-shirt for her tip below, on the topic
Search Engine Placement for web sites. Your tip could win next! For a
complete listing of tips submitted for this issue, please see:
http://www.hwg.org/opcenter/newsletter/tips/
This issue's winner:
[HWG-News Tip: Search Engine Placement-------------------------------]
"The best way to get high rankings in Search Engines (SE's) is to
coordinate your META tags with your TITLE tag and the first 200
words of *visible* text on the page. After making your list of
keywords, arrange them from most important to least important for
insertion into your META keywords tag. Then heavily pepper your
META description tag, TITLE tag, and your visible text with them.
Most SEs use an algorithm that compares these 4 elements for
relevancy."
[-------------------Submitted by Anne McKay ]
Submitted tips MUST meet the following criteria:
1. They should be no more than 8 lines (500 characters, about 80
words) in length.
2. Tips must be quick, direct, and to-the-point. They should be
able to stand alone without further explanation. (URLs to more
information are acceptable.)
3. They must address the broad topic announced in the previous
newsletter.
4. Commercial advertisements or endorsements ("Use product ABC!
It's the best!") will most likely be rejected. In general,
tips should follow standard W3C specifications on HTML, CSS,
and accessibility whenever appropriate.
5. Tips must be received by the posted deadline, a week from
the release of this newsletter. Tips should be emailed to:
mailto:hwg-news-tips@hwg.org
6. The HWG-News editorial staff are the final judges of which
tips are selected for publication.
What happens if your tip is selected? Each issue, the first-place
winner will receive a free HWG t-shirt. Runner-up tips will be also
listed in the HWG-News newsletter as space permits, and submissions
will be posted on the HWG web site.
If you have suggestions for upcoming HWG News Tip topics, you can
send those to hwg-news-tips@hwg.org as well. The category for
the next newsletter is:
The Worst Web Design Mistakes
Ever seen a page that's just really, really bad? Or made
one yourself, looked at it, and wondered "what was I thinking?!"
Tell us what you think the most common mistakes are -- and how
to avoid them! -- in 80 words or less! Please don't mention
specific sites or URLs, as we can't run those!
Get your tips in by January 29! Email them to hwg-news-tips@hwg.org.
2. January Town Hall Meeting is This Thursday, 6:30 p.m. PST
(Fred Barnett, HWG Assistant Secretary, fred@hwg.org)
Each month, the Guild provides an opportunity for real-time discussion
and chatting via HWG Interactive. These monthly meetings are hosted by
members of the Governing Board (with most of them in attendance),
and give our members the chance to voice your views about the HWG.
The details on January's town hall meeting are:
27 January Town Hall Meeting
Date: Thursday, 27 January 2000
Time: 6:30 p.m. PST, 9:30 p.m. EST
Server: HWG Interactive, http://interact.hwg.org/
IRC: irc.hwg.org, port 6667
Channel: #townhall
To connect, either go to the URL above and use the Java-based client
available via the web, or use your favorite IRC client and join channel
#townhall.
In February, we will not have a town hall meeting but instead will
have our annual online membership meeting, open to all members and
featuring reports on the state of the Guild. More details will be
announced in later newsletters, but you can mark down the date of
Thursday, February 24 on your calendar!
[HWG-News Tip: Search Engine Placement-------------------------------]
"Make sure each of your pages has a tag that provides a
concise, helpful description of the page's contents. Most search
engines display the text of your <title> tag as the "headline" for
your entry in the search results list. Most spiders also extract
search keywords from your <title> tag, so your page will be more
likely to reach its intended audience if it contains words that
your audience is likely to use when searching for the information
on your page."
[--------------------------Submitted by Tom Maki <tmaki@fredcomm.com>]
<!-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -->
3. Enroll in a HWG Online Course Today!
(Ann Navarro, Online Education Director, classes@hwg.org)
We invite you to find out what thousands of your fellow web designers
have already learned -- HWG online classes are a great way to pick
up new skills for a new millennium!
Through a web-based interface, we offer a broad series of online
classes designed to teach you the skills you need, in a way that fits
your busy schedule. Our instructors are your fellow Guild members,
chosen for their expertise in their field and their willingness to
pass along their experience to you.
Upcoming courses you can take include:
Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets
Dates: February 7, 2000 - March 17, 2000 (6 weeks)
Tuition: $40 Full members, $70 Trial members
Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/h151.8.html
Add a little style to your web design! This popular course covers
CSS 1 and 2, which can enhance the appearance of any web page!
You'll learn which CSS rules are -- and are not -- supported by the
major browsers, and more!
Introduction to HTML 4.0
Dates: February 7, 2000 - March 17, 2000 (6 weeks)
Tuition: $40 Full members, $70 Trial members
Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/h101.11.html
Leave your WYSIWYG editor behind and explore the nuts and bolts that
make web pages function!
Designing for Universal Accessibility with HTML 4.0
Dates: February 14, 2000 - March 26, 2000 (6 weeks)
Tuition: $40 Full members, $70 Trial members
Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/d201.8.html
Can your web site be used by everyone, including people with
disabilities, older browsers, and hand-held computers? If you're
not sure, take this course; it could change the way you view the
web!
Sites that Sizzle: Web Animation with Macromedia Flash 4
Dates: February 14, 2000 - March 26, 2000 (6 weeks)
Tuition: $60 Full members, $90 Trial members
Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/a221.2.html
This course covers the exciting world of Flash 4. You will learn
to draw, create, import and manipulate vector objects, making them
come to life in frame-by-frame animations and on multiple layers.
Programming with Active Server Pages
** NEW COURSE **
Dates: March 6, 2000 - April 16, 2000 (6 weeks)
Tuition: $40 Full members, $70 Trial members
Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/ms102.1.html
Part 2 of our exciting series on ASP programming! A continuation of
Active Server Pages for Non-programmers (HWG online course MS101),
students will take their existing scripting and ASP skills and begin
to build more complex applications.
Business Writing Basics
Dates: March 6, 2000 - April 30, 2000 (8 weeks)
Tuition: $25 Full members, $50 Trial members
Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/b101.6.html
You may be good at HTML tags, but that's just half the equation!
Learn how to make your content sizzle in our writing course!
COURSE FEES
Course fees are based on membership level; Full members receive a
discounted tuition price, while Trial members pay the standard price.
Full membership is only $40 per year, so upgrade your membership
before registering, and save money! Payments may be made online via
secure transaction; all figures are in U.S. funds.
A certificate of completion is available for an additional $5;
the request needs to be made at the time of registration. Textbooks
(when required) are separate and may be purchased through the Guild's
online bookstore, The Bookmark. Books should be purchased before the
first week of class! In addition, students should have regular access
to the web and the ability to post completed assignments on a
public (non-Intranet) web server.
Sign up today through our online enrollment forms or get more
information at:
http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/
[HWG-News Tip Runner-Up: Search Engine Placement---------------------]
"Practice Link Trading: Link your web site to lots of relevant
sites and ask them to link to yours. When your web site has many
other web sites linking to it, it will gain higher positions in the
search results of several top search engines: AltaVista, Excite,
Google, Infoseek, Inktomi, Northern Light and HotBot."
[----------------------Submitted by Linda Titus <linda@net-sites.net>]
<!-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -->
4. Upcoming HWG Conferences and Meetings
(Frank Boumphrey, VP of Special Events, vp-events@hwg.org)
As part of our ongoing Speakers Bureau program, we are pleased to
present this list of upcoming industry events at which the Guild will
be participating. More information can be found at our events page:
http://www.hwg.org/opcenter/events/
* VBits
San Francisco, CA
February 12 - February 17, 2000
http://www.vbits99.com/
Frank Boumphrey will be speaking on using VB and XML to create web
applications.
* Intranets 2000
San Jose, CA
February 27 - March 1, 2000
http://www.intranets2000.com/
We will be presenting two workshops at this conference, on "Basic
XML" and "Advanced HTML Authoring."
* WinWriters Online Help Conference
San Diego, CA
March 5 - March 9, 2000
http://www.winwriters.com/ohc.htm
We will be having a booth at this conference and we will be presenting
a workshop on "Using XHTML for Universal Display and Accessibility".
* SHARE: Practical Information for IT Professionals
Anaheim, CA
March 5 - March 10, 2000
http://www.share.org/anaheim
HWG President and AWARE Center director Kynn Bartlett will be
presenting "Meeting the Accessibility Challenge: Can Everyone Use
Your Web Site?" on March 6.
* CSUN's International Conference on Technology and People with
Disabilities
Los Angeles, CA
March 20 - March 25, 2000
http://www.csun.edu/cod/
The Guild will be sponsoring a booth at this event, which focuses on
the use of technology to overcome disability barriers! Learn more
about the web as assistive technology at http://aware.hwg.org/
* WWW9 -- The Ninth World Wide Web Conference
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
May 15 - May 19, 2000
http://www.www9.org/
We will be presenting a workshop at this conference entitled "Crafting
and Reforming HTML Pages as XHTML."
If you are attending any of these events, please stop by and introduce
yourself to our HWG representatives, we'd love to meet you!
[HWG-News Tip Runner-Up: Search Engine Placement---------------------]
"Be careful with FRAMES place your Meta Tags with some basic text
inside the <noframes> tag; put Meta Tags on ALL sub-pages mix them
up on each page so they appear different to the engine; in your
META "keywords" use up to 1,000 characters, including spaces and
commas; use your most important keyword, for that specific page,
in the <title> tag on each page; manually submit your URL(s) to
each search engine to verify it was received."
[-------------------Submitted by Glenn Dalgarno <webpaddy@bigwig.net>]
<!-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -->
5. The HWG Newsletter FAQ Newsletter
(HWG-News Newsletter Editor, editor@hwg.org)
This newsletter was edited by Kynn Bartlett <kynn@hwg.org>.
Some questions you may be asking:
Q: Why did I get this mail?
A: You received this newsletter because you are a member of the
HTML Writers Guild. This message came from hwg-news, the Guild's
mandatory mailing list for all members. If you need more information
about hwg-news, please see the List Charter at:
http://www.hwg.org/lists/hwg-news/index.html
Q. Why doesn't this newsletter talk about web design or HTML more?
A. The newsletter is the Guild's administrative bulletin to the
membership; beyond the HWG News Tips, we don't include specific
information on web creation. If you are interested in the topics
of Web design and HTML, then you might want to subscribe to
some of our discussion lists devoted to those topics. More
information on the Guild's offering of discussion lists can be
found at:
http://www.hwg.org/lists/mailinglists.html
Q. How can I find out more about Guild activities?
A. The Guild has set up a one-way announcement list, HWG-Announce,
that carries bulletins of day-to-day Guild business. For details
on how to subscribe, please see:
http://www.hwg.org/lists/hwg-announce/
Q: How do I unsubscribe from hwg-news?
A: Since this is a required list in order to maintain your
Guild membership, unsubscribing is the same as resigning from
the HTML Writers Guild.
If you have your Member ID and password, to resign your membership
in the Guild and to unsubscribe to hwg-news, visit:
http://www.hwg.org/member/resign.html
Fill in the pertinent information, and submit it.
If you don't have a Member ID, or have forgotten your password, send
mail to:
mailto:lost-password@hwg.org
with a Subject of: Resign membership
In the body of the message, provide the following information:
* Your email address(es)
* Your member ID if you have one.
* The list of discussion lists you are on.
Please remember that unsubscribing to hwg-news automatically
resigns you from the Guild. If you have problems with unsubscribing,
please contact the password support team <lost-password@hwg.org>
for help.
Q: Can my company advertise in the Guild's newsletter?
A: Yes; the Guild is offering sponsorship opportunities in HWG-News
on a limited basis. If you are interested in advertising your
web related product or service here, please send email to
advertising@hwg.org or call (714) 526-4963. Discounts are available
to Guild Business and Corporate members, as well as for multiple
placements. The Guild's newsletter reaches over 107,000 web authors
worldwide each month.
(Note: The Guild does not make our member database available for
third party use. We have a strong privacy policy and will not
release our members' personal information; our mailing list is
not for sale. Any questions regarding the Guild's advertising or
privacy policies can be directed to advertising@hwg.org.)
Q: What if I want to comment on this newsletter?
A: The HWG-News Mailing List is a "Read-Only" list -- please do not try
to reply to this message directly.
If you wish to contact the editor of this newsletter, you may do
so by sending email to editor@hwg.org. Each article begins with
the contact information for the author as well.
<!-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -->
Copyright 2000, HTML Writers Guild, Inc., All Rights Reserved.
Published twice monthly via email and WWW.