HTML Writers Guild Newsletter Volume 4 Number 11, November 1998 http://www.hwg.org/ editor@hwg.org Table of Contents 1. November and December Town Hall Meetings 2. Online Classes for November, December and January - New Course! Introduction to Javascript 3. Support the HWG Through Full Membership Dues! 4. Just the FAQs? Volunteer with our FAQ Team 5. HWG President to Speak at FedWeb 98, Builder.com 6. Part-Time Office Intern Position, Florida Office 7. Why'd I get this?! The HWG-News Newsletter FAQs This issue of HWG-News is sponsored by: --------------------------------------------------------------------- iServer -- Verio Web Hosting http://www.iserver.com Virtual Servers * Electronic Commerce * Reseller Program iServer provides fast, reliable Virtual Server Services to thousands of websites including the HTML Writers Guild, and offers the iServer Reseller Program to help you build your successful Internet business. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. November and December Town Hall Meetings (Kynn Bartlett, HWG President, president@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. Because of the (U.S.) Thanksgiving holiday, November's meeting is being held on a Tuesday (most Town Hall meetings are on Thursday evening). The details for November's meeting are: 24 November Town Hall Meeting Date: Tuesday, 24 November 1998 Time: 6:30 p.m. PST, 9:30 p.m. EST, 02:30 (25 November) GMT Server: HWG Interactive, http://interact.hwg.org/ Room: Meeting Hall To connect, surf to the URL above for HWG Interactive, and create a HWG Interactive account, if you don't have one from a previous meeting. (This will not be the same as your HWG member id and password.) Due to the winter holiday season in December, there will not be a Town Hall meeting during that month. The next Town Hall meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 28, 1999. If you have any matters you'd like to bring before the Governing Board before that time, you can use either our online suggestion box or the Guild's issues forums: http://www.hwg.org/opcenter/suggest/ http://interact.hwg.org/ 2. Online Classes for November, December and January (Ann Navarro, Online Classes Manager, classes@hwg.org) The Guild's online classes program continues to bring you a wide selection of courses to expand your skills and experience in web authoring, now including JavaScript! INTRODUCTION TO JAVASCRIPT Dates: January 11, 1999 - February 26, 1999 (6 weeks) Designed for the student with little or no working knowledge of JavaScript. Students will learn JavaScript structure and syntax, how to interact with environment variables, use event handlers, perform form validation, create rollover effects, and work with cookies. Prerequisites: Students should have a solid foundation in HTML, some knowledge of forms (and be prepared to learn more). Students should have both Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and Netscape Navigator 4.0 installed for script testing, as well as web space for posting completed assignments. HWG member Marshall Jansen is the instructor for this course. Other courses beginning in upcoming months include: INTRODUCTION TO HTML 4.0 Dates: November 30 1998 - January 15, 1999 (7 weeks, with one-week winter break) INTRODUCTION TO ACCESS 97 Dates: November 30, 1998 - January 29, 1999 (9 weeks, with one-week winter break) DESIGNING FOR UNIVERSAL ACCESSIBILITY WITH HTML 4.0 Dates: December 14, 1998 - January 29, 1999 (7 weeks, with one-week winter break) INTRODUCTION TO CASCADING STYLE SHEETS Dates: January 4, 1999 - February 12, 1999 (6 weeks) INTRODUCTION TO PERL PROGRAMMING Dates: Jan 4, 1999 - Feb 19, 1999 (7 weeks) COURSE FEES For all courses, Full and Discounted members may register for $25, Trial members for $50. Upgrade your membership before registering, and save! 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. 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/ 3. Support the HWG Through Full Membership Dues! (Kynn Bartlett, HWG President, president@hwg.org) The HTML Writers Guild provides two levels of membership -- Trial and Full. Trial membership is free and entitles you to nearly all of the services of the Guild. We ask that members who find value in their Trial membership upgrade to Full membership within a year's time. The dues for Full membership are $40 (US) per year, which is around the cost of a good HTML reference book. The benefits of Guild membership are many, and include participation in the Guild's discussion lists, our mentor-apprentice and vendor discount programs, and wealth of resources on the HWG website. Full members of the Guild also receive a 50% discount in tuition fees for the HWG's online courses; instead of $50 per course, Full members pay only $25. If you take more than 1 course, your Full membership has already paid for itself! You can upgrade your membership quickly and easily by editing your profile, and paying your dues online through our secure form: http://www.hwg.org/member/profile.html#upgrade Member dues are spent to support the Guild's activities and programs, including: * Webserver hardware and software * Participation in industry events and conferences * Office expenses such as stationery, postage, and rent * Professional services (legal, accounting) * Part-time staff * Marketing and outreach activities and publications * Membership in the World Wide Web Consortium, and participation in W3C working groups If you've benefited from your Trial membership in the HWG -- now's the time to upgrade to Full member status! 4. Just the FAQs? Volunteer with our FAQ Team (Nancy Coulter, FAQ Coordinator, faqs@hwg.org) The Guild's resources pages include a number of valuable Frequently Asked Questions lists on a variety of web topics. We're currently seeking volunteers interested in maintaining existing FAQ documents or writing new ones. Help expand the body of knowledge in the Guild; volunteer today! POSITION: FAQ Team Member DESCRIPTION: Team members write/maintain the Frequently Asked Questions (with answers) found in the HWG's Resources section. You may either start a completely new FAQ, or maintain one that has already been started. We are particularly in need of members to write FAQ's for the individual mailing lists. For a detailed description of the position and a list of the open topic areas, please see: http://www.hwg.org/resources/faqs/howtoFAQ.html 5. HWG President to Speak at FedWeb 98, Builder.com (Ann Navarro, Vice President of Finance, ann@hwg.org) The Guild's President, Kynn Bartlett, will be speaking at two conferences in early December. Kynn is the Guild's coordinator of web accessibility projects and will be presenting on the topic of authoring web sites that are accessible to everyone. FEDWEB DECEMBER TUTORIALS The FedWeb conference will be held on December 7 and 8 in Bethesda, Maryland, and is a service of the World Wide Web Federal Consortium in partnership with the Council for Excellence in Government. Kynn Bartlett will be presenting on "Designing for Universal Accessibility with HTML 4.0" on the morning of Monday, December 7. More details about FedWeb can be found at: http://www.fedweb.org/ CNET'S BUILDER.COM CONFERENCE On Wednesday, December 9, Kynn will be in New Orleans, LA, for the Builder.com conference presented by CNet, as part of the panel addressing "Designing for Accessibility". More details on the Builder.com conference, which will be held December 7 to 9, can be found at: http://www.builder.com/live/ All HWG members in attendance at either event are encouraged to introduce yourselves to our Guild President! (He doesn't bite.) 6. Part-Time Office Intern Position, Florida Office (Ann Navarro, Vice President of Finance, ann@hwg.org) The Guild's Finance and Education office is looking for a part time intern to assist with membership signup and HWG Online Education enrollment processes. Hours and times are flexible. Work will be performed on site at the Guild's Port Charlotte, Florida office. Good opportunity for college work-experience candidate. Please email ann@hwg.org with letter of application and the hours you are available during the span of Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm. Must be at least 18 years of age and bondable. No phone calls please. PLEASE NOTE: This is not a telecommuting job; you must be local to the area. 7. Why'd I get this?! The HWG-News Newsletter FAQs (Kynn Bartlett, HWG-News Newsletter Editor, editor@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? A. The newsletter is the Guild's administrative bulletin to the membership. 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: newapps@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 Database Manager 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 75,000 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. This issue was edited by Kynn Bartlett. Copyright 1998, HTML Writers Guild, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Published monthly via email and WWW.