HTML Writers Guild Newsletter Volume 6 Number 20, 31 October 2000 http://www.hwg.org/ mailto:editor@hwg.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Newsletter Sponsors: SearchButton.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents 1. Member-submitted tips returns! 2. Meet a Guild Member 3. Upcoming Online Classes: Take an HWG Class! 4. HWG Events in Your Future: STC Pan-Pacific Conference, WebNet, more! 5. Why Did I Get This Email? And Other HWG-News FAQs (How to change your email address, how to unsubscribe, and more.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Member-Submitted Tips: XHTML Transition Tips (Marshall Jansen, HWG-News Editor, hwg-news-tips@hwg.org) Due to popular demand, we are bringing back the Member submitted tips! 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. 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. A full list of all tips submitted can be found online at: http://www.hwg.org/opcenter/newsletter/tips/ Complete rules and information (including size limits) are also listed at the URL above -- please read it! If you have suggestions for upcoming HWG News Tip topics, PLEASE send those to hwg-news-tips@hwg.org as well. The category for the next newsletter is: Online Resources Where do you go to find the tools of your trade? Fonts, clip-art, backgrounds, code snippets, tutorials? Most of us know about webmonkey.com, builder.com, and other 'big' sites, but what other sites are out there that you use regularly? Send in your 5-8 line tips to hwg-news-tips@hwg.org. 2. Get to know your fellow Guild Members: Holly R. (Marshall Jansen, HWG-News Editor, editor@hwg.org) Every issue, we will give a Guild Member an opportunity to fill out a short questionnaire about themselves for printing in HWG-News. HWG: What is your name? Holly: Holly R. HWG: What is your occupation? Holly: Webmaster. HWG: Where do you live? Holly: Greenbelt, MD HWG: How old are you? Holly: 29 HWG: What was the last book you read? Holly: Dates from Hell (funniest book I've read lately) HWG: What was the last movie you saw? Holly: Erin Brockovich (excellent movie!) HWG: Who is your favorite musician? Holly: Dave Matthews & Sarah McLachlan HWG: What is your favorite TV show? Holly: Ally McBeal, though I've only seen 2 episodes last season. I don't watch much TV. HWG: What is one of your non-Web related hobbies? Holly: Woodburning & bicycling HWG: How long have you been a web designer? Holly: Officially, 2 years. On the side of my real job, 6 years. HWG: How did you learn HTML? Holly: Trial and error, and there's always more to learn. HWG: How long have you been a member of the Guild? Holly: 1 year. HWG: Why did you join the Guild? Holly: I liked the resources it offered and wanted to be a part of it. HWG: What's your biggest pet peeve in web design? Holly: When designers trap me on their page by disabling my browser's back button. There's just no logic for it. No one is going to browse a page longer or buy something because they can't leave - in fact, they're more likely to leave in a huff and never return! HWG: Which search engine do you try first when web searching? Holly: Google! Google, google and more google! 3. Upcoming Online Classes: Take an online class! (Gretchen Lowerison, Online Education Director, classes@hwg.org) 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: Advanced Web Writing (New Course!) Dates: November 6, 2000 - December 31, 2000 (8 weeks) Tuition: $125 Full members, $155 Trial members Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/b201.1.html In this course, students will work intensively on the copy for a web project and get the feedback of fellow students and the instructor. We will review subjective and objective tools for identifying and analyzing the audience for a web site. We'll compare and constrast the advice experts give on writing text for the web, along with a variety of web style guides available. In hands-on workshop sessions, each student will work on the text of a landing page, first-level page, and text-intensive page of a current web project. Each student will develop a house style guide for a web site and design the internal editorial process for updating and maintaining the web site. Introduction to XML Dates: November 6, 2000 - December 17, 2000 (6 weeks) Tuition: $50 Full members, $80 Trial members Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/x101.9.html Come find out what the buzz is all about! XML, the Extensible Markup Language, is driving the future of data storage and exchange. Get hands on development experience using freely available tools. Creating Web Graphics with Paint Shop Pro Dates: November 6, 2000 - December 17, 2000 (6 weeks) Tuition: $40 Full members, $70 Trial members Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/g201.9.html Release your inner artist! This graphics course will teach you to create your own stunning images for use on your website, using the Paint Shop Pro program. Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets Dates: November 6, 2000 - December 17, 2000 (6 weeks) Tuition: $40 Full members, $70 Trial members Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/h151.13.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! Sites that Sizzle: Web Animation with Macromedia Flash 4 Dates: November 6, 2000 - December 17, 2000 (6 weeks) Tuition: $60 Full members, $90 Trial members Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/a221.12.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. Business Writing Basics Dates: Novemebr 6, 2000 - Januar 7, 2001 (9 weeks, 1 week break) Tuition: $25 Full members, $50 Trial members Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/b101.10.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! Introduction to HTML 4.0 Dates: November 13, 2000 - December 23, 2000 (6 weeks) Tuition: $40 Full members, $70 Trial members Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/h101.22.html Leave your WYSIWYG editor behind and explore the nuts and bolts that make web pages function! 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. A certificate can be requested after class is completed for $10. 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/ 4. HWG Events: STC Pan-Pacific Conference (Frank Boumphrey, VP of Special Events, vp-events@hwg.org) Christopher Higgs represented the Guild for this 4-day conference, where he presenteda full-day workshop on Introductory and Intermediate XML, a half-day workshop on XHTML, a one-day seminar on XML, and attended the Networking Lunch, where he sat at the 'Web Designers' table. The program presenters told us everyone was very happy with our sessions, with the attendees giving rave reviews! We even got accolades for being able to present the XHTML workshop on last-minute notice, due to an accident that caused the original speaker to not be available. Chris met with several members of the Guild, and plugged us to those who hadn't heard of us. All in all it was a great conference, and want to thank everyone who attended! 5. Why Did I Get This Email? And Other HWG-News FAQs (HWG-News Newsletter Editor, editor@hwg.org) This newsletter was edited by Marshall Jansen . 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 for help. Q: How do I change my email address for Guild mailings? A: Full members can update their membership profile at any time by going to this page: http://www.hwg.org/member/profile.html. If you don't know your password, contact the password support team for help. Trial members can send email to to change their email address. 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 (334) 928-4542. Discounts are available to Guild Business and Corporate members, as well as for multiple placements. The Guild's newsletter reaches over 120,000 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.