New Computer Facilitates Web Authoring
by John Kantner
After years of selling t-shirts, AGSA has finally reached its goal to purchase a computer for graduate student use. With the generous support of the department, we recently installed a Power Computing Powerbase 180 in the Graduate Communication Center. This Mac-compatible computer features a 180-Mhz PowerPC processor, 16 mb of RAM, and a 1-gb hard drive, ensuring its long-term viability.
Many graduate students have already begun to use the new computer, and demand for online time is high. For this reason, AGSA wants to establish a ranking of priorities for the computer's use during prime time hours:
1) The department contributed money towards the purchase of the computer with the understanding that it would encourage and facilitate the production of Web projects. People working on Web pages therefore get first dibs on the computer, and they are encouraged to sit there all day long if they want. As described below, much of the installed software is dedicated to this purpose.This list of priorities is purely informal. No one is going to be sitting there enforcing this, but AGSA would appreciate everyoneÕs cooperation.
2) Netscape Navigator is installed on the computer, along with all the latest multimedia plug-ins. Everyone is encouraged to spend some time surfing the Web. Hopefully, this will encourage you to produce your own Web pages.
3) Checking e-mail is perfectly acceptable, but please don't harass people who are on the computer doing World Wide Web stuff.
4) Word-processing during prime time hours is discouraged. However, you are welcome to use it for this purpose during the night or on weekends, when the HSSC labs are closed.
For those of you interested in creating your own Web pages, the new computer is loaded with a variety of software programs to help you. The premiere Web authoring tool, Adobe PageMill 2.0, is the first program that everyone should check out. PageMill allows you to simply type in text and place graphics as if you were using a word processor. There is no need to know any of the HTML coding that underlies all Web pages. For your use, a folder on the hard drive contains a variety of images that can be used in PageMill.
Most Web pages can be created using only PageMill. However, for advanced Web authors, there are a few additional programs available for your use. Both BBEdit and SimpleText allow you to edit the raw HTML codes. Photoshop, gifConverter, and GraphicConverter allow you to manipulate and convert images destined for the Web, while gifBuilder allows you to create the popular animated gifs. Using HTMLColorMeister, you can determine the hex codes for selected background and text colors. Tab- or comma-delimited text files can be dropped on TableMaker for the automatic generation of tables for Web pages. Is there anything missing? Let us know and weÕll try to get the software installed on the computer.
The new computer possesses a few important features that you should be aware of: The computer is set to automatically start up at 8:00 am and shut down at 6:00 pm on weekdays. If you are using it after these hours, please shut it down yourself. On a similar note, please make sure that the door is kept closed and locked at all times! It wouldd be a real bummer if the computer were stolen.
The screensaver is the PointCast Network. It provides current news on a wide variety of subjects. If the screensaver is active, you can hold down the shift key and click on a topic to view more information. PointCast can also be started up from the Network Applications menu on the desktop. Any extraneous files left around will be occasionally deleted. If you are working on a project, please keep your stuff in the Scratch Folder on the hard drive. To ensure that your work does not get tossed, create a folder labeled with your name and keep everything in it.
Back to AGSA volume 3(1) index
Back to index of all AGSA volumes
Back to main UCSB Anthropology page