Some great links to learn about computers!

  • Computer Literacy - understand computers inside and out: basic operations, what makes a good computer, hardware and software.

  • The Children's Partnership- The Parents' Guide to the Information Superhighway. Rules & tools for families online. Comprehensive look at the information superhighway and what parents should know to help their children use it safely and wisely.

Where to Start Your Internet Experience

When I first connected to the Internet the very first time I was EXCITED and OVERWHELMED. Excited about the newness of the adventure, but overwhelmed because I saw this mountain of information that I had access to with only a little shovel to start digging with. Now that I have a little experience in Internet Surfing, I want to attempt to point you in the right direction. First be forewarned! I am learning just like you, DAILY. You may even be more advanced than I and would approach the Internet from a totally different direction or perspective. I welcome your input and suggestions.

As an Internet "newbie" I recommend first getting a feel for the way things work by exploring the Crestview Internet Web Site. Each time the arrow of your mouse passes over a "LINK" Usually a button, picture, or words which are a different color than the main body of text), it will change into a different shape (i.e., a hand). By clicking on the link, you will connect to another page, or another computer containing information described by the link. At any point, you can stop the transfer of information by clicking on either the stop sign or the "X" on the toolbar of your Web Browser. You can also click the BACK button or the Rewind (looks like the Rewind button of a cassette player) to return to a previous Web Page or Web Site.

After following some "LINKS", You are ready to try a Web Search.

Web Design Help

Your connected to the world wide web and you want to make a web page. Where do you start? First, investigate what NOT to do when designing a web page, by visiting "Web pages that suck" by Vincent Flanders. There you will learn good web page design techniques by looking at bad web page designs! You may not agree with all he says, but he does have some good points. Just keep in mind, that these guides are just other peoples opinions. Not "web page law"! The "Yale Web Style Guide" covers graphic and information design, page layout, site organization, navigation, and multimedia content. This is a very informative site that takes you through all the steps.

Now that your page is complete, it's time to put your page on the web!

Once your Web Page is ready, the first step is to E-mail your provider with the Title you want listed in the User Home Page or Business Web Page Directory i.e..Bill's Home Page etc. Your directory name has
to be the primary username on your account. All of your web page information will be stored here.  The directory will start with a ~ mark and then the directory name i.e. ~plato since my e-mail name is plato or something totally different ~pete. The next step is to download an ftp program. I recommend the freeware version of WS_FTP. Once downloaded to the directory that you have chosen, double click on it from file manager or windows explorer. Click OK and then accept the license agreement. Next choose the directory you want the program to setup in and click OK. I normally choose the default location. Now choose the program version you want to install. Windows 3.1 users must select the 16 bit version. Click OK. Type in your E-mail address for anonymous ftp access. You will get an message that states installation successful. Click OK.

To upload your Web Page, Click on your WS_FTP icon. Session properties will open. For profile name, type in CYOU Internet Service. Hit your tab button and type in for Host Name/address: ftp.cyou.com Hit tab twice (skip over host type. It should be auto detect) and type in your user name and hit tab, take the check out of anonymous, hit tab and type in your password. Click on save password. Then go to the top and click on startup. In the initial remote directory type /~your directory name, then hit tab and in the initial local directory type the directory in which your web page is stored, i.e.: c:\webpage Hit apply and OK and then type in your password again if prompted. You will be connected to the directory you set up previously when you e-mailed your provider with a directory name. When you connect to your directory, all you need to do to upload it is to click on the left side to the location of your web page, select the file default.htm and click the arrow button pointing to the right. Your file will be copied from your computer to the server. You may delete old stuff from your directory on my server or overwrite it with updated information. Be sure to transfer the picture files (gifs, bmps, or jpeg) to the server so they will be brought up when your page is accessed.

If you need to alter the graphics for your page I suggest using Paint Shop Pro, a very easy, user friendly program. If you have a lot of graphics, and would like to manage them better, check out Thumbs Plus.

Paint Shop Pro, a powerful and easy to use image viewing, editing and conversion program, supports over 30 image formats. With numerous drawing and painting tools, this may be the only graphics program you will ever need!
Paint Shop Pro for win95 and NT 4.0
Paint Shop Pro for win 3.1x and NT 3.51

ThumbsPlus: The most effective, elegant and inexpensive way to locate, view, edit, print and organize your image, metafile, font and multimedia files on Windows 95/NT/3.1

Here are some great places for getting art to decorate your web page. DO remember though, you must credit the artist for their work somewhere on your page. A link back to their site is also appreciated, but not required in most cases. You may NOT take another's art/graphic, change it and call it your own. That would be copyright infringement.

The Mouse Pad
Has great graphics for every kind of page. I love to visit, just to see what she has come up with! All hand done by Viki.
The Gif-Pile
Place for web art

To see how many people have visited your web page get a counter from Counters.
There are many to choose from.

Add a guestbook to complete your page. Information on how to do it is at: Guestbook.