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Developing a research website

Developing a research website. Genes to Geosciences November, 2009. Why?. Scientific exposure (globally) Shows what you’re researching Easier for people to find you (research, consulting) Provides access point for your papers (links, PDFs)

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Developing a research website

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  1. Developing a research website Genes to Geosciences November, 2009

  2. Why? • Scientific exposure (globally) • Shows what you’re researching • Easier for people to find you (research, consulting) • Provides access point for your papers (links, PDFs) • Helps refine your ideas, interests (similar to funding proposals) • Demonstrates organizational skills • Advertise scholarships / positions • Attracts students / collaborators • Outreach (interpreting science for the general public) • Posting lecture materials • Access point for databases • For fun, and it’s not that hard

  3. Today • Introduction • Basic HTML tutorial • Creating • Publishing • Exposing

  4. Web pages • A source of information accessible through a web browser • Can be retrieved locally or from a remote server • Can be static or dynamic • Client-side scripting can make pages more interactive • A group of related web pages with a common navigation bar  web site

  5. Some terminology • HTML • Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) • A computer language for describing the structure of text-based information • Web Browser • Software that interprets and displays HTML • Interacts with text, images, videos, music, etc. • Web Server • Web browsers communicate with web servers primarily using hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) • HTTP allows information to travel both ways Web Server

  6. Some terminology Web Server Web Browser HTTP HTML Computer Cyber-space

  7. HTML • A computer language for describing the structure of information in a web page • It’s just a text file with a different suffix (.html) • “View source” in any web browser shows the underlying HTML • Square brackets tell the web browser how to interpret information: <b>hello</b> <h1>title</h1>

  8. HTML • Basic structure <html> <head> <title>This appears at the top</title> </head> <body> This appears in the browser </body> </html>

  9. HTML • Basic structure <html> <head> <title>This appears at the top</title> </head> <body> This appears in the browser </body> </html>

  10. HTML • Basic page <html> <head> <title>Dr Joshua Madin</title> </head> <body> <h1>Research Website</h1> <p>Welcome to my research website. I am primarily interested in coral biomechanics.</p> </body> </html>

  11. HTML • Basic page <html> <head> <title>Dr Joshua Madin</title> </head> <body> <h1>Research Website</h1> <p>Welcome to my research website. I am primarily interested in coral biomechanics.</p> </body> </html>

  12. HTML Elements <element-name attribute=“value”>content</element-name> • Structural <h1>level-one heading</h1> <p>paragraph</p> <table width=“150”>table structure</table> • Presentational (used less and less) <b>bold</b> <i>italic</i> • Hypertext <a href=“another-page.html”>my other page</a> <a href=“http://www.mq.edu.au”>link to MQU</a>

  13. Cascading Style Sheets • Presentation typically universal for a website • So why repeat presentational elements? • Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are a mechanism for normalizing a websites look and feel <link rel=“stylesheet” href=“file_name.css” type=“text/css” />

  14. Cascading Style Sheets • “file_name.css” contains formatting and presentation rules for any HTML file that links to the CSS h1, h2, h3 { color: green; } • CSS rules can be over-ridden

  15. Terms to remember • HTML: Hyper-Text Markup Language • HTTP: Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol • CSS: Cascading Style Sheet • URL: Unique Resource Locator • An internet address (e.g., http://www.facebook.com) • Javascript • A scripting language that can be embedded in HTML to make pages more dynamic • XML: eXtensible Markup Language • General-purpose specification for custom markup languages • For sharing structured data • AJAX: Asynchronous Javascript And XML • Interacts with remote server in the background without interfering with existing page

  16. HTML Tutorial Genes to Geosciences November, 2009

  17. Instructions • Go to module website: • http://www.gg.mq.edu.au/rep/websites • Click on: • “HTML tutorial” • Save to Desktop • Unzip (uncompress) “tutorial.zip” • Now open the program WordPad • Then, File  Open • Files of type: All Documents • Navigate to the “tutorial” folder on your Desktop • Open “tutorial.html”

  18. HTML Editors • Software to help avoid writing HTML (WYSIWYG) • E.g., Dreamweaver, Frontpage, KompoZer, iWeb, many others • Pros • Easy to use (sometimes don’t need to know HTML) • Focus on design • Some tasks faster (e.g., tables) • Fewer mistakes • Often sophisticated additions (javascript, etc.) • Cons • Each one is different (and usually not cross-platform) • Usually cost money $$$ • Creates HTML that is hard to read (large files, hard to fix) • Sometimes not standards compliant • Only editable with single software package (what if discontinued?) • Lack of fine control • Highly constrained (e.g., hard to add dynamic content)

  19. Example: iWeb

  20. Recommendation • For basic research website, often best to use HTML • Even if you want to use a graphical editor, it is important to understand the underlying HTML

  21. Creating a website Genes to Geosciences November, 2009

  22. Look around for ideas • Research • http://www.zoology.ufl.edu/bolker/ • http://faculty.washington.edu/deschind/index.html • http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/msel/personnel/pjm.html • http://www.avianecology.org/ • http://nceas.ucsb.edu/~cadotte/ • http://faculty.washington.edu/mdethier/ • http://www.mathstat.dal.ca/~derekt/ • http://katesmithlab.googlepages.com/ • http://depts.washington.edu/jlrlab/ • Other • http://www.lefthandlight.com/ • http://jonehinger.com/ • http://www.o-dub.com/ • http://www.gladwell.com/ • http://vision.ece.ucsb.edu/%7Efedorov/ • http://vision.ece.ucsb.edu/~jiyun/ • http://www.sbbg.org/

  23. Think about content • Splash page (rare, sometimes annoying) • Contact Information (beware the web-spider) • Research / Projects / Interests • Publications (articles, proceedings, books, chapters) • People / Students / Collaborators • Sometimes with sub-pages (Interests, Projects, Publications, CV, Contact, etc.) • Courses / Software / Data / Database access • Funding won / Awards • Funding offered (scholarships) • Outreach (media attention, popular articles) • Pictures / Maps / Field sites • Calendars (upcoming events, fieldtrips, conferences, etc.) • Useful links (often for yourself) • Link to a personal page hosted elsewhere (not at uni)

  24. Think about a layout

  25. Some design principles • Browser independence • Make sure it works on all the common browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera) • Some browsers are NOT standards compliant • Readability • Use clear, easy to read language • Check grammar, spelling, logical flow • Content delivery • Minimize clutter; easy navigation • Make the important/relevant content easy to find • Remember that some people have small computer screens • Efficiency • Make sure pages load quickly • For example, use smaller image files (i.e., not raw photos), break up pages • Scalability • Design in a way that can easily be added to in the future

  26. Building your website Genes to Geosciences November, 2009

  27. Instructions • Go to module website: • http://www.gg.mq.edu.au/rep/websites • Click on: • “Compressed folder containing this website” • Save to Desktop • Unzip (uncompress) “darwin.zip” • Now open the program WordPad • Then, File  Open • Files of type: All Documents • Navigate to the “darwin” folder on your Desktop • Open “index.html”

  28. Publishing a website Genes to Geosciences October, 2008

  29. Uploading • Once your site is ready you need to upload it to the server • Common data transfer protocols include FTP, SMB, AFP, HTTP (browser-specific) • Usually asked for username and password • Eventually you’ll need FTP client software • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_FTP_client_software • Copy files to server

  30. Domain Name • The primary address of your website • Typically end in .com .net .org .edu • Country suffix: .au .de .nz • Postgraduate students get a directory • www.bio.mq.edu.au/~aharmer/ • Academics • www.bio.mq.edu.au/computational_ecology/ • acropora.bio.mq.edu.au • www.bio.mq.edu.au/~jmadin

  31. Instructions • http://web.science.mq.edu.au/it/doc/services/web-pub/ • HTML Validation: http://validator.w3.org • Copy address for each page of your website (“Validate”) • There may be Javascript warnings…

  32. Exposing your website Genes to Geosciences November, 2009

  33. Search Engines • Google, Yahoo!, MSN • Use algorithms to determine keyword relevancy • Page title • Content • Number & quality of links to your site • How long people stay on your site • Meta tags are becoming less important

  34. Getting Ranked • Submit website URL to The Open Directory • www.dmoz.org • Google’s “add URL” form • www.google.com/addurl.html • Be linked from another website • Universities are usually crawled regularly

  35. Some final remarks • Suggest that you take a copy of your site with you and continue to work on it • When you have your permanent site address, make sure you are sure it’s ready for the world to see (e.g., no spelling mistakes; no plagiarism)

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