Posted by Floyd Pentlin on December 18, 2008 at 4:34am
I'm taking over a class Information Technology in Library Media Centers and one component is for librarians to learn enough HTML to put up a home page for a library site. I have a lot of reservations about this.
Do we need rudimentary knowledge of HTML when we have so many ways to create a Web page? I designed a Web site teaching myself Dreamweaver and never learned a HTML script.
Can it be argued this is a holdover from our early fascination of gaining entrance to the Web?
If you believe that we still need basic information, just how much do we need?
Thanks. floyd
You need to be a member of TLNing (teacherlibrarian.org) to add comments!
I have been a school librarian and I have taught classes in the diploma in Teacher Librarianship program at two universities in Canada. I have an educational background in librarianship and technology. I started building websites long before software like Frontpage or Pagemill appeared so I am well versed in HTML and other computer languages.
Is it necessary to know HTML to build a school library website these days? Probably not if you use software like IWeb for the MAC or any webpage program that front loads all the information that you need.
On the other hand I will admit that I use Dreamweaver and I often use html coding to tweak the website of my school library.
It may seem like a lost art but knowing html can be beneficial if you use a program like Dreamweaver that lets you add code as needed. If any glitches occur, I can fix the code rather than cutting and starting over.
So my answer would be that it is not necessary to know HTML to build an average school library website but if you intend to add tools or special formatting to a website it does seem like a basic knowledge of HTML helps.
Richard Beaudry
Librarian
Langley Secondary School
Replies
Here is a website that might be of interest to your students:
How to Embed Almost Anything in your Website
http://www.labnol.org/internet/how-to-embed-in-html-webpages/6365/
Richard Beaudry
Librarian
Langley Secondary School
I have been a school librarian and I have taught classes in the diploma in Teacher Librarianship program at two universities in Canada. I have an educational background in librarianship and technology. I started building websites long before software like Frontpage or Pagemill appeared so I am well versed in HTML and other computer languages.
Is it necessary to know HTML to build a school library website these days? Probably not if you use software like IWeb for the MAC or any webpage program that front loads all the information that you need.
On the other hand I will admit that I use Dreamweaver and I often use html coding to tweak the website of my school library.
It may seem like a lost art but knowing html can be beneficial if you use a program like Dreamweaver that lets you add code as needed. If any glitches occur, I can fix the code rather than cutting and starting over.
So my answer would be that it is not necessary to know HTML to build an average school library website but if you intend to add tools or special formatting to a website it does seem like a basic knowledge of HTML helps.
Richard Beaudry
Librarian
Langley Secondary School
It will come handy when you need to debug your web page.