Beginning Steps
1. To get into Netscape Composer, open Netscape from your computer and press the icon of the paper & pen in the lower left-hand corner.  This will open a new page.

2. TO TYPE - netscape composer works just like microsoft word or works.  You can start typing like a word processor.

3. TO CHANGE TYPE - Look up at your menu bars.  The lowest bar has different controls you can use to change your text.  The second button over has the different fonts you can use, the third one has the different size of fonts, the fourth one has color of the words, the next three are bold, italics, and underline.

Also, you can change all of these things under the FORMAT menu at the top.  If you pull down the menu, you will see "font", "size", "style" and "color".  Also in this menu is "align", which allows you to center text, or put it to the right.

4. TO SAVE - You can push on the "save button" (middle bar, third from the left) or you can pull down the FILE menu, (like in microsoft word).  It is a good idea to save your page on the nt server and your own computer, incase you would ever want to work on your page when the server is down.

5. TO PUT YOUR PAGE ON THE WEB - You need to push the "publish button" and then fill in the information in the menu.  IT IS IMPORTANT TO PUT THE EXACT ADDRESS WHERE YOUR PAGE WILL GO ON THE WEB UNDER THE BAR THAT SAYS "HTTP or FTP location to publish to".  ***STUDENTS--SEE MR. ABBEY BEFORE YOU GET TO THIS STEP

The next steps
1. TO INSERT A PICTURE, you first need to save a picture.  There are a couple of ways to do that.  First, you could take a picture with a digital camera and save the picture on your computer.  Or, if there was a picture on the web that you wanted to use, you could save that picture.

To save a picture on the internet, RIGHT CLICK on the picture (or for Macintosh, click and hold down).  You will get a menu that pops up to the right of the picture.  Go to "save image as" (Macintosh = "Download image to disk") and click there.  Then, save the image in a place you will remember. PLEASE BE CAREFUL - - NOT EVERY PICTURE IS FREE (MOST ARE COPYRIGHTED AND CANNOT BE USED LEGALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION. SEE MR. ABBEY FOR HELP)

After you have a picture saved, go to the INSERT menu and click on image (or click on the "image" button on the middle bar")  A menu will pop up.  If you click on the "choose file" button, you can find the picture you have saved, select it, and then press "open".  Then, press "okay" (There are other features such as text wrap and constraints you can mess with, but those are advanced features).  You should now have your picture.

2. TO MOVE/RESIZE A PICTURE - Click and hold on the picture.  This will allow you to drag the picture where you want.  To resize, move your mouse to the corner of the picture, and your cursor will change to a DOUBLE-ARROW.  Now, if you click and drag, your picture will get smaller or bigger.  Careful, if you go to the edge and click & drag, it will only reduce the picture one way, distorting it.

3. TO LINK - Select the text (or picture, if you wish) and press "Link" button on the middle toolbar.  A menu will pop up asking you where you want to link to.  Type in the web address on the line.  (A shortcut... if you find a webpage you like, copy the address off that page and then paste the address in the link menu.  This will make sure you have the address right.)

4. TO CHANGE OVERALL COLORS/BACKGROUND - Go to the "Format" menu and click on "Page Colors and Properties".  This will give you a menu where you can change the colors on your page.  For example, you can change the background to a green color by clicking on the color square next to "Background" and then selecting the color that you want.  You can also insert a picture in the background under this menu.  Again, you would click "choose file" and select your saved picture, but this time it will insert the picture in the background of your page.
             Normal text = color of the words        Link text = color of the words in links
             Selected Link text = the color a link turns when a person clicks on it
             Visited Link text = the color a link turns if that link has already been visited.

5. TO ADD A HORIZONTAL LINE - click "Horizontal line".  You can make it thicker by dragging the edge like you would for a picture.

6. TO ORGANIZE YOUR TEXT - you might need to add a table.  Click "table".  A menu will pop up.  It will ask you how many ROWS AND COLUMNS, the ALIGNMENT of the table, including a CAPTION, the WIDTH & HEIGHT of the table, and whether you want the COLUMNS TO BE EQUAL or not.  In order to make the chart invisible (no border), change "Border-line width" to zero.  If you want your chart a different color than the rest of the page, you can change color as well.

Once the table is made, you can move your mouse to the square you want and start typing.

To make changes to your table after you have made it, go under the FORMAT menu and click on "Table Properties". NOTE: FOR ADVANCED WEBPAGES THAT ARE HIGHLY STRUCTURED, YOU WILL NEED TABLES. THEY KEEP EVERYTHING ALIGNED WITHOUT MOVING AROUND WHEN A PERSON IS BROWSING.

7. TO SEE WHAT THE PAGE WOULD LOOK LIKE - press "Preview"
 

Useful Websites
1. http://www.321clipart.com - a website filled with clipart (pictures) you can use for your page.
2. http://www.alltheweb.com   my favorite search engine... type in what your topic is and you will find plenty of info
3. http://www.ditto.com     a website with downloadable pictures (not free... you need permission)