My Advice for Future Students

Okay, so...where is my dollar? You're right, I should give you my advice first huh? Okay, here goes...

First of all, browse through Netscape and through previous generations' home pages. By doing this, you will familiarize yourself with the style,format, and the process of what you will be doing. Have some fun too and search for some stuff that you find interesting: actors/actresses, movies, songs, shows, cartoon characters, etc. Test out the different search engines and know the differences between them. When in doubt, click on their "help" key. I think the more you are curious, the better it will be. The information you find out now, can aid you later. The point is: have fun! Let your mind wander.

If something is not working when doing your reports on HTML, be patient, take a deep breath, understand what you need to do, and try again. Be very persistent, it is so easy to just give up (especially when trying to get into unix), but hang in there. If you find yourself excreting smoke from your ears, take some time off (not a long time) to cool down and try again. Making reports are no fun (or tolerable) if you are constantly upset. You have to do your reports, might as well make it tolerable, right? When I first started out on my home page it took me a few days to put up something decent. There were a lot of times my links did not work or my text was unsatisfactory...it drove me insane! I got so hot and bothered doing it that it gave me a headache. I think that by upsetting myself only deterred my progress. When reaching this point, you must stand up and stretch. Leave the computer for awhile, watch t.v., grab a snack, whatever...just do something that will give you a break from the chaos. Let yourself cool down. Hopefully, by the time you return to the computer terminal, your nerves have relaxed a bit. If you find yourself in a bind, call up a classmate, ask the help desk (if you're in the CLIC lab or in the Porteus lab), or just go to the previous generations' home pages. You must help yourself! Though it will be rough in the beginning, it will all come together.

Be neat. I realized that a lot depended on whether or not a page will be looked over by the appearance of the page. If your page looked very messy and chaotic, many websurfers may not want to view it. I've discovered also, that a lot of pages were an eyesore. It hurt my eyes just by looking at the page! Make sure your pages are appeasing and nice to look at. There are a lot of visual people out there, you must convey your message visually also. If your page doesn't look pleasing, your page won't be read, and your message won't be conveyed. So, treat your homepage like it was your home. It will be constantly visited, so you must make it spic-n-span, not a pig pen.

LEARN. That's what it is all about. Through this whole process, you will succumb yourself to a lot of information. You will learn about things you have never encountered before and it may be difficult. But, be patient and learn from it. You will get to know more about yourself: your tolerance level, your creativities...your weaknesses. Don't try to take it as a negative, but as a place of improvement. Live and learn, that's a part of life.

Okay, did I earn my dollar now? Just kidding. I hope I have helped you a bit. I also wish you the best in the adventures you've yet to experience.