Process

In this section you'll be learning the web site creation process called "development." There will be some links to sites to help you get an idea of this process. Many more links will be found in the "Resources" section of Design Help.

Be sure to use your communication network to keep in touch with the teacher on your team. Also, you may decide to divide up construction jobs between the students in the group. Keep the lines of communication open to make sure that your efforts stay coordinated.

You may have noticed that the page layout for some WebQuests is to have all the content on one long web page. Others break the content into several pages. One of the first things you should decide, with feedback from the teacher on your team, is which layout design you're going to use.

If you're going to use the one long page format, a §template developed by Dr. Bernie Dodge, already exists that might work for the teacher on your team.

The format is very simple, but effective. If you know how to open the source code (HTML) for these templates, you can copy the code and insert the content your team designed in the planning branch of T-Spider.Net. Show these layouts to your teacher to see if the layouts are what they envisioned for the web site. If they work for them, visit the "Resources" section of Design Help to learn more about using HTML and then start constructing your WebQuest web site.

Tom March has also created a web site that will lead you through the creation of a simple web page for your WebQuest. His site is called §Filamentality. Again, his site doesn't produce a polished web site, but it may produce exactly what the teacher on your team wants.

If the teacher wants a more sophisticated layout for the WebQuest, then it's time to storyboard. Storyboarding is a process of sketching the web page(s) on paper, in some detail, before actually trying to construct the pages on the computer. You can then use your storyboards to get more feedback from your teacher as to whether they like the layout and what changes they would want. Storyboarding takes some time to do correctly, but just like with communication, it will save you a ton of time later on when you find you don't need to rework the web pages. You can read a little bit about storyboarding in this §web page by John Shiple.

Remember the Design Grid you did for the §"On the Cutting Edge" WebQuest? Find that and use it as you start to storyboard. It will help you make your web site the absolutely best it can be.

There is no agreed upon way to storyboard. In the "Resources" section of Design Help you will find links to several storyboarding sites that will help you get an idea of how to storyboard.

Once your storyboards have been approved by the teacher on your team, then it's time to start building the WebQuest web site. The "Resources" section of Design Help has links to lots of web page construction help. You'll have to decide if you plan to use a web page editor to build the web site or if you are going to create the site by writing the HTML code. There is a section of the "Resources" page devoted to HTML tutorials. You can pick the one that works best for you. There is also a section on Editors that will give you some tips and tricks. There are other sections as well, such as the section on Web Graphics, that will help you spruce up your web site.

Be sure to visit the "Evaluation" and "Conclusion" sections of Design Help. Both contain valuable information and links to help make your WebQuest web site more effective.

To visit the "Resources" section of Design Help, click on the "Resources" button above on the left.

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