POLYTECHNIC STUDENT WEB PAGES ARE HERE!

Polytechnic University now supports students creating their own home pages at the Brooklyn and Long Island campuses. Here's how you can get your home page accessible from Polytechnic's World Wide Web site:

1. Create your home page and additional World Wide Web pages in a directory named homepage in your UNIX computer account. All of your Web pages, including scripts and support files, should be stored in this directory (or subdirectories within this directory).

2. Using pico or some other advanced editor, create your HTML Web pages and scripts. (See GUIDELINES below.)

3. Print and fill out the Application Form and return it to Information Systems (Brooklyn: RH325; Long Island: FM234). By submitting this form to Information Systems, you will be added to a list of students on Polytechnic's Web site that have Web pages. You are solely responsible for information that you put on your Web pages, and Information Systems reserves the right to remove Web pages and/or terminate your account privileges for abuse of the rules stated on the application form. Severe violations will result in academic or legal disciplinary measures.

4. Upon acceptance of your request, the Information Systems Department will set access permissions for your Web directory and set up a link to your home page on the Student Directory list with the following URL:

Brooklyn students: http://utopia.poly.edu/~login_name
Long Island students: http://kepler.poly.edu/~login_name

This URL will link to the file index.html in your directory homepage of your student account. The file index.html is your main home page and is the starting point for anyone looking at your World Wide Web information.

GUIDELINES FOR WEB PAGE DESIGN

In order to create a home page that others will want to view, you might consider the following guidelines:

• Be brief. A huge home page causes transmission delays, and the reader loses interest in wading through all the text. One or two screens, depending on the Web viewer used, is probably about the right amount.
  

• Use graphics. A digitized photograph is an eye catcher. See Information Systems for assistance. However, overuse of graphics can cause serious response time problems, so use graphics judiciously.
  

• Be creative. There are lots of other student pages out there, so do something to be different from the others.
  

• Be informative. Have some sort of information that will makes others want to read your page. As a corollary, have links to other pages. Those links multiply the value of your page.
  

• Be current. If the information that is contained on your page changes, be sure to change the page itself as well. An inaccurate page is sure to turn away readers. Also, test your page from time to time to insure that your links to other pages still work, and that the pages you're linking to still exist.
  

• Be economical with your time. Don't include information that will require continuous updating (e.g. what you had for lunch). Keeping it current will consume more time than it's worth. For example, instead of giving the current weather on your page, have a link to somebody else's page that contains this information.
  

• Be communicative. Give people the ability to send you feedback on your page, and how to improve it. This is an easy way to form new friendships. On the other hand, be warned: there are a number of critics on the Internet who will heap abuse on you and your page just for the fun of it. Have a thick skin when necessary.