HTML Writers Guild Newsletter Volume 6 Number 11, 5 June 2000 http://www.hwg.org/ mailto:editor@hwg.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Newsletter Sponsors: eLance.com, Atomz.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents 1. WWW9 in Amsterdam a complete success! 2. HWG welcomes two new employees, Marshall and Chris! 3. June Town Hall: Thursday, June 22nd 4. Member-Submitted Tips: Member Tips Categories (Next Issue's Topic: ) 5. Upcoming Online Classes: Take an online class! 6. HWG Events in Your Future: XML Europe 2000 7. Why Did I Get This Email? And Other HWG-News FAQs (How to change your email address, how to unsubscribe, and more.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue of HWG-News is sponsored by: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- eLance.com http://www.eLance.com/hwg ATTENTION HWG members: There are currently over 250 PROJECTS in web development, banner design, software programming, and IT consulting waiting for you in the eLance.com marketplace. Click here (http://www.eLance.com/hwg) to join the eLance community for FREE, and SELL YOUR SERVICES to buyers from around the world! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. WWW9 in Amsterdam a complete success! (Frank Boumphrey, VP of Special Events, vp-events@hwg.org) The Guild recently returned from the WWW9 conference in Amsterdam, where we gave a tutorial on XHTML, a talk on the Gutenberg Project, and manned a booth. The tutorial was well attended, and received good ratings from the participants. Frank Boumphrey gave a talk on the Gutenberg Project in the cultural track, which developed quite a bit of interest, especially among the European Council for Culture, as well as the library community. Our booth was a success, and it was the 'place to be' for many people attending the conference, with a great time had by everyone there. If you made it to the show, we were glad to see you, and if you missed us in Amsterdam, make sure to keep an eye out on our events calendar, to see if we are coming to an event near you! 2. HWG welcomes two new employees, Marshall and Chris! (Ann Navarro, Chief Operating Officer, ann@hwg.org) The Guild would like to extend a warm welcome to two new full-time employees that have joined our staff this Spring. Chris Weiss (chrisw@hwg.org) joined our staff in mid-April as an Accounting Clerk. She brings a large array of organizational skills which have already proven to be a great asset to our Florida office. If you have contact with us regarding membership and class payments, or any other matters handled by our Treasurer staff, you'll most likely be speaking with Chris! Marshall Jansen (marshall@hwg.org), who some of you may know as our volunteer VP of Marketing and Outreach, came on board full-time last week as our Senior Web Developer. Marshall will be responsible for the maintenance and production of the Guild's primary Web site, and will be assisting in the maintenance of our Web Crossings server used for the HWG Online Education program, and the Guild's online bookstore, The Bookmark. Marshall joins us remotely from his home off the coast of Mobile Bay in Fairhope, Alabama. We're happy to have both Chris and Marshall on staff, helping us to provide you with faster service and the most up to date resources on the Web as possible! 3. June Town Hall: Thursday, June 22nd (Frank Boumphrey, VP of Special Events, vp-events@hwg.org) Our last Town Hall was a little short on participants (no doubt due to our missing the previous two months), but we're back in full swing, so please come to our meeting. Town Halls are informal affairs, where you can talk to the governing board, ask questions, and generally let you opinions be known in a more public forum than email. We hope to see you there! The details on the June town hall meeting are: 22 June Town Hall Meeting Date: Thursday, 22 June 2000 Time: 6:30 p.m. PST, 9:30 p.m. EST Server: HWG Interactive, http://interact.hwg.org/ IRC: irc.hwg.org, port 6667 Channel: #townhall To connect, either go to the URL above and use the Java-based client available via the web, or use your favorite IRC client and join channel #townhall. 4. Member-Submitted Tips: Member Tips Categories (Marshall Jansen, HWG-News Editor, hwg-news-tips@hwg.org) The Guild's foundation is members helping members, sharing our expertise and knowledge to improve our skills in the craft of web design. Everyone has something to teach, and something to learn! In keeping with that spirit, the HWG-News Newsletter HWG-News features member-submitted "tips" in each issue, in the space between articles and announcements. What happens if your tip is selected? Each issue, the first-place winner will receive a free HWG t-shirt. Runner-up tips will be also listed in the HWG-News newsletter as space permits, and submissions will be posted on the HWG web site. The topic for this issue, as announced last issue, is: Member Tips Categories Your editor is running out of ideas for tip categories! For the next issue, I'd like to see you submit some categories you'd like to see tips on, with the winner being the person who sends in the best tip category! An archive of old tips may be found at: http://www.hwg.org/opcenter/newsletter/tips/ Complete rules and information (including size limits) are also listed at the URL above -- please read it! This issue's winner was sent in by Shannon Hager [HWG-News Tip: Member Tips Categories -------------------------------] Please do run a tips feature on the following: Taking over (and cleaning up) a website when the former webmaster is gone. [--------------- Submitted by Shannon Hager ] If you have suggestions for upcoming HWG News Tip topics, you can send those to hwg-news-tips@hwg.org as well. The category for the next newsletter is: Taking over another author's site. In today's job market, new web developers will often be required to take over existing code... often when the original author(s) are long gone. What are some methods that can help ease the pain of having to take over existing code, cleaning it up and making it more maintainable? Send in your 5-8 line tips on Taking over another author's site to hwg-news-tips@hwg.org. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue of HWG-News is sponsored by: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ATOMZ.COM http://www.atomz.com/hwg ADD A POWERFUL SEARCH ENGINE TO YOUR WEBSITE. With Atomz.com Search you can quickly add a powerful search engine to any Web site with just a few lines of HTML and no additional hardware or software. You get a comprehensive set of features not found with other site search engines including: complete customization, multiple language support, and in-context display of results. Search results are fast and accurate and you can use Atomz.com Search for free if your site has less than 500 pages, with no required ad banners. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Upcoming Online Classes: Take an online class! (Ann Navarro, Online Education Director, classes@hwg.org) Through a web-based interface, we offer a broad series of online classes designed to teach you the skills you need, in a way that fits your busy schedule. Our instructors are your fellow Guild members, chosen for their expertise in their field and their willingness to pass along their experience to you. Upcoming courses you can take include: Online classes currently open for enrollment include: Introduction to XML Dates: June 12, 2000 - July 23, 2000 (6 weeks) Tuition: $40 Full members, $70 Trial members Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/x101.7.html Come find out what the buzz is all about! XML, the Extensible Markup Language, is driving the future of data storage and exchange. Get hands on development experience using freely available tools. Introduction to HTML 4.0 Dates: June 19, 2000 - July 30, 2000 (6 weeks) Tuition: $40 Full members, $70 Trial members Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/h101.16.html Leave your WYSIWYG editor behind and explore the nuts and bolts that make web pages function! Beginning Programming with Perl Dates: June 26, 1999 - August 6, 2000 Tuition: $40 Full members, $70 Trial members Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/p101.7.html Learn the basics of the Perl programming language, system administration, and a variety of other tasks. The course will cover the fundamentals of the language, preparing you for a variety of scripting projects. (Please note, this is not a CGI course) Business Writing Basics Dates: July 3, 2000 - August 27, 2000 (8 weeks) Tuition: $25 Full members, $50 Trial members Details: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/b101.8.html You may be good at HTML tags, but that's just half the equation! Learn how to make your content sizzle in our writing course! COURSE FEES Course fees are based on membership level; Full members receive a discounted tuition price, while Trial members pay the standard price. Full membership is only $40 per year, so upgrade your membership before registering, and save money! Payments may be made online via secure transaction; all figures are in U.S. funds. A certificate of completion is available for an additional $5; the request needs to be made at the time of registration. A certificate can be requested after class is completed for $10. Textbooks (when required) are separate and may be purchased through the Guild's online bookstore, The Bookmark. Books should be purchased before the first week of class! In addition, students should have regular access to the web and the ability to post completed assignments on a public (non-Intranet) web server. Sign up today through our online enrollment forms or get more information at: http://www.hwg.org/services/classes/ 6. HWG Events in Your Future: XML Europe 2000 (Frank Boumphrey, VP of Special Events, vp-events@hwg.org) As part of our ongoing Speakers Bureau program, we are pleased to present this list of upcoming industry events at which the Guild will be participating. More information can be found at our events page: http://www.hwg.org/opcenter/events/ * XML Europe 2000 Paris, France June 14, 2000 http://www.gca.org/attend/2000_conferences/europe_2000/default.htm Frank Boumphrey will be presenting "Using XML in Medical Internet applications". * BJS/Search National Conference: Justice, E-Government, and the Internet Dallas, Texas June 26-28, 2000 http://www.search.org/conferences/BJS062600.htm Ann Navarro will be hosting several panel discussions throughout the event. If you are attending either of these events, please stop by and introduce yourself to our HWG representatives, we'd love to meet you! 7. Why Did I Get This Email? And Other HWG-News FAQs (HWG-News Newsletter Editor, editor@hwg.org) This newsletter was edited by Marshall Jansen . Thanks to Christy Jansen for proofreading and moral support, and putting up with me writing a newsletter the night after our wedding night! Some questions you may be asking: Q: Why did I get this mail? A: You received this newsletter because you are a member of the HTML Writers Guild. This message came from HWG-News, the Guild's mandatory mailing list for all members. If you need more information about HWG-News, please see the List Charter at: http://www.hwg.org/lists/hwg-news/index.html Q. Why doesn't this newsletter talk about web design or HTML more? A. The newsletter is the Guild's administrative bulletin to the membership; beyond the HWG News Tips, we don't include specific information on web creation. If you are interested in the topics of Web design and HTML, then you might want to subscribe to some of our discussion lists devoted to those topics. More information on the Guild's offering of discussion lists can be found at: http://www.hwg.org/lists/mailinglists.html Q. How can I find out more about Guild activities? A. The Guild has set up a one-way announcement list, HWG-Announce, that carries bulletins of day-to-day Guild business. For details on how to subscribe, please see: http://www.hwg.org/lists/hwg-announce/ Q: How do I unsubscribe from HWG-News? A: Since this is a required list in order to maintain your Guild membership, unsubscribing is the same as resigning from the HTML Writers Guild. If you have your Member ID and password, to resign your membership in the Guild and to unsubscribe to HWG-News, visit: http://www.hwg.org/member/resign.html Fill in the pertinent information, and submit it. If you don't have a Member ID, or have forgotten your password, send mail to: mailto:lost-password@hwg.org with a Subject of: Resign membership In the body of the message, provide the following information: * Your email address(es) * Your member ID if you have one. * The list of discussion lists you are on. Please remember that unsubscribing to HWG-News automatically resigns you from the Guild. If you have problems with unsubscribing, please contact the password support team for help. Q: How do I change my email address for Guild mailings? A: You can update your own membership profile at any time by going to this page: http://www.hwg.org/member/profile.html. If you don't know your password, contact the password support team for help. Q: Can my company advertise in the Guild's newsletter? A: Yes; the Guild is offering sponsorship opportunities in HWG-News on a limited basis. If you are interested in advertising your web related product or service here, please send email to advertising@hwg.org or call (205) 422-4340. Discounts are available to Guild Business and Corporate members, as well as for multiple placements. The Guild's newsletter reaches over 117,000 web authors worldwide each month. (Note: The Guild does not make our member database available for third party use. We have a strong privacy policy and will not release our members' personal information; our mailing list is not for sale. Any questions regarding the Guild's advertising or privacy policies can be directed to advertising@hwg.org.) Q: What if I want to comment on this newsletter? A: The HWG-News Mailing List is a "Read-Only" list -- please do not try to reply to this message directly. If you wish to contact the editor of this newsletter, you may do so by sending email to editor@hwg.org. Each article begins with the contact information for the author as well. Copyright 2000, HTML Writers Guild, Inc., All Rights Reserved. Published twice monthly via email and WWW.