Curriculum for the Generic Fitness Web Page

Part 1:  Web Pages

•	What is a web page?
•	Where does a web page come from?
•	Why should I have a web page?
•	What do I put on a web page?
•	Where do I put a web page?
•	How do I make a web page?
•	What's all that stuff in the web page?
•	What then?

Part 2:  Domain Names

•	What is a domain name?
•	Why should I have a domain name?
•	Who will give me a domain name?
•	What then?

Details:

(Who is this guy, anyway?)

•	I'm Scott Eiler, a computer geek who got invited to aerobics class one day
•	With the young athletic women from work, of course
•	Naturally, I found it fun!
•	My aerobics hobby got so out of control, I am now AFAA primary-certified and starting to specialize
•	Meanwhile, my computer hobby got so out of control, I became a dot-com (Eilertech)
•	Why not put it together?
•	But I'm not here to make money off of you 
•	Unless you hire me to work for you
•	And I'm here to train you not to do that!

What is a web page?

•	It's a screenful of stuff on a computer anywhere in the world  
•	But only if the computer puts stuff onto a network
•	Computers have web browsers that can read this stuff
•	Like Netscape, Internet Explorer, and AOL's own software
•	If you have a computer, you have a web browser
•	But not necessarily a place to put your own web pages
•	See "Only if the computer puts stuff onto a network"
•	Every company has a web page nowadays
•	They put stuff onto networks
•	You can find a web page by typing (for example) afaa.com

Where does a web page come from?

•	It's just stuff like you type on a typewriter
•	But you type it on a computer
•	And you format it so that web browsers can understand it
•	http://www.(any web page) follows that format
•	Extra for Experts:
•	http = HyperText Transfer Protocol
•	www =  World Wide Web
•	Most browsers don't need "http://" or "www."

Why should I have a web page?

•	Remember, "If you have a computer, you have a web browser"
•	And almost everyone has a computer, as close as their public library
•	Some web pages will search for other web pages - these are "search engines"
•	google.com is the most famous search engine
•	Last I heard, "google" had become a verb
•	You can get your web page included in these searches
•	And if your stuff's on the web, you can print out copies from work!

What do I put on a web page?

Well, if you ask me, I put:

•	Fitness home page (http://www.eilertech.com/aerobic/)
•	Resume (resume.htm, Fitness Resume for Scott D. Eiler)
•	Advertisements (handbill.htm, The Holidays are Over - Time to Get In Shape!)
•	Routines (floor3.htm, Floor Workout 3)
•	Reviews (journal.htm, IDEA Fitness Fusion 2005 in Chicago)
•	Other publications (intro.htm, Introduction to Step Aerobics)

You could be your own publisher!

Where do I put a web page?

•	If you just keep it on your computer, people won't see it
•	But if you have e-mail, you probably have a place to put web pages - and an editor for them
•	AFAA will (maybe) give you a place to put a web page - and an editor for them
•	Lots of other companies will do that too - many for free, like BBC.com
•	Hey, I know people who do that!  But I pay for mine

How do I make a web page?  (Simplest Way)

Use someone's web page editor and build one!

•	AFAA has one
•	AOL has one
•	The BBC has one
•	Microsoft Word is one

How do I make a web page?  (Next Simplest Way)

Swipe someone else's, then cross out their name and write in your own!

•	Eilertech.com/aerobic has one (Swipe This Page!)
•	Your web browser has a "Save As..." command
•	The formatting of web pages is practically never copyrighted...
•	... and if it is, just change the format!
•	You can edit what the page looks like, without learning the language!
•	Your computer probably has Microsoft Word, which can edit the page
•	There are other editors, like Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage
•	There are tools to put your web pages where people can read them, like FTP

How do I make a web page?  (Second Next Simplest Way)

You've already swiped their page - now make it your own!

•	Your computer probably has "Wordpad", which can change the text and the formatting
•	You are smart enough to edit a web page without some fancy editor...
•	... because you're already smart enough to get certified to teach aerobics...
•	... and there's no test for HTML, you just do it!

What's all that stuff in the web page?

Just the most important stuff:

<title> "Title" - name your web page
<p> "Paragraph" -  start a new paragraph
<b> "Bold" - boldface
<i> "Italic" - italics
<u> "Underline" - underlines
•	<ul> "Unordered List" - starts a list without numbers
1.	<ol> "Ordered List" - starts a list with numbers
•	2.  <li> "List Item" - any entry in a list
<a> "Anchor" - click on this and you get another web page
</title> </p>, </b>, </i>, </u>, </ul>, </ol>, </li>, </a> - end whatever you started

What then?

To maintain your web pages, use someone's editor, OR...

•	"Google" for "html reference"
•	That is to say...
•	Open your web browser
•	Make it go to "google.com"
•	It will open a web page that has "Search For" on it
•	Type "html reference" (without the quotes) in the data field

In any case, you will have web pages!

What is a domain name?

•	It's a web page ID, of the form "www.yourcompany.com"
•	It's where the term "dot com" came from
•	But it could be "www.yourcompany.net" or ".us" or many other things

Why should I have a domain name?

•	People use them as shortcuts around the search engines
•	Last I checked, "fitnesslady.com" was taken, but "fitnesswoman.com" wasn't

Who will give me a domain name?

•	AFAA won't, AOL won't, most free sites won't
•	But I know people who will!
•	They'll give you storage too, $20 a month
•	There are also discount sites
•	Standard price is $35 a year (two years?) 
•	There's only one place that can do this; other places are middlemen
•	If your place charges you less, they intend to invisibly make money off you
•	If your place charges you more, they're gypping you

What then?

•	You have to renew occasionally (cost of doing business)
•	You will be a dot-com!