This lesson is going to provide step-by-step directions on how to make a Hotlinks Page for your students to use to get content, you have previewed, from the Internet. The program to use for this lesson is Netscape Communicator. Netscape Communicator is free and has all the features you will need to search the web, bookmark, and create your own classroom Hotlinks page.
You may search and find many great sites to use with your students. Bookmarking your sites helps you remember the great things you've found. You can use your bookmarks file to make your own html file (Internet file). If you have an Internet connection, students can go right from your Hotlinks page onto the Internet.
This image shows the icons that are on the bottom right corner of the window when Netscape Communicator is open. The icon on the far left is for Netscape Navigator (Browser). The icon on the far right is for Netscape Composer (Web page Editor).
Step 1 - Bookmark Each Site!
While in the Browser, find the Web sites you want your students to visit during your unit or lesson. Bookmark each site. You can bookmark the exact page you want your students to go to or link an opening page and provide directions for your student to search for information (step to add directions will follow).
Step 2 - Open Your Bookmarks File!
After you have your bookmarks ready, the next step is to open your Bookmarks file. Go to Edit Bookmarks.
You should see a window that lists all your bookmarks (even the ones that came on the computer!).
The title on the window that opens should be Bookmarks for _S____ (name of the Netscape user). You will not work in this section- only save this file. These are each of your bookmarks. You may have some folders like shown above or individual sites.
Step 3 - Save your Bookmarks File!
Now you will save your bookmarks file. It's important to Save As a new file to work on to make your Hotlinks page. You want an html file to work with. If you begin to work inside your bookmarks window, you may delete your actual bookmarks.
Save the file with the name of your Hotlinks Unit. In this lesson, I am going to name my new file "speced.html". This will be my Web page for Special Education links.
Step 4 - Close Bookmarks and Open your New File!
Now that you have saved your bookmarks as an html file, this is the file you will open to work on. You can close your bookmarks window. Under the File menu, go to Open, then to Page in Composer. Next, find your file. I have mine shown below in a folder on my desktop.
Step 5 - Working in Composer!
Ok, you found your websites and bookmarked them. Then you saved your bookmark file with the name of your unit, in my case speced.html for Special Education. You closed your bookmarks window and opened the page in Composer.
Composer is a very friendly program to use. The icons you work with are like a word processor. You can type, change font size, style, color. You can change the alignment, make lists, add images, etc.
The first thing that needs to be done- Delete all the links listed that are not part of your unit.
I will delete all the links that are not the Special Education links I want to share with my class. You can delete all the links that are not what you want your students to use during your lesson. Here is an example of what my page looks like after deleting personal and professional links. I have also added my title and directions, etc.
Make sure you save your file as you work. You can work to add explanations, directions of what to do at each Web page, classroom assignment information or whatever else will assist your students in using your Hotlinks Page. After you have set up your page with all information your students need - you're done! You have a Hotlinks page for your topic. Above is my Special Education page.
Step 6 - Integrating your Hotlinks page!
Ok, you have it done, now how do the students get to it? Once the students click on the page, it will automatically open Netscape in a Browser (Netscape Navigator). The page itself can be "local" on your machine and the links remain "hot" from being part of your bookmarks collection. You can have the page sitting right on your desktop, in a folder or as the homepage your computers will show when the students open Netscape.
Now you can make Hotlinks Pages for your various topics of study- Olympics, Election, Nutrition- find the Web pages appropriate for your units and projects, bookmark them. In 5 easy steps your students are following your directions and finding content at the locations you selected.
Quick Review-
Step 1 - Bookmark your sites
Step 2 - Open Bookmarks file
Step 3 - Save As - with the name of your activity the Bookmarks file
Step 4 - Open the file in Composer
Step 5 - Edit your new file and make it ready for your activity