Activity 8.1 — HTML Practice
Make a post on your blog, using the “HTML” tab in the WordPress text editor. Make sure that your post uses HTML to create text, at least one level of header, a list, a link, an image and a table. If you run into difficulties, try one of the tutorials listed on the Resources page. Don’t spend too long working on a problem without sending me an email. HTML is not a solo pursuit—you have to find a balance between developing your own skill and efficiently building pages.
Activity 8.2 – Optional – Check out Emerging Web Standards – HTML5
Review some of the examples at HTML 5 Demos and Examples. Each HTML5 standard featured lists the browsers that support it (notice the absence of Internet Explorer – though that should improve) and links to a demo of the feature. What features do you think have an application for your teaching area?
http://html5demos.com/
See several of these features used for a video by Arcade Fire. The Wilderness Downtown is an interactive rock video. You will need the Chrome browser to make it work.
http://thewildernessdowntown.com/
HTML5 (along with JavaScript) can form the platform for complex online games where previously Flash would have been used. Check out these classic games rendered with HTML5 and JavaScript (sorry it’s ad-supported now). Atari Arcade.
http://www.atari.com/arcade/#!/arcade/atari-promo
Add fancy effects and transitions to slideshows on the web. An HTML5 Slideshow w/ Canvas & jQuery – canvas is one of the new HTML5 standards and jQuery is a library of JavaScript functions.
http://tutorialzine.com/2010/09/html5-canvas-slideshow-jquery/
If you wish, write a post describing what you found interesting and how you think it might make an impact in teaching and learning online.
Activity 8.3 – Optional – Create a Web Page with CSS
Watch the screencast “HTML & CSS – The VERY Basics” and create an HTML document and CSS document on your own computer. Using the steps set out in the screencast experiment with applying styles using a CSS file. If you would like, make a blog post noting your thoughts on the ease of this method and any roles you see for this style of web publishing in support of education. Please email if you have any problems as you try this out. There is no easy and quick way to get your files up on the web (WordPress won’t allow the upload of an HTML or CSS file to the Media library for security reasons), but if you want to share I can get the files up on the web if you email them to me.
Go to the resources page for tutorials on using CSS with HTML.
