The Website Category This is a new category for NHD; therefore, the best place to get thorough answers is to go to and choose “Contest.” Then choose “categories,” and click on “Websites.” From this site, you can access 5-6 different links for helpful tips.

Websites: The Basics Before choosing this category, ask yourself the following questions: Do I have time to learn how to build a website? Do I have constant access to a computer? Is my topic visual with many possible interactive elements?

Websites: The Basics Size Requirements:  100 MB of file space, including all multimedia  Maximum of 1200 student-composed words. Documents, quotes, graphs, and brief citations do NOT count toward this limit. Every word you create on your own DOES count.

Important Elements of the Website Category Interactivity Non-textual content Website Organization and Variation Website Planning Saving Web site files Ten Tips for creating an effective website for NHD

Interactivity Active teaching of your topic is important. Avoid passive reading of material. That is reserved for the paper category! Examples: Image maps, pop-up windows, sound, video, interactive timelines.

Interactivity The best interactive elements ENRICH your website. A good example: A timeline which has active links. A viewer can click on a particular time period to learn more about that event and see images. A bad example: A pop-up quiz testing the viewer on information in the website.

Interactivity A Good example: A map of WWII in Europe with links for each battle. Viewers can click on battles to learn more about the location and event. A Bad example: links in your website to a photo gallery. This lacks organization and leaves your viewer wondering what the significance of your photos are.

Non-textual content Examples of non-textual content: Documents, artifacts, oral history selections, quotations, video clips, songs, newspaper articles, photographs, paintings, or interview recordings.

Incorporating Non-Textual Content Non-textual content should not just illustrate or decorate a page. It should always be used to help your user understand your topic more and it should support your thesis statement. Use lower resolution, smaller thumbnails with links to larger resolution documents. Think of non-textual content as providing evidence or proof of your thesis statement.

Website Organization and Variation Creating an outline for your project provides the initial step to website organization. Here’s a direct quote from NHD.org: To get started, think about your information as if you were writing an outline for a paper. How would you divide up your material into major sections? How does each section support your argument? Now, think of another way you could divide the information (chronologically, topically, by location, etc.). Which system do you think will make more sense to your viewer?

Website Organization Remember, you’re not just building web pages, you’re building a website. Therefore, your website needs to be logically organized and easy to navigate.

Website Organization

Website Planning “As the web designer, it's your job to decide what you want your audience to learn from your web site and to figure out how you will teach it to them. Write down the major ideas you have about your topic on notecards. That way, you can lay out these cards and rearrange them to understand how the ideas fit together. What categories do they fall into? What order should they be arranged in? How do these ideas relate to the thesis? Once you feel comfortable with these categories, they will become the pages of your web site.” ---

Website Planning Site Design: Template, colors, font, style Page content: Headings, information Non-textual content: Select non-textual content that will help viewer understand topic more. Write captions. Create interactive elements that are enriching.

Saving Files The NHD website will not be posted on the internet. Therefore, it is necessary that you properly save your files on a CD-R. Please click on the following link to learn how to save with the appropriate pathname, etc…

Ten Tips for Creating a NHD website Please visit: cularNHDWebSite.htm Have fun!!