Welcome "Friends of Valerie Woods". As you know, our group is currently considering developing a Website to help disseminate our message about preserving and protecting the 101 acres of land that is known as Valerie Woods. Therefore, this Webpage has been developed to explain a little about the Internet, highlight the advantages and benefits of developing a Website (both to our group and to those who access our site), demonstrate some of the capabilities and features available on the Internet, and to examine our options for developing and maintaining our site. So please take a few minutes to read through this page, view the examples, review the benefits, and then formulate your opinion as to whether or not a Website would be useful to our group. In the end, I think you'll see how valuable a Website can be to our group, in helping us to reach our ultimate goal of preserving Valerie Woods.
	Scott Grimes

The Internet is a worldwide group of computer networks that connects or links millions of individuals, groups, businesses, governments and government agencies, and educational institutions. This worldwide computer network, often called the "Information Superhighway" allows computers across the world to share information via modems, phone lines, and other communication equipment.

Although the terms World Wide Web and the Internet are usually used synonymously, the Web, as it is also known, is only a part of the Internet. The Web is actually the part of the Internet that supports multimedia and consists of a collection of linked documents. These documents, or pages, are known as Webpages. Since the Web supports graphics, text, sound, and video, they can all be included on Webpages. A Website, therefore, is a collection of Webpages that is created and maintained by a group, business, or an individual.

Because the Internet is so widespread, groups of individuals utilizing the power of the Internet, can disseminate and gather information from all over the world. For additional information on the Internet and how it works, please click on any of the links (blue underlined text) below:

To Top

Given the popularity of the Internet, creating a Website for the Friends Of Valerie Woods is an excellent way to spread the word about our group and what we are trying to accomplish. Creating a Website would therefore provide our group the following benefits:

To Top

There are many options for ways to build and maintain our Website. The two most practical methods are:

1. Code and maintain the site by hand using HTML - Although this sounds somewhat complex, learning HTML is actually a fairly easy process. There are a large number of text books written on the subject, and there are actually countless Websites that either contain reference information on HTML or are entirely devoted to the process of learning to develop Websites in HTML. To learn more about HTML, please click on any of the links below:
   http://html.digitalsea.net/
   http://werbach.com/barebones/barebone.html
   http://www.cc.ukans.edu/~acs/docs/other/HTML_quick.shtml
   http://www.stars.com/Authoring/HTML

2. Use one of the many Webpage development software packages that are available. Packages such as Microsoft FrontPage, Adobe PageMill, Splash WebAuthor, Netscape Composer, etc. allow you to develop a Website with limited or no knowledge of HTML. To learn more about these and other Webpage development packages, click on any of the links below:
   Microsoft Front Page
   Adobe PageMill
   Splash WebAuthor
   Netscape Composer

Realistically, the most practical method for building and maintaining our Website would probably be to use a combination of the 2 methods. Since the work on our site will be done part-time, in our members' spare time, it will probably require help from many different parties. In order to build an effective site, and continually maintain it to keep it fresh and appealing, many different parties, with varying degrees of Website creation knowledge will be working together as a team. Therefore, those who are comfortable using HTML may choose to develop their components of the site in HTML, while those with less knowledge may opt to develop their contributions using a Webpage development package.

To Top

1. 24 hour access allows visitors to gather information about Valerie Woods and about our group at their convenience and leisure.

2. E-mail link(s) allow users to quickly and easily make contact with us, also at their convenience.

3. Pictures, video, etc. allow visitors to view and enjoy the beauty of Valerie Woods, when they might otherwise be unable to do so. This will probably be especially appealing to the older and infirmed members of our community who are unable to tour the Valerie Woods property.

4. Members of our community who are interested in meeting times, events and announcements concerning our group, will have up-to-date access to such information.

5. Community members and group members who are unable to attend our regular meetings, can view the minutes and topics of discussion from the meetings, at a later date at their convenience.

6. Providing a Webpage on our site with e-mail address links, phone numbers, and mail addresses for each of the Harrison Township Trustees, will give visitors easy access to their elected officials, so that they can voice their opinions and concerns about the Valerie Woods property.

7. Providing a Webpage on our site with a map to Valerie Woods, will provide directions to the property for those members of our community who would like to see Valerie Woods but who are unaware of where it is located.

To Top

Thank you for visiting. This Webpage was designed to show you some of the benefits of developing a Website for the Friends Of Valerie Woods. I hope you have a better understanding of what a Website is and how we can exploit the features of the Web to help promote our group. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, I would love to hear from you. Please drop me an e-mail at the address below: