Interactive Elements for Your Web Site

note:
This site was designed as a workshop at the Connections '98 conference as well as Oregon Online 99 conference. However, it should also stand on its own as a tutorial, any time, any place.

"Learn how to find collections of interactive elements such as JavaScript and Shockwave and incorporate them into web pages without needing to know how to program. Examples include making web slide shows and online quizzes. Participants should have basic knowledge of HTML"

what is this?
This workshop is for anyone that is interested in some interactive components to their web pages... and who is not interested in learning the arcane gobbledy-gook of programming.
When we say the word interactive, where does your mind go? Dictionary definitions do not offer much clear direction. The types of interactivty we will introduce to you are beyond the "click-and-see" and "click-and-read" of hypertext. We will steer clear of knick-knacks promoted to "jazz up your web pages", which may be pretty but typically are devoid of purpose.
With many available technology tools available, we have focussed on two that are widely used, Shockwave and JavaScript. The examples we will introduce to you are ones where you can customize the functionality of the interaction simply by editing some HTML files. To use these examples, you do not have to know anything about Shockwave or JavaScript.
These pre-built tools may not do everything that you want them to do, but think of it as a huge trade-off (in your favor) in terms of time and frustration if you sat down and tried to teach yourself programming.
Once you've gone through the different sections of this workshop, you will be able to:

Locate web sites for downloading pre-made Shockwave files and ready-to-go JavaScript code.
Write the HTML code that inserts a Shockwave file into your own web pages.
Copy, paste, and modify functional JavaScript code into your own HTML files.
Customize a web slide show using both JavaScript and Shockwave
Customize multiple choice quizzes using both JavaScript and Shockwave
Insert a Shockwave calculator into your web page
Create JavaScript navigation menus
who is it for?
We created this as a workshop for teachers to help them incorporate interactive tools into web pages designed for learning. But anyone is welcome to follow along. You should experience in creating web pages and a working knowledge of HTML (If not, we would like to direct you to our popular tutorial on Writing HTML.
You should be familiar with editing HTML files and testing them in a web browser.
how does it work?
We have major sections on both Shockwave and JavaScript, with discussions of the issues on using each, details on what goes on behind the scenes of the web page interactivity, web resources to find examples, and three hands-on examples for you to try.
There is not a strict order for going through this workshop. The pull-down menu at the top of every page allows you to quickly jump to another section. Before moving on to the examples, we do suggest that you first read the next section about our approach .