The training in web page design was carried out in January 1999 over two days at the TAP (Training Access Points) office in Shipley Library.

Some background information on Internet Service Providers and the nature of the Internet and HTML was given. There was a discussion on the ways in which the centres might present themselves in cyberspace and how they pictured themselves in relation to the rest of the community. Questions were posed such as:

What?	What do you want to put in your pages and what do you want to achieve with your site?
Why?	Why do you need a website? Think in terms of goals and objectives.
Who?	Who will be responsible for the website and its maintenance?
Who?	Who is the website aimed at?
How?	How will visitors find their way around your website?
How?	How will your website look and feel?

Participants from each centre were invited to develop web pages for their own centres. Each had a template page to start with which was then customised with Netscape Composer according to their own ideas. Participants were shown how to make internal page links and links to other websites, how to insert images and how to manipulate text and backgrounds in terms of colours and fonts.

As a result of the training activity websites were set up with ISP telinco. During this period however, the mechanism for uploading new items to the websites was rather convoluted. The recent shift of the SCOL centres to the Bradford-based ISP Legend Internet means that we are now availing ourselves of the opportunity to use the web space at go-legend. This in turn means that the uploading of pages can take place quickly and the FTP procedure can also be developed within the centres themselves.

An evaluation of the training day revealed that the expectations that people came with were met. These included: gaining the basics for page building; putting information about the centre on the Internet; making links with other centres. A sense of enthusiasm was evident amongst everybody, yet it has proved difficult to bridge the knowledge gap. Graphic design in particular proved taxing. (This may be an opportunity for local residents with a feel for design to become involved). To move from complete beginner to HTML wizard is a large step, particularly when people have other priorities on their time. The expectation that people would easily slip into a routine production of centre websites proved too high. Thus the initial responsibility fell to the workers on the Information Development Group, Ronan O'Beirne and John Davies, to set up and develop the sites of Windhill, the Windhill Memories Group and Shipley New Start. Using content provided by the centres, these sites were developed in consultation with key figures at the centres.Without such content there can be no website. As time progresses the production of webpages will devolve to interested people within the centres, as and when they present themselves.