hot news: Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

Minggu, 28 November 2010

Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 03:47 AM PST

When building a Web site, having a visual representation of how your pages will be linked is helpful. We call this visual representation a site map. Many Web builders use Word or PowerPoint to create a flowchart to map their site, but a service called WriteMaps has a better idea.

WriteMaps works like a flowchart or an outline, but gives room to make notes and even insert individual page URLs. To start making a site map, click Sign-up Now and create a username and password.

Click Create A New Site Map to build your new site map.

The first page appears on the map. Click the words New Page beneath it to name it as your homepage.

Click the i on the page to enter information about the page. You can enter a URL, and detailed notes about the page.

To add more pages, click the green plus sign beneath the page.

Pages are completely movable. You can click and drag pages at will. Keep clicking the green plus signs beneath the pages to create new pages, then drag them where you want them.

By default, the map appears in flowchart view. To change to outline view, click the outline view icon on the top toolbar.

Outline view shrinks the pages and aligns them in traditional outline format.

To save or export the map, click the file button. From there, you can either save the file on the WriteMaps server, or export the map in XML format.

WriteMaps also allows users to share their maps. Click File>Sharing and choose to either share the map, or share and edit the map. Share and edit gives the people with whom you share the map edit rights—they can then change the map.

WriteMaps then generates a URL for your map. Only the people with whom you share the URL will have access to your map.

WriteMaps is a good visual tool for mapping how a Web site will work. For Web owners hiring a third-party Web builder, WriteMaps can be a strong communication tool to make sure the builder understands the owner's needs and wants.

Overall, our only complaint is the sharing—we wish it had a more private way to share with individual email addresses rather than as a fairly public URL.