REPORT ON
TRAINING PROGRAM
"Web Designing and Database Management"
13TH AND 15TH MARCH, 2003, DEHRADUN
Sponsored by
The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India
( A World Bank assisted Environment Management )
Capacity Building Technical Assistance Project (EMCBTAP))
The second training programme at FRI, Dehradun commenced
with an inaugural address by the Chief Guest, Shri Vinod Rishi, Director,
Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun. He emphasiszed the significance
of trainings on the web-based technologies and their applications in selective
dissemination of environmental information. Shri S. P. Rayal, Director,
Forest Research Institute, invited all the participants to the training
course. Dr. Indrani Chandrsekharan, Director, EI Division, Ministry of
Environment & Forests, briefed the participants about the activities of
ENVIS and the need for creating independent website for all the established
Nodes. Shri Sanjay Gupta from ENVIS Secretariat summarized the information
available on the Ministry's website (http://envfor.nic.in) under various
heads. Mr. Vimal Bisht presented the new ENVIS website at http://www.envis.nic.in
and highlighted the features of the website and emphasized the trainees
to initiate query response service in their respective websites to evaluate
the reachability. In the end, the Course Coordinator and Officer-in-charge
of National Forest Library and Information Centre (NFLIC) Shri Shailendra
Kaushik presented the vote of thanks to the august gathering and introduced
Prof. Kulshrestha.
Introduction to World Wide Web and
Web Page Designing by Prof. Manoj Kulshrestha, Faculty Member, College
of Technology, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar.
He made a interesting presentation on World Wide Web
and covered all the useful concepts of Website development which included
the following :-
Basics of Internet, Web, Hardware, Operating System, Protocols
like TCP/IP, SMTP, FTP and HTTP.
Introduction to HTML and its structure, Browsers
Other languages like DHTML, XML MathML, Java scripts, style sheets
etc.
Most importantly he emphasized on careful planning and clear purpose
of building the Websites for which he mentioned some key points which
should be followed while developing & maintaining the website these
are : a) analyzing the need and goals; b) content development keeping
in view the users and mission of the organization; c) site specification
which should define the content scope, budget schedule and technical
aspects; d) production issues; e) testing by readers who keep us informed
of criticism and programming bugs; f) recording the information about
visitors on most visited page through web server software; g) periodic
checking of links; h) regular backup into secure and reliable storage
medium; i) consistent editorial, graphic design and management policies
and j) site archives.
Apart from above mentioned points other things which shall be kept in
mind when Designing web pages are a) balance between visual sensation
and graphic information; b) visual impact of shape color and contrast;
c) depth and complexity of text; d) logically and predictably organized
content; e) clarity & consistency; f) Page length; g) scrolling
and jump buttons; h) vertical stratification; i) line length; j) colored
backgrounds; k) flexibility in positioning images; l) use of subtle
colors etc.
Practical Session on Front Page by Shri R. P. Tangwan,
IFS, ADG (IT) and Team, ICFRE, Dehradun.
After gaining some basic knowledge of Web page designing
in the Theory session Mr. Tangwan & team gave a hands on training
to the participants as to how to design the Home page with the help of
the web publishing / web authorizing tool Front Page in the computer lab
which included :- a) introduction to the Front Page Software; b) importing
an existing site into Frontpage; c) indenting paragraphs, line brakes,
adding comments, inserting symbols, changing font properties, viewing
HTML codes, titling documents, working with images, setting the background,
using themes and variations, listing; d) Hyperlinks; e) Dynamic HTML;
f) creating tables; g) frames; h) forms etc.
In the end, every participant was asked to make a Home
page on the subject allocated to them with graphics, tables, buttons and
texts, which placed the trainees on comfortable position to make their
website an attractive and informative one.
Combined Session on Adobe Photoshop,
Style Sheet, Java Script by Shri Vimal Bisht, ENVIS Secretariat, Ministry
of Environment and Forests, New Delhi.
It started with the Hands-on-training by Shri Vimal Bisht
on Adobe Photoshop. As image & graphics are the important part of
the web page, it should be given some extra attention on where to put
the image exactly. Shri Bisht focused on some basics and other elements
of Adobe Photoshop, these are as follows :
Introduction to Photoshop - an image editor.
Details discussion on Layers, Tool Box, image selection,
editing, canvassing, feathering, merging, brightness, contrast, hue
and saturation, image fill, various modes of images, and
Placing the image, making the header portion of the
webpage with the image, making buttons and exporting it to web page
etc.
Introduction to Database Management by Shri
Prof. R. C. Mittal, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
Sorting, updating, deleting, inserting and storing data
is of prime importance for analysing and extracting are the features of
Database which made this session to throw some light on Database Management.
Prof. Mittal very methodically introduced the trainees to various concepts
and use of Database Management viz., creating a database and table, inserting
columns and rows, string & numeric types, retrieving data with search
criteria, changing existing data altering a table keys and indexes etc.
He also covered basics of Structured Query Language (SQL) in his lecture.
Multimedia Design, Java Script, Flash and Web
Maintenance by Shri Ajay Sopan Bhagat, Assistant Director, Advanced Training
Institute for Electronics and Process Implementation, Dehradun
Multimedia has been slow to reach the Web because of bandwidth
limitations, so, Shri Bhagat recommended using stable technology and detailed
about the most powerful aspect of computing technology to combine text,
graphics, sounds, and moving images in meaningful ways. He emphasized
: Applications for Multimedia, Web Multimedia Strategies like audio, Slide
shows, Video, Animation, Preparing multimedia (processing, delivery),
Design and multimedia, Accessibility, etc. Shri Bhagat also précised about
using animated GIFs instead of static images in web pages using Flash
software and Java Applets which included :- Introduction to flash, Drawing,
Symbols, Layers, Type, Buttons, Sound, Animation, Client side scripting,
Sever side scripting, Event handlers, Use of function, Basic Java script
elements, flow control, recursive functions, data types, Math functions,
event structure of Java script, working with forms, Image handling, Web
Maintenance etc.
Digital Libraries and Searching Techniques by
Dr. Yogendra Singh, Librarian, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
Digital library is where users could go to one place and
look through lots of collections at once and is somewhat different from
what are all discussed from all the above mentioned sessions and confined
only to people who are interested in presenting digital collection to
the users. Digital libraries create an interface between the content of
the collection and the user. This session interested many participants
with the contents like Digital library components, characteristics, Data
objects, digitization, Process of digitization, Criteria for selecting
documents, Scanners, Indexing, Storage, Graphic user interface, Launching
digital library on internet, Search techniques - Boolean searching with
AND, NOT and OR, Proximity search, Truncation and Search tools.
Valedictory Function
Shri Shailendra Kaushik, Course Coordinator, discussed about the feedback received and congratulated all the participant for active participation in the training programme. The Director, Forest Research Institute, Shri A. K. Rana presented the valedictory address for this solemn occasion. Later on distributed certificated and Memento to the trainees. The session concluded with a vote of thanks from Shri M. G. Ahmed, Scientist 'D', National Forest Library and Information Centre, Dehradun.
