Using a Web portal can help you save time and keep your favorite Internet sites organized and close at hand.

Welcome to a new year of Digitally Speaking! Plans for this year include examples and case studies of how technology is used and managed in schools-your schools. You'll read about laptop programs and wireless schools; computer-based video in instruction; and how one school has reorganized its technology management, training, and administration.

We begin the year, however, with an idea for your desktop. When most principals open their Web browser (usually Internet Explorer or Netscape) their home page is the browser's public webpage or perhaps the school or district webpage. Rarely is that opening or default webpage one that a principal has customized for his or her own professional use.

I was first introduced to this notion while at Indiana University's Center for Excellence in Education. A colleague sat me down and created a webpage for me before my very eyes in a very short time and with my participation. The page had links to the websites I used frequently, was organized in a manner that made perfect sense, and was simple enough for me to make changes when my needs changed. I can tell you that it made a big difference in my efficiency using Web resources. No longer was I dependent on my long (and unorganized) list of bookmarks.

Near the end of this column, we'll explain more about how this can be done, but let's begin with an idea that has helped a number of principals. There are several online services that can be used to create your own Web portal. - BJ.

The Perfect Principal Portal

Principals need accurate and useful information at their fingertips. One of the best sources of timely high-quality data is a well-designed Internet portal. Many people, including school administrators, simply accept default browser settings, but you can do much better than that.

Our "principal's portal," which will allow you to tailor an on-ramp to the Internet, works equally well with Internet Explorer or Netscape and will operate on both PCs and Macs. Of the many choices available, we are going to use Yahoo, which has withstood the test of time and is constantly updated. To see this portal "live," go to http://login .yahoo.com and in the existing user box enter principalsdesktop as the Yahoo! ID and leader as the password (terms are case sensitive). If you prefer a site other than Yahoo, other options include MSN (http:// my.msn.com) and Lycos (http://my .lycos.com).

The heart of the portal is the bookmark list located on your screen in the lower left. My collection has bookmarks that link to sites with forums to discuss problems and seek help; allow instant access to lesson plans, perhaps for a substitute teacher in need; and give an aerial view of my school campus or any address in the country. My portal includes links to educational research sites that can provide quick answers to issues administrators face daily and a link to current newspaper front pages from around the world. You can add your own bookmarks, such as a link to your school's webpage, and change other content, too.

Additional features available on Yahoo's portal include a white pages people search and a yellow pages business search, local weather, news headlines, a ZIP code finder, maps and driving directions, and a great reference tool (to find quick quotes for your newsletter, for example). There is a message center that gives principals access to an online calendar and e-mail from any online computer. The administrator can even share the password with a secretary or superintendent to allow those people to view the calendar.

This is truly an interactive site, and because it is Web-based, it can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection. A helpful add-on is the Google toolbar. Google is a search engine with a knack for finding relevant results. The toolbar is free and can be retrieved at http://toolbar.google.com (this toolbar will work only with Intenet Explorer). The Google toolbar is simple to load and has consistently ranked at the top of the hundreds of available search engines in terms of user-friendliness and, more important, quick and accurate searches.

Ready to make your own personalized portal? Set-up is easy.

1. Go to http://login.yahoo.com and click "sign up now" to start. It's free.

2. After signing up, you will see a menu of options for content, layout, and background. Simply click the

"Choose Content" button and then select the content you would like on your portal page, such as news headlines, weather, phone search, or maps.

3. To make your creation the default home page when you open Internet Explorer, select Tools from your browser menu, then scroll down and select Internet Options.

4. Enter my.yahoo.com as the home page address and click Apply.

The instructions are the same for Netscape Communicator except that you begin with the Edit menu and choose Preferences. Another attribute is that Yahoo allows you to add up to five more pages, which can be personal rather than professional and are accessible with a single click. These pages might include your local television and movie theatres, your financial portfolio, hobbies, family links, and travel.

Relevance to school principals, ease of set-up, and a dynamic nature are showcases of this home page. David Stankewicz, principal of Colon (MI) Elementary School states, "I put all my professional organizations in the bookmarks and that really helps. I also use it in the winter for a quick check of the wind chill to see if we can send students outside." He also uses the news features to "monitor what is going on in the world," which can be difficult when shut inside a school building all day. With ever-increasing expectations of the principal by a demanding public, a customized portal can be a welcome addition to the educational leader's repertoire.

Other Options

Using Yahoo is one quick and easy way to create a customized Web entry page, but there are alternatives to commercial service provider pages.

A page on the Internet, accessible from any machine.Those of you with robust technology support and school- or district-based Web servers may be able to enlist the assistance of a technology staff member to help you create your own portal, minus the online advertisements and minus the restrictions inherent in such menu-driven customization.

1. First, try one of the options described above just to get an idea of what is possible.

2. Next, scan your personal bookmarks or favorites to think about what will work best for you. Are they well organized? How would you add to, reduce, rearrange, or organize them if you had time?

3. Now, contact your local Webmaster. Ask how you can create your own working home page-not one that is posted for public consumption but that is just for you to use. Usually this is done by creating and posting such a page on a location that is never linked from another page. In other words, it is posted to the Internet, but no one knows the Internet address other than you. Although search engines may end up finding it, it is unlikely that anyone but you would use it.

Your local support person may do just what mine did-sit down next to you and type in html code to create a page with links organized to suit you-or he or she could teach you enough about a Web design tool, such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver for you to do the creation and design work yourself. Either way, you end up with a customized page to enhance your Web access and streamline your use.

A word processor-based page located on your hard drive and not available from any machine. You can create a webpage using your favorite word processor and store it on your computer at your office and at home. This page is not available on the Internet or available to search engines, but it also is not available unless you are in your office or at your home. If these two places are where you do all or most of your online work, this option allows you to do all the creation and design work and the result does not have to be posted to a Web server. (Some schools and districts have strict controls on what is saved on their servers. In such cases, this option presents a viable workaround.)

1. Think about what links you want and how they might be organized. You might even sketch the page out on paper.

2. Open your word processor and create the page. You might have categories and bullet points for your links. You might want two columns. Just type in the names of your links and then insert hyperlinks to make the links "hot" or "live." In Microsoft Word, highlight the name of the site (NASSP for example), right click on it, and select Hyperlink-or select Hyperlink from the Insert menu at the top of your screen. A box appears and you can type in or copy and paste the Web address you want and the name you recognize it by and click OK.

3. Save the file as a webpage by selecting that option from the file menu.

4. Set the newly created file as your default using Tools then Internet Options in Explorer or Edit and Preferences in Netscape (as described in the instructions above).

This option allows you full control and can be modified whenever you choose. You do not run the risk of others stumbling upon it as they search the Web. The big drawback is that you cannot access this page from any machine you choose-the file must be physically on the machine you are using.

Try It!

You may not believe what a difference a portal can make until you try it. Find an hour or two to create this time-saver and see for yourself.

B. J. Eib (beib@indiana.edu) is a veteran technology educator who is currently an independent consultant who focuses on leadership, professional development, and technology. David E, Whale (whale1de@cmich.edu) is an associate professor of Educational Administration and Community Leadership at Central Michigan University.