How This Site Is Built

Three Things Every Website Needs

Think of a house. You need a street sign, rooms full of stuff, and a place the house sits. A website is the same idea.

• Domain (done!) — the address people type. Ours is bayoubluffhistory.org.
• Files (done!) — the pages themselves. You are looking at one right now.
• Hosting (next) — a computer on the internet that shows the pages. Still waiting for a grown-up OK.

The Six-Step Path

We are on a trail. Two steps are done. Four are still ahead. Nothing goes live until a grown-up says yes.

1. Draft — write the pages on the computer. ✅
2. Review — look carefully. No private names. No secret places. ✅
3. Upload — send the files to a safe online folder. (next)
4. Pages — turn on free hosting so visitors can see it. (next)
5. Connect — point the domain address at those files. (next)
6. Check — visit the live site and make sure it works. (next)

What’s Already on This Site?

Click around. These pages are real draft files:

• Home — who the Society is
• Projects — Ghost Towns, the Amite River, Old Maps, Glass Insulators
• Fun Facts — true facts kept by the Junior Historian
• Kids’ Corner — art gallery kept by the Junior Art Director
• Sources & Thanks — archives that helped
• FAQ — short answers
• Contact — Society email only
• This page! — how the site is built

Secret Code: What Is an HTML Tag?

Web pages are written in HTML. Words sit between tags. Tags are like bookends.

The letter p means paragraph. The slash in </p> means “stop.” Cool, right?

🔎 Treasure Hunt: Find It on This Page

Can you spot these? Point at the screen or shout the answer.

1. Find the green checkmarks on the six-step path. How many steps are done?
2. Find the word Hosting in the three-box picture. What does hosting mean?
3. Find a tag that looks like <p>. What word sits between the bookends?
4. Find the brown circle logo at the top. Tap Home with it—where do you land?

Your Turn, Junior Builders

The Society now has a real Fun Facts page and a Kids’ Corner. Below is practice code, plus the exact steps to update those pages.

Good topics: old maps, glass insulators, rivers as old highways. Keep facts general. No private places. No living people’s names.

The code that makes that box looks like this:

<section class="fun-facts">
    <h2>Did You Know?</h2>
    <ul>
      <li>Old maps were drawn by hand before satellites.</li>
      <li>Glass insulators kept electricity from jumping off wires.</li>
      <li>Rivers were the highways before cars and trucks.</li>
    </ul>
  </section>

How to Add a Fun Fact

Easy steps for the Junior Historian. Always work with a grown-up.

1. Open the draft folder and open fun-facts.html in a text editor.
2. Find the big comment that says HOW TO ADD A FUN FACT.
3. Copy one whole <article class="fact-card">...</article> block.
4. Paste it at the bottom of the fact list (before the closing </div>).
5. Change the fact text and the one-line source. Keep it short and true.
6. Save. Double-click fun-facts.html to check it in the browser.
7. Show a grown-up. Do not publish until they say yes.

How to Add Art to Kids’ Corner

Easy steps for the Junior Art Director. Always work with a grown-up.

1. Save the picture file in the kids-corner/ folder (example: kids-corner/river-drawing.jpg).
2. Open kids-corner.html in a text editor.
3. Find the big comment that says HOW TO ADD ART.
4. Copy one whole <figure class="art-tile">...</figure> block.
5. Paste it into the gallery grid. Change the image filename and the caption.
6. Use a first name, initials, or no name—never a last name.
7. Save and open kids-corner.html in the browser to check.
8. A grown-up must review every piece before it is posted. Do not publish yet.

Builder Safety Rules

• Never put anyone’s real name, phone number, or home address on the site.
• Never post exact locations of private or sensitive places.
• Have a grown-up review any change before it is saved for real.