Software for children who want to create pages on the World Wide Web is rare. But schools with a Web site want to make its composition and construction as accessible as possible. So here, for just this purpose, is Web Workshop from Sunburst, imported at a very reasonable price, with excellent backup resources by TAG, to bring the creation of simple, linked, Web pages within the grasp of children from older primary upwards.

Web Workshop is page-based and your “project” is really your Web site. On the left of the screen is a toolbar controlling backgrounds, clip-art, graphics, drawing, linking and files. Selecting one of these presents you with a menu at the top of the screen with just three or four context-sensitive options and you are guided through what is actually a sophisticated publishing exercise.

Graphics and text can be imported from huge libraries of art, textures and dividers; it is possible to import your own art easily, so that you may, for example, easily drop scanned images of your school environment and thumbnails of pupils right on to the page. The built-in painting and editing tools take care of additions you make directly on the page. You can record sound as well as e-mail linktags. Older students will want to construct and check links to and from associated pages - and, indeed, cater for live links to other websites, including a library of suitable sites sourced by Sunburst and TAG, such as the children’s search engine, Yahooligans. This is easy to do and, again, you can painlessly add your own as pupils build up a list of their favourite sites and you become familiar with suitable sources for projects or assemblies.

Material produced on Web Workshop can be turned into an interactive presentation or portfolio of multimedia work. There is even a chance for those who want to get their hands dirty in HTML (HyperText Markup Language, which controls the appearance and the operation of Web pages).

Web Workshop is an ideal introduction for non-specialist teachers. Thoroughly recommended.