Possible file formats for an online Blackboard course:
Text, Data, Spreadsheet, Image


A) Text
I am using MS Word on a PC to create this file, containing text, and naming it  “file_formats”. Usually, we can save a file with a long file name that includes spaces and punctuation marks. That works within MS Office on the PC but not necessarily in other environments such as for online material. So, we should use file names that may use underlines instead of spaces and should be shortened as much as possible but should still be easily recognizable for what they are.
Format and save into a special folder such as c:\my documents\bboard. (create a subfolder for each course)

1) Here, saved as Name: file_formats, Type (scroll to select) Word document. The name of the saved file is file_formats.doc. This type is for e-mailing as an attachment or for downloading to one’s home computer, to open and read or print. It can be read by anyone that has the same version of MS Word you do. Some people have older versions so you might want to select one of those to ensure that the document is readable by anyone that has Word of whatever vintage. Check with your students. If they use the Lehman Computer Center, they will have no problem but their home computers may only have Works, so save a second version of your document with Type (scroll to select) Works if needed.

2) Save as Name: file_formats, Type (scroll to select) Rich Text Format. The name of the saved file is file_formats.rtf. This format preserves all formatting but is transportable, i.e., it can be e-mailed as an attachment or downloaded and read and printed on a Macintosh as well as on a PC, with Word or WordPerfect or Works.

3) Save as Name: file_formats, Type (scroll to select) Text (select a variety). The name of the saved file is file_formats.txt. This has no formatting but is fine for simple messages.  It can be copied and pasted into an e-mail and read on any computer.

4) Save as Name: file_formats, Type (scroll to select) Web page. The name of the saved file is file_formats.htm (or html). This is the format needed for a web browser such as Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator and is a quick way to create a simple web page. For a complex web page, the conversion from Word to HTML is not perfect; one needs to redo some of the formatting in the editor of the browser. I use Netscape that is a free download and includes a good editor. The editor for the Internet Explorer is called Frontpage: The Lehman Computer Center may have a copy installed in the Faculty Lab, or you may need to buy the software. (For a complex web page, my preference is to type the text in Word, without formatting, then copy and paste it to a blank Netscape page, and format it there. This creates a much smaller file that downloads more quickly; see file_formats2.htm.)

5) Acrobat version for viewing and/or printing a file that looks precisely as your original file, including formatting, images, graphs, tables. To create a file, such as file_formats.pdf, one needs the Acrobat software, available in the Lehman Computer Center Faculty Lab. To read the file, one needs the Acrobat Reader, a free download from the web that installs itself automatically.

6) WordPerfect users: Please keep in mind that most people do not use WordPerfect. So save your file in one of the formats suggested above.
 

File sizes for this file, saved in different formats: the smaller the faster to view or download. But the way the file looks when formatted may be important:

Formatted text look-alikes:
File_formats.doc  about 26 k (Word document)
File_formats.rtf  about 18 k (Rich Text Format)
File_formats.pdf  about 79 k (Acrobat file)
File_formats.wps  about  9 k (Word Perfect document)

No formatting, just plain text:
File_formats.txt  about   5 k (Notepad or Wordpad document)

HTML:
File_formats.htm  about 16 k (web page created with Word)
File_formats2.html about   5 k (same web page created with Netscape)


B) Datafile or Spreadsheet:
Assuming that you use Access or Excel, the datafile will be called, e.g., data.mdb, or the spreadsheet will be called, e.g., data.xls. You can put it into your Blackboard course site as is, provided all students have the same version of Access or Excel, or you can save it in an earlier version of Access or Excel, or you can save it as a web page, called, e.g., spreadsheet.htm. Or you can save it as Type (scroll) Text (Tab delimited) that will preserve the columns but not the formatting; or you can save it as Type (scroll) Formatted Text (Space delimited), called, e.g., data.txt.


C) Image:
Do not save an image as a bitmap (name.bmp) because it has a large file size and therefore downloads slowly. Instead, save the image as a gif or jpg/jpeg file: this format is compressed, much smaller, and therefore faster to upload/download/view on the screen (name.gif or name.jpg).


Note that only .txt and .htm(l) files can be seen on Blackboard, after clicking on the name.  All other files need to be downloaded to a computer at Lehman or at home, to be opened with the appropriate software.