The Career Portfolio Workbook

you can use when publishing a portable PDF to determine the level

of compression and consequent level of detail in your PDF file.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

Summary:This format enables you to post your portfolio at an eas-

ily accessible Web site; results are impressive on-screen but usually not

on print output; usage requires a higher level of computer knowledge.

Requirements:

1. You will need a host. Free hosts usually put advertisements on your
   page, which creates an unprofessional impression. To avoid having
   advertisements on your HTML, you will probably need to pay a
   monthly fee, unless you are affiliated with a university, in which
   case free hosting is usually provided. You may wish to secure a
   domain such as http://www.yourname.net so that the location of your port-
   folio will be easy for others to remember.


2. Unless you are a real techie, you will need HTML coding software.
   There are many user-friendly, inexpensive packages available.
   Advantages:
   
   
   1. There is no need to transmit your portfolio to others; they simply
      need to know the address. This setup saves you from imposing a
      multimegabyte attachment on someone’s mailbox, which the recip-
      ient might find cumbersome. Others can easily share your portfolio,
      since they need only pass the address along.
   
   
   
   


3. An HTML format is universally accessible. Only Internet browsing
   software is required, and this software is built into every major
   operating system.


4. Access is much faster because images on the Web appear as soon as
   they are downloaded. A portfolio transmitted as an attachment,
   however, must be transmitted completely before viewing by the
   recipient can begin. So, if you are in the middle of a phone inter-
   view and decide to share your portfolio electronically, it is much
   more convenient to suggest “Go to [your e-mail address]”than to
   say “Wait for this 5-megabyte download and then open it up.”
   4. Only you can modify your Web site. Better yet, you can update your
   portfolio at your leisure and when people look back at it or pass it
   on, they will see your updated version. With other print or elec-
   tronic formats, once your portfolio is in someone else’s hands or
   e-mail box, you cannot change it. A Web-based portfolio gives you
   added control.
   5. A Web portfolio is, itself, portfolio material; it is a demonstration of
   computer and Internet literacy.
   6. You can distribute different targeted portfolios to different people.
   For example, you could give a prospective employer one address
   and then provide someone else with a different version of your port-
   folio at a different address.

136 Part I: Building, Using, and Maintaining Your Career Portfolio