Things to Know Before You Begin a Web Site
Read Chapter
Five (The Non-Designer's Web Book)
Do all the
projects.
Complete all the
Quizzes. Instructional Video: Full Screen Ipod Version
Topics Covered
One of the most important things you can learn is how to put
it on the web so that others can view it. This section will
explain the pieces you need to know to make this happen.
Naming files
Here are some simple rules for naming your files. Be sure to
abide by them, as it will make your site work better after it is on
the Internet.
- Use all lower case letters in the name. Some servers have
problems with upper case letters and your address is easier to
remember if all of the letters are the same case.
- Use only letters, numbers, dashes, underscores, tildes, and
periods in your names. Other characters are not recognized by many
operating systems as legal characters for file names.
- Never include spaces in your file name. They often get
translated to %20 in the name itself and then of you links work.
So sad.
- All web pages must end in .htm or .html. Those are the file
types that the browsers recognize as pages.
- Be sure to name your home page index.htm or index.html. These
are special names that the browser looks for when you do not
supply a specific file name as part of the URL.
- Put an extension on the end of your graphics files. Use .gif
for GIF files, .jpg or .jpeg for JPEGs, and .png for PINGs.
- Keep the file names as short as possible, but make sure that
they are descriptive.
Once you have your files created and named according to the rules
above, you need to organize them in folders. There are many ways to
organize your files, here are a couple of the more popular methods.
- Group into folders.
Grouping your pages into folders is easy. All you really need is
one folder named "html" and another named "images". Copy all of
your pages (except the home page) into the html folder and all of
your images into the images folder. Your home page (index.html)
sits by itself in the main directory, at the same level as the
html and images folders. Be sure to check all of your links and
all of your images to make sure they all work properly.
By keeping your files in folders, it keeps your web space neat and
organized.
- Group by file name.
This method requires that you name your files using a prefix so
that all files that relate to a given subject start with the same
letters. For example, all files that talk about your hobbies may
have file names that start with "hob-" and all pages that talk
about your family may start with "fam-".
This method does not make your folder as neat as the last one, but
it is easy to see which files work together.
You can blend these two methods together, putting all of the html
into a single folder and prefixing the names.
Titling pages
Page titles appear in the top bar of the browser window and also,
at least in Netscape, on the tab for the active sites in the window.
Titles are used to several functions.
- First, and most obvious, they are used by the viewer to see
what page they are looking at and to see what else is open in
other pages or tabs.
- Second, it is the title of the page that is used as the
Favorite or Bookmark.
- Finally, and least obvious, it is the title of the page that
is the most important keywords for search engines.
You can add a title to your page when you save it the first time.
The Page Title dialog box is displayed as part of the save process.
Enter your page title into the input field. After the page has been
saved, you can update the title at any time by going to the Page
TItle and Properties... under the Format menu item.
Servers and Domain Names
Okay, so what is a server and why should I care?
A server is a really nothing more than a computer. It is a fast
computer with a way-better-than-average communications hook up that
just so happens to be up 24 hours per day, but it is still just a
computer. If you are looking to put up a web site for the rest of
the world to view, this is exactly that type of computer you want to
put it on.
Folks that make servers available are called Internet Service
Providers, or ISPs. It is the responsibility of the ISP to ensure
that your site is available to the viewing public around the clock.
They charge little (sometimes nothing) to provide you with the space
you need, making them a very good investment. You could NEVER host a
site on your own machine for what an ISP charges.
Locating an ISP is not a difficult matter. Chance are, if you
have an Internet account, you already know someone that can host a
web site for you. You can also find sites by searching the Internet,
asking people that you know that have their own sites, or asking a
local web designer. Be sure to get the following information before
you decide on your ISP:
- Get all of the details and costs that involved. You won't want
to be surprised later.
- Is there an extra cost for my own domain name? (More on domain
names follows.)
- Will I be able to transfer my own files to the web space? This
is a very handy thing to be able to do. It cuts the time it takes
to make changes to the site by a lot.
- How fast is data transferred from the server? The line speed
of the server is important in that it is the single largest
potential for slow response to the viewer.
- Does the ISP host any very popular sites? If there are very
popular sites on the same machine as your site, your viewers may
have to wait too long for routine downloads.
Domain names are first part of every address on the web. In some
cases, the domain name makes up the entire address. For example,
niacc.edu and flightexplorer.com are domain names. You can get to
NIACC's main web page by supplying the domain name to the browser.
You can also get to other page son the site by supplying more
address information, like www.niacc.edu/progserv/business/index.html.
This longer address will take you directly to a page within the site
that IS NOT the home page. These types of addresses seldom used
unless you have specific knowledge of the site or have bookmarked a
page within the site.
Owning a domain name costs money, usually between $10 and $35 per
year. You do not have to have your own domain name to post a site to
the web. If you choose not to have one, your ISP will host your site
and post it under their domain name. For example, if your ISP is
Iowa Network Service and you post your site under their domain name,
your address might be something like showcase.netins.net/web/thomes/.
Not all sites have a browser file uploader so we use FTP to transfer our
files up to the web server.
Using a graphical FTP program, you will probably choose something like 'Open
Connection' or 'Connect Remote'. When you a see a menu to fill in, type in the
following information:
---------------------------------------------
Host: bwpd.niaccist.niacc.edu
User ID: lastnamefirstinitial
Password: *******
---------------------------------------------
These may not by the exact field names used by your FTP program, but they
should be similar. There may be other fields, but you can safely ignore them;
the default values should be fine. To transfer the file, select something like
'Upload File', 'Transfer File', 'Put File'. Please be sure to transfer your
files (especially graphics) in 'binary' or 'raw data' mode. Your FTP program may
support drag-and-drop (can't hurt to try). Once you've successfully uploaded
your files, they are immediately available on the Web.
For more specific instructions, refer to the help documents that came with
your software.
Uploading Web Pages to a Remote Server using
WinSCP
Some Servers require a secure file transfer using SCP.
You need to use a program like WinSCP or WsFTP.
WinSCP can be
downloaded at
http://winscp.sourceforge.net/eng/ and it's FREE.
After installing WinSCP double click on the WinSCP icon.
Next you need to start a New session. Simply click on the
New button.
Now you need to enter in your login information. The host
will be web.niaccist.niacc.edu. Then enter in your
username and password and click on Login.
You'll be told and prompted that the host key is not cached and
if you trust the host, simply click Yes.
Now your connected to the remote host. On the left hand
side are the files located on your computer and on the left hand
side are the files located on the remote host (web server).
Typically the public_html directory is where your html files
should go to be viewed on the web. Double click on the
public_html on the remote host and your side to enter each
directory. Note you may need to create a public_html
directory on your computer so you can mirror what the remote
host has.
Now what you should see is a cgi-bin directory on the remote
host. This directory is where cgi programs are stored.
On the left hand side you should now see your html files that
you created.
Now you should select the html file that you want to transfer
from your computer to the remote host computer.
After selecting the file to be transfer then you need to click
on the Copy button or F5 to initiate the transfer to the remote
host.
Next it will prompt you where you want to transfer the file.
By default the the directory that appears on the right hand side
will appear, so simply click on the Copy button.
A transfer indicator will appear to show you the progress of
your file transfer.
After the transfer is complete you should see your file now
located on the remote host (Web Server).
The next step is to confirm on the remote host (Web Server) that
the html page actually is viewable.
Open up a web browser and in the Address/Location Field and
enter in the remote host.
web.niaccist.niacc.edu or web.niaccist.niacc.edu then /~yourusername
Hit enter and your web page should now appear in the browser.
Overwriting and Existing File
After you have transfer a file for the first time from there on
out you will be overwriting that file. So you make a
simple change to the page and now want to upload those changes
to the web.
Again start by selection the file you want to overwrite and then
click on the copy button or F5.
Again you'll be prompted for the destination location and simply
click on the copy button.
Next you'll be prompted if you would like to overwrite the file
click on the Yes or Yes to All button
A transfer indicator will appear to show you the progress of
your file transfer.
Now you have overwriting the file.
Finally click on the refresh or reload button to confirm on the
remote host (Web Server) that your changes have taken place.
Now your changes should appear
Changing File Permissions
If when you upload a file and your receive an error that says
permission denied or You don't have permission chances are you
need to change the permission on the file so people can open
your page with a web browser.
We can quickly look at the rights of each file by sliding over
the size to reveal the Rights column on the remote host side for
each file and directory.
There are three types of rights
- r - read
- w - write
- x - execute
To modify the rights for a file we highlight the file we want to
change and right mouse click and select Properties.
In addition to three types of Rights there are three types of
owners. For web page development you are only interested
in the Others owner. When you surf the web you are
categorized as an other user.
HTML web pages need to have the Read permission turned on.
For security reason you should leave write and execute
permissions turned off.
To turn on the permissions simple click in the R - Read box and
a check mark will appear and then click on the OK button.
An operation indicator will appear while it changes the
permissions.
The Rights are laid out in the following manner:
Owner (rwx) Group (rwx) Others (rwx)
Now we can see that the others group now has the Write
permission turned on.
Finally click on the refresh or reload button to confirm on the
remote host (Web Server) that your permission changes have taken
place.
Now you should see your web page in the browser.
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