| Creating your own web page |
HTML is short for Hyper-Text Markup Language. It is a system of codes that you can place in an ordinary text file that a web browser such as Netscape or Internet Explorer understands how to interpret and display as the various graphical effects and links you are used to seeing on web pages all over the net.
You don't need anything more elaborate to create web pages than a basic text editor such as NotePad on Windows or SimpleText on the Mac. There are many basic html tutorials available on the web to get you started.
After you have created your web page, it must be saved with either .htm or .html as the extension -- even on a Mac where extensions are not normally needed. Do not use spaces in your filenames. Most web browsers cannot easily display files that have spaces in the names. In addition, your main page, the page that people will first see when they come to your web site must be named index.htm or index.html. Also, any graphics you plan to put on yourweb page must have the proper extensions as well: .gif for GIF format and .jpeg or .jpg for JPEG format
When you are satisfied with how your page looks on your computer (all popular web browsers can view an html page created on your local hard disk, you don't have to put your page up on the web to view it), you are then ready to upload your page to your private web space on NetPlus's server.
To copy your newly created html page from your computer to NetPlus's server, you must have a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) program such as Ipswitch Software's WS_FTP.
After downloading and installing WS_FTP in accordance with the instructions that come wih the package, launch WS_FTP and fill out the blanks as follows:
|
|
Then click the OK button. WS_FTP should connect you to the NetPlus server and show a window with two lists of files. The one on the left is a list of files on you computer. The one on the right is a list of files in your public_html directory on the server.
Use the list on the left to find the file you want to send and click on the button in between that two lists that has an arrow pointing to the right list (-->). This will transfer your file to your public_html directory on the server.
It will immediately be ready for viewing using the URL (uniform resource locator) http://www.netpluscom.com/~userid/. Just replace userid with your Netplus login (i.e., scasterg, for me).
To make changes to your page, simply edit the copy on your computer and re-upload it. The new version will replace the version that is there.
To copy your newly created html page from your computer to NetPlus's server, you must have a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) program such as Dartmouth's Fetch or Stairways Software's Anarchie. The following instructions will assume you have installed Fetch:
After downloading and installing Fetch, launch Fetch and fill in the blanks as follows:
|  |
and then click OK. If all goes well, a window will appear that shows a list of any files in your public_html directory.
Click on the Put File button and a dialog box will appear that will allow you to browse for and select a file to send to the web server.
After you select the file, a dialog box will appear that says Save file on ftp.netpluscom.com as: This is your last chance to make sure your file has the correct name (see above). Additionally, if you are uploading an html file, you will want to make sure Text is selected in the pop-up menu. If you are uploading a graphic, such as a gif or jpeg image, you will want to make sure Raw Data is selected in the pop-up menu. Then click OK and the file will be sent to the server.
That's all there is to it. As soon as the upload is complete, your index.html page should be visible on the web using the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) http://www.netpluscom.com/~userid/. Just replace userid with your Netplus login (i.e., scasterg, for me).
To make changes to your page, simply edit the copy on your computer and re-upload it. The new version will replace the version that is there.
