Web Page Help

How to make web pages

• Most recent word processing programs (such as Notepad or Microsoft Word) have the ability to save a document as an HTML file, which many beginners find adequate for creating very basic Web pages.
• Another approach is to use one of the many special-purpose HTML editors that are now available. These allow you to manipulate text and graphics just as you would in a word processor, without having to know much about writing HTML. Microsoft Front Page, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and Claris Home Page are the most popular at this time, but there are many others from which to choose.
• If you are reasonably comfortable using your UNIX shell account you can create your Web pages right in your public_html directory using your favorite UNIX text editor (pico, emacs, or vi). This requires that you enter all HTML tags by hand, but it's surprisingly easy even for the beginner if you follow an online tutorial.
• See BCPL.NET's Acceptable Use Policy for information on what is appropriate to put on a personal web page.

How to upload web pages

• Once you have created web pages, you will need to connect to BCPL to upload the pages to your personal web space. If your connection to the Internet is through an ISP besides BCPL (such as Comcast or Verizon), you will need to be added to our list of allowed IP addresses to be able to upload your files. Contact the Help Desk for more information.
• Once you are connected to BCPL, you will need to upload the files to BCPL.NET's web server. To do that, you will need an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program.
• There are many different FTP programs you can use. Some of the more popular include WS_FTP, Cute FTP, and Fetch (for Macintoshes). Internet Explorer also has a limited ability to FTP built-in.
• Still better, most HTML editors have built-in file transfer capability that allows you to download the current version of a Web page, edit it, then upload the revised version, all from within a single program.
• For more information on FTP, go to our FTP webpage.

Where to put files

• All BCPL.NET users have an area of storage space called a Home Directory on BCPL.NET's web server. This space is used to hold your files. All home directories should contain a web folder called public_html. This is where your web pages and the images that go along with them will need to go. When you log into your web space with an FTP program, you will automatically be in your home directory.
  
  
• There are two ways you have to refer to your files within the public_html directory, depending on whether you are updating or viewing your site. The below examples are for a fictitious BCPL.NET user John Doe (username: jdoe).
  
  

• UNIX Format
  When uploading files using an FTP program, generally the UNIX format is used. This is the actual location on our UNIX computer within your home directory where your files reside. The home directory consists of the directory on our server your account is in with your username appended. For example, the user jdoe's home directory is on the /u1 disk and in the jdoe folder, making the home directory /u1/jdoe. The public_html folder should be directly within the home directory, making the location in UNIX format /u1/jdoe/public_html/. An example UNIX directory might be /u1/jdoe/public_html/. Note that it is NOT an http:// web address!
  
  
• Web Format.
  When attempting to view your site through a web browser, the WEB format is used. This might look like http://www.bcpl.net/~jdoe/
  

How to view web pages

• Once you have uploaded your web pages to your personal webspace, how can others view them? To view webpages in your personal webspace, go to http://www.bcpl.net/~username, where username is your username. If you created an index.html page, that will appear; otherwise, you should see a list of all the files in your personal webspace. If you get a Forbidden error message, the permissions on the files are incorrect. Contact the Help Desk if you need assistance changing them.

Additional Help

• Online Tutorials - There are many webpages that offer help in making webpages:
  • http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/
  • How Web Pages Work
  • A Beginner's Guide to HTML
  • Google Directory of Web Design and Development.
• Web Showcase - A sampling of BCPL.NET user pages.
• Webwriters - BCPL.NET has a mailing list (an e-mail discussion group) called WEBWRITERS that serves as a support group for customers interested in Web publishing. A lot of our most prolific Web authors are members of WEBWRITERS, so asking questions there will almost always result in good answers. Go to our mailing lists page for information on subscribing to WEBWRITERS.
• The Library branches have many books with information on designing webpages. Contact your local branch for more information.

What we support

• The BCPL.NET web server is designed to handle only basic webpages, written in HTML.
• BCPL.NET does not currently support cgi, frontpage extensions or any server-side languages on any personal webpages.
• The BCPL.NET Help Desk can help you with logging into your UNIX shell account, setting up your home directory for Web publishing, uploading Web pages to your public_html directory, and setting permissions on your directories and files. Assistance in designing web pages is beyond the scope of the Help Desk.