Re: TECH: WWW pages

["Karen G. Schneider" <kschneid@UMICH.EDU>]

O.k., folks,  check out the current issue of American Libraries--my column
addresses this very same topic: it's 800 words (!) on how to create a home
page, including locating a provider and uploading the pages.  AL was
worried that this topic was too 'arcane,' so if you find it at all useful,
email flagg@ala.org and let them know.  (If you thought it was stupid,
please say nothing--I need the money.  ;>   )  Btw, I haven't seen the
article yet (AL still hasn't caught up with my change in address) so my
apologies in advance for dead URLs.

Rather than regurgitate everything I said in the article, let me point out:

1.  WWW pages need to be stored on an Internet-accessible computer, that
is, a computer on the Internet.  This machine needs to be a WWW server-- a
computer that stores and makes accessible documents for the World Wide Web.


2.  Many Internet providers allow users to put up simple home pages.  UM,
for example, which is a kind of provider in its own way, allows me to put
up a home page on my account.  My home page for UM is a pile of files
sitting in a directory (folder) on the SILS computer.  (I apologize to lynx
users--I need to create a text-only version; the one you see is all
gibberish, because I use so many tables, which lynx doesn't support.)  But
my former commercial provider allowed me to have a home page, too.  And
some providers, such as the WELL, sell accounts JUST for storing personal
home pages.  My article addresses locating providers, if you want an
account that provides this service, but one place to start is the POCIA
list maintained by Celestin, Inc.  It is at:

http://www.celestin.com/celestin/

3.  There are different ways to get the files into the appropriate
directories.  From home, I use FTP (because with my type of Internet
account, a PPP account, I can FTP directly from my Macintosh computer to my
filespace on the UM computer). You may be familiar with "anonymous ftp,"
which is using ftp to access public archives; ftp is also great for moving
files to and from your own, personal archives!  At school, because we are
"on the Internet," I just slide files into a folder (easy, huh?).  If I had
a simple terminal account, I would use file-transfer tools such as kermit
or sz to move files "up there," onto my account space.

There are many more tips and tricks to home pages, but I hope this helps
answer the basic questions of what kind of account you need and how the
files get up there!

------------------------------------------------------------------
Karen G. Schneider * kschneid@umich.edu *http://www.sils.umich.edu/~kschneid
Cybrarian * PhD Student, UM SILS * Columnist, American Libraries
Forthcoming: The Internet Access Cookbook (Neal Schuman, order fax
800-584-2414 or e-mail Neal-Schuman@icm.com). ISBN 1-55570-235-X.  *
Opinions mine alone.