Writing and publishing your Web page is generally divided into those two steps exactly: Writing and Publishing.

Writing a Web page

To write a web page, you must use a language called "Hyper-Text Markup Language", or "HTML". While there are many advanced HTML techniques, the basics are really quite simple, and you can generally write a simple working web page surprisingly quickly. You can find information on how to write HTML documents from NCSA's excellent tutorial - A Beginners Guide to HTML.

Many people Netscape Gold to write their Web page. This program allows you to easily design a home page without requiring you to know all of the underlying details. If you don't have netscape Gold, Netscape Communicator also has an HTML editor. There are also many other HTML Editors out there for free. Finding one that you like should be pretty easy. Simply do a yahoo search for HTML editors and you will find a veridable plethra to choose from.

Publishing a Web page

Publishing a Web page can be a little trickier. This involves transfering the HTML document from your computer at home to the Dordt Unix server and setting permissions properly so that web surfers are allowed to see your Web page. Your main page must have a predefined name so that the Web server knows where to find it. The main page must be called index.html . All of the Web pages must reside in a directory called public_html in your root (i.e. home) directory. The next section steps through the process of publishing a Web page.

------ Warning!! Techno-speak occurs in the following paragraphs------

Before I get started, I want to make something clear. When it says to type something and that something is enclosed in double quotes, do not type the double quotes. So, if I tell you to type "hi", do not do this: "hi". Instead, do this: hi.

In order for you to have a home page, you must follow these rules. Your home page must reside in a directory called public_html. Your absolute and home directory is your home directory is /home/student/first_letter/user_name. Secondly, your main page must be called index.html. Therefore, the absolute path would be /home/student/first_letter/user_name/public_html/index.html.

Thirdly, people must be given permission to read your files and directories. To do this, issue the command chmod 744 filename

permission mode = 744 (this gives you full permission and others read permission.)

How do you get your file over? Just ftp it.
NOTE:Make sure that you send any NON-ASCII files using BINARY mode.

How do you create a public_html directory? "mkdir public_html"
How do you change permissions on this directory? "chmod 705 public_html"
How do I change permissions on my home directory? "chmod 701 $HOME"
How do you rename a file? I think you can do it with your ftp program. Otherwise, type "mv old_name new_name" (mv stands for MOVE)

OK. I know this hasn't been pretty so far. It won't get much better, but I will try to do this another way, more by example, with some technical explanations.

First LOGIN to cc.dordt.edu and log in as yourself so that you can try a few of these things while you are reading these instructions on your web browser.

Go to the UNIX SHELL in your menu. At the $ prompt, type "l" (Thats an L in lower case). This displays a list of your files. It looks something like this:

drwxr-x---   2 dvdykshr   student      512 Feb 17 13:06 Mail
drwxr-x---   2 dvdykshr   student      512 Feb 17 13:06 News
drwxr-x---   4 dvdykshr   student      512 Feb 17 22:26 html
drwx---r-x   2 dvdykshr   student      512 Feb 23 21:59 public_html

The very first character is either a "d" or a "-". If it is a "d", that means that it is a directory; a logical organizer that contains other files. The next three characters are "rwx". These stand for my permissions for the file or directory. If there is an "r", then I am allowed to READ the file. I am allowed to look at its contents. If there is a "w", then I am allowed to WRITE or make changes to the file. If there is an "x", then I am allowed to execute the file. The next group of three also can contain an "rwx". This lists the permission for other people in my GROUP. The third set of "rwx" is the permission list for everyone else.
NOTICE: Look at the permissions that I have given to my public_html directory. I allow myself full privaledges. Other people in the same group as me (GENERAL) have NO permissions, while everyone else has read and execute permissions. Anyone trying to read your web page will be considered as an OTHER person, so the last set is the important one.

OK. That was very nice and very confusing, but get on with the discussion. How do I make this public_html directory? As I mentioned earlier, type mkdir public_html (make sure you use all small letters. This is very case sensitive.) MKDIR stands for MAKE DIRECTORY.
Now, change permission for the directory, but first let me explain how it works. The command is chmod 705 public_html. CHMOD stands for CHANGE MODE, or CHANGE ACCESS PERMISSION. The 705 part takes a bit of explaining. What we are doing is assinging the "rwx" values to the file. An X is worth one point, a W is worth 2 points, and an R is worth 4 points. Add them up to find out the value for each group of three. Then, since there are three levels (You, Your Group, and Others), you need to do this for each level.
So, 705 stands for rwx for ME, --- for my GROUP, and r-x for all OTHERS. Easy huh?

Now we want to send any pages that you may have developed on your own computer over to here. Copy your pages and any picture that you need to the public_html directory that you just created. Use your FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program to do this. Pictures and other non-text files must be transfered in binary mode. HTML files are ascii files and should be transfered in ascii mode.

Remember that your main page has be called index.html? You should be able to rename the file after you transfer it with your ftp program. You can also do it when you are in the UNIX SHELL. If you are still where I left you last time, you are in your root directory. If you type "l" for LIST, you will see your public_html directory. In order to move into that directory, type cd public_html. Now you will be in this directory. Type "l" again to see the files that you have just placed here with your ftp program. Here are the results of my "l" command:

-rwx---r--   1 dvdykshr    student      611 Feb 23 22:26 index.html
-rwx---r--   1 dvdykshr    student    26697 Feb 23 21:59 dave.gif 
-rwx---r--   1 dvdykshr    student    18756 Feb 23 21:59 backgrou.jpg
-rwx---r--   1 dvdykshr    student     6811 Feb 23 21:59 links.html

Notice that I have a index.html file. You need to rename your main file so that it is also called index.html. You can do this by MOVEing it from one name to another. Type mv old_name index.html where old_name is the name of your main page. For example, if your main page was called MAIN.HTM, then you would type mv MAIN.HTM index.html

Now you have to make sure that you have the correct permission set for your files so that people (OTHER people to be more specific) can read them. As an exercise, tell me what number you would have to use to set permissions to be identical to mine. I give myself full permission so that I am allowed to make changes to it. I only let OTHER people read it.

Did you get the number right? It is 704 (4(r) + 2(w) +1(x) for me, 0 for others in group general, and 4(r) for OTHER people = 704). So, in order to change permission for index.html, type chmod 704 index.html.

Now you should be ready to view your home page. The address for it is http://www.dordt.edu/~user_name. So, for example, mine would be http://www.dordt.edu/~dvdykshr. Check mine out! You can e-mail me from there and tell me how boring and confusing this document is. Now try to view your home page. If you have done everything right, you should be able to read it.

Here are a few things that you might mess up on. First, the directory name MUST be public_html. It must be in all small letters. It must be exactly as I have typed it. public_html.
Secondly, do people have enough permission to look in it. OTHERS (the third group) must have EXECUTE permissions. Check and verify that you have those permissions set correctly.
Third, the main file must be, in small letters, index.html. Once again, people need to at least have READ permissions.
Any other problem after this must be a problem with your home page itself.

Oh, yeah. If you want to get out of the UNIX SHELL, type exit. That will bring you back to your menu.

If you followed this lesson, you have now achieved the status of UNIX semi-GURU. Next lesson will deal with awk, grep, and vi.