Creating a web page on WestNet

The first step in making a web page is to create a document in the HTML format that can be displayed as a Web document. There are many resources available on the net to help you write the code. The Web Wizard also known as the "Duke of URL" will guide you step-by-step through the process, and build an HTML document semi-automatically. The Hot Dog Web Editor is a very complete authoring system. Many more editors and helpers can be found at The Ultimate Collection Of Windows Software (TUCOWS). Note a few examples of things NOT to do.
Your "home" page is the document that is displayed by default at your web site. It should be named index.html, or alternatively index.htm which is easier for Windows 3.x users because of the three-letter file extension. The index filename tells the server to display that document rather than an index of the files in your directory. Other HTML documents should also have the extension .html or .htm as well.

Once you've written your web documents, you'll need to transfer them from your local machine to WestNet's web server. This is done using the FTP protocol. The WS_FTP program is among the most popular and easy to use, so the examples here will use WS_FTP. If you don't have WS_FTP or an FTP client you're familiar with, follow these instructions for downloading and configuring WS_FTP.

Your web documents are stored in your public_html directory, and are accessed by the URL of http://www.west.net/~username/ where username is your username on the system.

Setting Up WS_FTP



To transfer your documents to the server, start WS_FTP and create a session profile called West.Net. Enter west.net as the Host Name, your username as the UserID, and your password. You can check the Save Password box if you don't want to type it in each time. For convenience, you can enter public_html as the Remote Host initial directory, and the program will automatically open the FTP session in that directory. Likewise, you can enter the local directory where your HTML documents are stored in the Local PC initial directory. Click on Save when you've finished entering the info, and then on OK to make the connection to WestNet's server. If the connection fails, double-check your username, password, and host name entries.

Transferring the Files



Once you've made the connection, you'll see two windows inside the WS_FTP window. The one on the left represents the directories and files on your computer, and the one on the right represents the directories and files on WestNet's server. If you specified public_html as the initial directory on the remote host, then you'll be in that directory initially. If not, double-click on public_html in the right-hand directory window. Likewise, if you specified the directory in which your html files reside, the proper directory will be displayed on the left-hand side. If not, you can either click on the directory, or use the left-hand ChgDir button and type in the correct directory. Next, click on the ASCII radio button. Click once on the index.htm file on the local (left) side to highlight it, and then on the right-facing arrow. A dialog box should appear, and you should then see the index.htm file appear copied onto the remote side. It may be necessary to click the right-hand Refresh button to see the changes. Similarly, transfer any other text files by highlighting and then clicking on the arrow.

Any image files you wish to display must be transferred as binary, so click the Binary radio button, and then transfer the image files in the same manner by highlighting and then clicking the right-facing arrow. When you've finished transferring all of the elements of your web site, you can Close and Exit the WS_FTP program.

Testing and Debugging

Now it's time to launch your browser and point it to your new web site. Enter the location of http://www.west.net/~username/ and have a look. Your index.htm page should be displayed. If instead you see a directory of folders, then it may be that you've made a typographical error or put the filename in mixed case. The index.htm or index.html file must be in lower-case, and it's good practice to use lower-case for Unix filenames. You can use WS_FTP to rename a file by highlighting it and selecting the Rename button. Next, check your links and images, to make sure they work as intended. If the images come up broken, try uploading them again, making sure the Binary radio button is selected. If the images and local links come up as 404 not found, make sure that the case is correct and that the references don't contain your DOS pathnames.

Halsoft has a validation service available online that can be used to double-check your HTML code for errors.

Good luck, have fun, and if you get stuck, try posting to the west.www newsgroup, lots of us will be glad to help.