Producing WEB home pages - part II

In the August issue I introduced the task of producing WEB home pages and divided that task into three steps; (1) to develop and test home pages in an off-line mode (not connected to the Internet) on a PC, (2) to convert and move these files (home pages) from the PC to the computer hosting the Web server where the files will be located, (3) to modify these files to keep the content current.

In this issue I will look at steps 2 and 3, but first let me share four responses from our readers to that August column which addressed part 1.

Dan Ward correctly notes that you need Wordperfect version 6.1 to use the Wordperfect html template.

Kent Butler writes "I thought you might like to be made aware of another book on Web page creation. There is a book called "HTML Publishing on the Internet" by Brent Heslop & Larry Budnick. It cost me $49.95 at Barnes & Noble. It comes with a CDROM with several different programs and sample pages, pictures, etc. To get a preview of what the book looks like and the latest software access the Online Companion via the World Wide Web at "http://www.vmedia.com/piw.html"."

David Delanod writes "I read with interest your recent column on Producing Web pages. I have recently started editting pages for local documentation and have run across an HTML editor called HoTMetaL that I have had a lot of success with. There is a SPARC and Windows version available, including a free version to try out. You can access it via ftp at ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Web/html/hotmetal or access "http://www.sq.com/products/hotmetal/hmp-org.htm" on the Web."

Susan Brotman writes " I don't always have the time to plow thru the books on how to do... Therefore, I especially appreciate articles that give concise and accurate examples and the jist of programming, especially UNIX stuff. Your column on producing Web pages is a great example of useful information to me. Thanks. One tag I noticed that you didn't expand on was the address tag. I searched some source code of htmls, the tag produced italic text automatically, but didn't provide much else. I thought perhaps one could select and reply to it. So why use it?"

Please look back at the second last line in Fig. 3 of the August column to see the use of the address tag Susan refers to. Susan's thought is correct, IF one has the right browser. Netscape works. Mosaic does not. At least ... in the versions I have used. Always remember that Web technology is developing rapidly - don't expect consistency!

Now let's look at steps 2 and 3 to continue our overview of how to produce Web pages. By the way, this overview assumes that the Web server is on a computer with a Unix operating system. While this is the most common situation, other operating systems can be used.

STEP 2.   Moving Your Pages On-Line. To put this section in perspective, I note that in the August column, I created my pages off-line using an ASCII text editor (DOS) and viewed them using Mosaic (any Web browser will work). By flipping back and forth between my text editor and Web browser, I was able to modify the hypertext document until it displayed as I wanted it to. The next step is to convert this ASCII text file which is stored in a directory on my PC, to a Unix file which is stored on the Unix machine hosting the Web server (the computer where the html file will be stored for access over the Internet).

Before you can do this, however, you need to have been given write permission for the directory on the Web server where your files will be stored and accessed. See your system manager (or someone with superuser authority). You will also need to use a couple of Unix commands. (I will give these commands explicitly.)

Using the same example as in the August issue, the DOS file is "test.htm" in directory "www" on drive "d". HTML files must be given the extension ".html" in order to be read by browsers using the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) convention. To transform the DOS file on the PC to a Unix file on the Web server, four separate processes are needed.

(1) Convert from DOS to Unix format. I use a DOS utility called "dos2unix". The command is "dos2unix test.htm"

(2) Upload (copy the file) from the PC to the Web server. Our system manager has installed utilities so that I can access my Unix directory as if it were a DOS drive similar to those on my PC. I can upload by simply using a DOS file manager to copy from my PC drive to the simulated drive. If I did not have this feature, I would use ftp to transfer. (Please see THE INSTITUTE, June 1995 issue to read about ftp - file transfer protocol.) If you use ftp in ASCII mode, the DOS/Unix format differences are handled automatically so you can skip step 1.

(3) Rename the file to change the extension from ".htm" to ".html" using the Unix command "mv test.htm test.html"

(4) Give the file "world read" permission using the Unix command "chmod 644 test.html". Under the Unix operating system each and every file is assigned permissions for users to read, write, and execute. Users are catagorized into owners, members of a group, or everyone else (the world). The argument "644" specifies that everyone can read the file but only the owner can write (edit or delete) the file. You may not need to do this step, but I prefer to make sure.

If everything has gone correctly, your Web page is now live on the Internet and you (and everyone else) can view it using a Web browser. If the file "test.html" is in directory "alden" on machine "power.eng.mcmaster.ca" (This the directory for my home page where I have read/write/execute permission.) the URL would be "http://power.eng.mcmaster.ca/alden/test.html". The format of this URL is different from the one used to view the development file on the PC (see the example in the August issue).

STEP 3.   On-Line Modifications. Once you have an active home page, you need to keep it current by editing the contents. To do this, I use a Unix editor for these on-line modifications. I use "vi" which is the standard full screen editor that is embeded in virtually all Unix operating systems. Some say it is clumsy, others view it as a classic. I decided to learn enough of it to get by and I have not yet been on a Unix machine where it was not available. The alternative to using a Unix editor is to download the file to your PC, convert to DOS format, edit, and repeat the four processes to put it back as a Unix file on the server.

WEB DOCUMENTATION.   Tom Bontrager, our IEEE Webmaster, has compiled some very useful information for writing Web pages and submitting items to IEEE. For on-line reading, access the IEEE home page "http://www.ieee.org" and click on "IEEE Web Documentation" near the end of the page. Tom has provided a "good" set of rules to follow - in keeping with the IEEE tradition of establishing and promulgating standards for technical procedures. The last clickable item on the home page is "IEEE mail form" which provides a very convenient way to send requests to IEEE staff about a wide range of things; membership, products (including standards), services, etc.