Home Account Access Linux Basics Web Site Basics Web Site Security Policies Contact Me		Web Site Basics Setting up a web site is very easy but there are a few pitfalls that every beginner who uses Windows fall into so hopefully this section will help you either solve them or avoid them. Don't worry these pitfalls are easily resolved but there are others with man eating crocodiles or giant wooden spikes at the bottom, some even have both...ouch! If you aren't familiar with how to access your account you can just stop here because your not going to be able to put up a web site without your web files on the server, that would be like pulling a rapid out of your hat without the hat. If you don't know how read the "Account Access" section. * Remeber to read Website Security so you can secure your homework from others!   Homepage Folder   First things first. You account homepage files must reside under a specific folder on your account. This folder is the "public_html" folder at the root of your account. When you FTP or telnet in you will see it immediately. All files under this folder can be accessed by the web if the permissions are set correctly (we'll get to that). So if you want it on the web it must be in this folder.       How to Access Your Homepage   To get to your homepage from the web you simply take the URL of the server (http://itstudents.ccs.uconn.edu) and tell it to go to your account folder. So how do you tell it to go to your folder? Use the "~" along with your account name. So for example of my account name was group1. Then the homepage for me would be: http://itstudents.ccs.uconn.edu/~group1 Now this tells it to look in the public_html folder of your account. Whenever the the URL is pointing to a folder instead of an exact file the web server will only display one file. This file must be named "index.html". If there is no file named index.html then the server can't display anything and you will see an error. This goes for any folder within your site. So if you have a folder named "computers" under the public_html folder then the URL: http://itstudents.ccs.uconn.edu/~group1/computers Will display the index.html file in the computers folder. So your starting page for your web site should be named index.html and placed directly in the public_html folder.       Pitfall Numeral Uno   Remember that those pitfalls I was talking about? Right now I'm sure several of you are wondering why when they got to your homepage nothing is being displayed others are wondering why they see their homepage but images or links aren't working? But the files are on the server? And there's a file called Index.html. What gives? Well I'll tell you what gives. You just fell into Pitfall Numeral Uno. Case sensitivity. On the Windows operating system files are not case sensitive. So Index.html is the same as index.html or InDex.HTML for that matter. On the Linux platform everything is case sensitive. Index.html is not the same file as index.html. Make sure all references to files are spelled exactly as how they appear on the system. This includes images too! If you haven't designed your site yet make sure you keep this in mind because it can save you some time latter.       Pitfall Numeral Due   Hey isn't that supposed to be a Dos? It was if it was Spanish but its not it's Italian. This brings me to the second pitfall. What does Italy have to do with getting my web pages displayed you ask? It has the same bearing on the market value of tea in China right now. Absolutely nothing. Ok bad intro but ya know what does have to do with web pages being displayed properly: Permissions. When you transfer files over the web server the permissions are automatically set for you so they can be displayed properly on the web. In some cases the FTP client your using is changing these. If you can see all your files your all set. If the files aren't being displayed and case sensitivity is correct then it is almost sure that the permissions are not set correctly. In order for the web server to display the files, permission must be given for anybody to read your file (this includes directories). There are three levels of permissions: read, write and execute. There are also three user types you can grant or revoke permissions to: owner, group and world. The owner is you. The group is your group id (ignore this like the red headed step child right now). The last one is the world or everyone. This is the permission we are interested in at the moment. The world must be able to read any file and any folder above it in its tree that you want to display on the web. So get out your telnet or FTP client and go take a look at your files permissions. The permissions should be set to 644. The last 4 means that the world can read the file. If you do not know how to change permissions either read on the web how to change file permissions for Linux or look in the help section of your FTP client (most, but not all FTP clients can change files permissions). Below is a little Permissions calculator. Click the boxes for each level of permission to get the corresponding permission. A value of 644 or higher is needed for web pages to be displayed and a value of 755 is needed for CGI's to run properly on the web. Permissions Calculator Owner Read Write Execute   Group Read Write Execute   World Read Write Execute Permissions: