Uploading Your Documents to the Web

at CSU (especially in the Chemistry Department)

There are three main ways of placing your documents on the Web at CSU in the Chemistry Department.

• Via lamar where most people have their email
• Via franklin.chm.colostate.edu (www.chm.colostate.edu) the SGI in the Chemistry Department that serves as our departmental web server
• Via your own desktop computer (Mac or PC) that has its own web server software and a permanent IP address

All the UNIX You Need to Know You Learned in Kindergarten

The first two require that you know a little bit of UNIX command language. The SGI has a Mac/Windows- like graphical user interface, but you can't work remotely if you use it. Here is a list of those commands that you will need.

• To view the contents of the current directory in the "long" form:
  
  ls -l
   
  
• To change directories:
  
  cd directory_name
   
  
• To change directory to one directory up in the path:
  
  cd ..
   
  
• To create a directory:
  
  mkdir directory_name
   
  
• To change permissions on a file or directory so that everybody can see it:
  
  chmod 755 directory_name or filename
  chmod -R 755 directory_name (the -R performs the command recursively, i.e. so that every directory or file contained in that directory also has its permission changed.
   
  
• To copy a file:
  
  cp filename_source filename_target
   
  
• To move or rename a file:
  
  mv old_filename new_filename
  mv old_path/filename new_path/filename
   
  
• To delete a file:
  
  rm filename
   
  
• To find out what the present working directory is:
  
  pwd
   
  
• To logout
  
  logout

Ideally, once you have your account set up, you won't have to logon and use UNIX, but you can upload your various files using an FTP program on your PC or Mac or using your web browser.

Setting Up Your Account on lamar or on one of the Chemistry SGI's

I will assume for this set of instructions that you already have a lamar account or a franklin or pauling account. If you do not, please see the appropriate system administrator for each computer.

These instructions are the same for both lamar or the Chemistry SGI except where special instructions are given for lamar.

1. Log into your account using telnet.
    
   
2. Create a directory called public_html with the mkdir command.
   
   mkdir public_html
   
   Only files and directories found in the public_html directory will be visible on the web.
    
   
3. Change the permissions on this directory so that everyone can see files and directories in it.
   
   chmod 755 public_html
   
   On the SGI's files and directories that you create or upload will automatically have the proper permissions. On lamar you must change the permissions each time you create or upload a new file. This can be done quickly in either of two ways:
    
   chmod -R 755 public_html
    
   or
    
   cd public_html
   chmod -R 755 *
    
   
4. If you want to create any sub-directories in the public_html directory use the mkdir. Don't forget to change the permissions to 755 of any new directories that you create.
    
   
5. Files that you place into this directory are visible on the web at the following URL:
    
   For lamar: http://lamar.colostate.edu/~login_id/
   For the chemistry SGI's: http://www.chm.colostate.edu/login_id/

I am going to assume that most people will prefer to author their web documents on their Mac or PC and then transfer them to the web server, rather than edit them directly on the web server. lamar has a fairly easy to use editor called pico that can be used to edit directly. You can also use emacs. The only editor on the SGI's is the difficult to use vi unless you do your work at a workstation where you can use jot (a graphic text editor) or webmagic (a graphic HTML editor).

Uploading Your Files

Instructions for HTML authoring are found here. Once you have a document written, you can get it onto the web server using an FTP program or using Netscape Navigator. I will present instructions for uploading documents with Netscape Navigator.

1. In Netscape Navigator (version 2 or higher), type in the following URL in the location window or using the Open Location... command:
    
   For lamar uploads:
   
   ftp://login_id@lamar.colostate.edu/user_dir/login_id/public_html/
   
   where user_dir is the lamar directory where your home account is found (probably a single letter--mine is e) and login_id is your home directory. You can find this information out by using the pwd command when logged on to lamar. For example, to FTP to my account on lamar I use:
   
   ftp://grayt@lamar.colostate.edu/e/grayt/public_html/
   
   For SGI chemistry uploads:
   
   ftp://login_id@pauling.chm.colostate.edu/usr/people/login_id/public_html/
   
   or
   
   ftp://login_id@franklin.chm.colostate.edu/usr/people/login_id/public_html
    
   where login_id is your login ID for that particular computer. My home account is on boys.chm.colostate.edu so I would use:
   
   ftp://grayt@boys.chm.colostate.edu/usr/people/grayt/public_html/
    
   Hit return or the Open button.
    
   
2. A dialogue box will appear prompting you for your password for that account. Notice that you are not really using Netscape to browse the web. You are using it as an FTP client.
    
   
3. The browser window will display a directory list of the public_html directory. It should be the same list that appears when you use the ls -la command in UNIX. It is a good idea at this point to create a bookmark of this page so you don't have to always remember how you got there. You will still have to enter your password each time. If you want to put the document into a different directory than the top-level public_html, click to that directory before proceeding.
    
   
4. Use the File, Upload File... command. A file dialogue box appears. Locate the file that you want to upload and hit the Open button. The file will be copied to the web server. The directory list should be updated and the file should now appear on the list. On the Chemistry SGI's this file is now available on the web if there is a link to it or if users know the address. On lamar you will have to log on via telnet in order to change the permissions of that newly uploaded file as discussed in the previous section.
   

A Web Server on Your Desktop

There are several easy to use web servers that run on your desktop computer. These require that you have permanent IP address (ideally, with a hostname listed in CSU's host list for domain name service) and that you must leave your computer on all the time. The big advantage of using this method is in terms of file management. You can do all of your work in your familiar Mac or Windows desktop working environment and there is none of the inconvenience of FTP or UNIX. When you edit a document, the revised document is immediately available--there is no need to upload the edited version. The other advantage is that you get to manage your own web server--you can easily track your web site's use, you can configure it to perform novel functions, etc. Of course, this is a disadvantage is you don't like doing this sort of thing--however, most of the tools that I will describe below are very easy to use.

There are several options for you if desire to go this direction. MacOS 8 and the latest shipping version of the Windows 95 both come with built in web servers. For earlier versions of the MacOS, you can buy the Personal Web Sharing package for $20. For earlier versions of Windows 95, you can download the software for free.

Macintosh options (not meant to be exhaustive)

• Personal Web Sharing. Personal web sharing is installed by default on the MacOS 8 Easy Install option. A folder called Web Pages is installed on your hard drive. Any document or folder placed in that folder is accessible via the web once you have activated web sharing. To activate web sharing, go to the Control Panels in the Apple Menu. Toward the bottom of the list is a Control Panel called Web Sharing. Click on the Start button to start web sharing. The web address for your computer is given at the top of the Control Panel. For example, for this computer the address would be http://129.82.118.96/document_path. Or, if your computer has a host name that is listed with some domain name service, you can use that. For example, for this computer, the address would also be http://tallship.chm.colostate.edu/document_path. Note that your computer always has an IP number address whereas is may not always have a hostname. Apple has more info about Personal Web Sharing at its web site. More info can also be found here.
   
  
• Quid Pro Quo. Quid Pro Quo is a free web server for the Macintosh. Presently, the web server serving this document is Quid Pro Quo on a Macintosh. It too is simple to use. Documents or folders in the same folder as the Quid Pro Quo application are available on the web as http://IP_address_or _domain name /document_name (or path/document_name).
   
  
• WebSTAR. A powerful commercial option is Starnine's WebSTAR. WebSTAR works much the same way as Personal Web Sharing and Quid Pro Quo in that whatever documents you place in the same folder as contains the WebSTAR application are served on the web. Web STAR has other advanced features that makes it a via option for even a large professional web site--not one that just distributes a few documents. Oh, What a Wicked Web We Weave is a presentation on using WebSTAR to serve documents for the college classroom.

PC options - actually, Windows95 options (also not meant to be exhaustive)

• Personal Web Server. Personal Web Server in Windows 95 is not installed by default. To install and activate it, go to the Network Control Panel and click on the Add... button and choose Service. Select Microsoft from the Manufacturers list and Personal Web Server from the Network Services list. When this gets installed a new Control Panel is added called Personal Web Server. The default settings should be fine, but it is possible to have some control over them. I think that upon installation the web server is activated, but if not, it can be through this Control Panel. The default installation places a folder called Webshare on the top level of the C: drive. Inside is a folder called Wwwroot. Documents placed there are available on the web at http://IP_address_or _domain name /document_name (or path/document_name).
   
  
• Xitami. Xitami is a free web server for Windows 3.1, Window 95 and Windows NT from Imatix. I know very little about the company or the product, other than it was very easy to install and worked fine. The default installation creates a path C:\Servers\Xiwin\Xiwin16\Webpages. Documents placed in the Webpages folder are served on the web.

Terry M. Gray
Computer Support Scientist
Department of Chemistry
Colorado State University

October 17, 1997