Sadi's Home Page Guide

Getting Your Account Ready
Writing "html" Documents

Editing "html" Documents
Creating Links

In publishing web pages (creating pages for viewing through WWW),
you need to do the following:

Create a world-accessible directory called public_html within your CUNIX account.
Create HTML documents.
Make your documents world-accessible.

Getting Your Account Ready:

At the cunix $ prompt type the following commands: (you only need to do this once)

$ chmod a+x ~ $ mkdir ~/public_html

$ chmod a+rx ~/public_html

Creating "html" Documents:

Now it is time to create your personal home page.
(The first file you create should be named: index.html)
To get started writing "html", all you need is something to edit your "html" files, and one browser to view them (You don't have to be connected to a network in order to view the pages you have created).

You can create your documents either by typing them on a word processing program, or on a text editor.

You could also create your files in your cunix account by using a text editor called "pico". However, a word processing program is more user-friendly to use than "pico". When using a word processing program, remember that you have to save your file as "text only". To be safe, you can use "Teach Text" on the MAC, or "Notepad" on the Windows.

You could also use an "html editor". You don't need to know any "html language" in order to use an html editor. There are many commercial programs available for use. Some of these programs are:

Microsoft Front Page by Microsoft @ http://www.microsoft.com/
Adobe PageMill by Adobe @ http://www.adobe.com/
NetObjects Fusion by NetObjects @ http://www.netobjects.com/
Claris Home Page by Claris Corporation @ http://www.claris.com/
HoTMetaL by SoftQuad @ http://www.softquad.co.uk/
Microsoft Publisher by Microsoft @ http://www.microsoft.com/
Netscape Navigator 3 or Netscape Communicator, and
Hundreds of Shareware Programs @ http://www.shareware.com/

Finally, when you are done with your page you can upload it by using an ftp program ("Fetch", "Rapid Filer" etc.). When uploading (sending over to where you want to publish), you need to use the following ftp host at Columbia's cunix system:
www.columbia.edu
Some Hints:

When typing your html document (in a word processing program), pressing the "enter" key does not create spaces or ends your line. It does not matter how many times you press the "enter" key in your html document, it will not change the appearance of your html page. If you want to have forced line breaks, you need to type < br > tag, and if you want to put some spaces between paragraphs, you need to type < p > tag. You can only press the "enter" key to create spaces in your text to organize your "html" document for editing purposes.
When, naming your html files, avoid using spaces or special characters (e.g. *, `, ~, ! etc.) in the file names.
Be aware that file names can be case sensitive.

You can take a look at a template to see an example for a home page. You can also see the source codes of this document. You can save this file and make it your own by entering your own information.
You can also take a look at the List of Commonly Used html Tags. and
Some Helpful Documents About the Internet

If you do your work in the cunix system (which I wouldn't recommend), to create a file you need to use an editor, like "pico" ($pico filename.ext --> pico index.html).
First, change the current directory you are in to the directory you have just created (public_html). Then, you type your file in pico (pico index.html). After creating a file you need to make it world-accessible (chmod). You make your file(s) world-accessible only once. Once you make a document world-accessible, it will stay that way until you change it.

$ cd public_html $ pico index.html
$ chmod a+r index.html

Once you are done with typing, you can run your browser (e.g. Netscape) and open your file you have just typed (Go to "file" on the menu and select "Open File" or "Open File in Browser"). Without closing your browser, you can go back to your file and make changes-add more and go back to your browser and click on "Reload" button. The browser will read the new version of your file. You can do this as many times as you want. You can edit it and preview and edit and preview until you get it right.
If you have uploaded your files into the cunix system (into the "public_html" folder/directory), you can view your page by entering your URL.
A typical URL address is: http://www.machinename.domain/~userid
Your personal URL at CU is:http://www.columbia.edu/~youruserid

Editing "html" Documents:

If you want to edit your html document(s), you need to type changes/additions into your file (preview it in Netscape) and then uploaded it to your cunix account.

If you are making changes in the cunix system, then you should (Login, Changing directory to public_html, and opening your document in pico).

You can edit your page(s) as many times as you want, and use a browser (e.g. Netscape, or Mosaic) to view it to see how it looks.
(Note: When editing/saving, and viewing your page back and forth, you you might have to "Reload" it (in Netscape) in order to see the latest changes you have made.)

Creating Links:

To create a link in "html", you need two things:

1- The name of the file (or the URL of the file) you want to link.

2- The text that will serve as the "hot spot" (the text that will be highlighted).

Linking local documents using "Relative" and "Absolute" path names.
Relative Path:	href="file.html" This file is located in the same (current) directory/folder.
Relative Path:	href="../file.html" This file is located in the directory/folder one level up from the current directory/folder.
Relative Path:	href="files/file.html" This file is located in the directory/folder called "files". (The "files" directory/folder is located in the same (current) directory/folder.
Absolute Path:	href="http://www.columbia.edu/~sss31/index.html This file is located at Columbia University's web server under the "sss31" directory/folder.

To link your own documents, you should use relative path names instead of absolute path names (whenever possible). It is easier to maintain "html" documents with relative path names. Absolute path names are not portable. If you specify your links as absolute path names and you move your files elsewhere, or rename a directory, then all your links will brake and you will have to edit your "html" files to fix them.

Linking to a local file in the same folder/directory:
< a href = "filename (URL) "> Hot Spot - Clickable Text </a >
Ex: < a href="help2.html" > My Second Help Page </a >

Displaying an Image:
< img src = "imagename (URL) " >
Ex: < img src="../graphics/ball-green.gif "> ==>

Link to an Image File:
< a href="imagename (URL)" > Clickable Text < /a >
Ex: < a href="../graphics/globe.gif" > The Place Where I Live </a >

Linking to other documents on the Web ("Absolute" path).

Clickable Text

Sadi's Personal Page

Setting the Mail Address:
< A href="mailto: mail address" > Clickable Text < /a >
Ex: < A href="mailto:[email protected]" > Send Mail to Sadi </a >

Commonly Used Pico Commands:

Comments to: S. Sadi Seferoglu: [email protected]

Last updated: September 2, 1997

Page URL: http://www.columbia.edu/~sss31/html/guide.html

Go back to Publishing on the Web Home Page