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This guide is available to assist you with building web pages
at UNF.
In order for you to start building your web pages at UNF,
you must have a UNF
Osprey Account.
Next, you should have some knowledge of HTML - The Language
of the Web - or access to an HTML Editor to create web pages.
Then you will need some information about the UNF web server
where your web pages will exist:
- What type of
server it is?
- How to transfer
files from your computer to the server?
- What type of
CGI scripts are available?
Finally, if you get stuck you will want to know where you
can get help.
HTML - The
Language of the Web
Creating a web page means creating a file -- a document --
with a word processing program or text editor. This document
must contain special markup language (HTML is an acronym for
Hypertext Markup Language) that web browsers (such as Netscape
or Internet Explorer) use to render a web page. (You can see
the markup for this page, for example, by selecting VIEW>
Source within your typical web browser).
You can create a web document on your desktop and then upload
it to your Osprey account a file transfer program or SFTP .
Many HTML editors (like Macromedia's Dreamweaver, for example)
have an SFTP function built right into the application -- so
you don't have to invoke a separate piece of software to transfer
your files.
If you put your new web page in the appropriate
directory in your Osprey account (within a directory called
homepage) and give it with the appropriate
permissions, the UNF web server display it to a web browser.
Alternately you can log in to your Osprey
account (using some form of telnet software) and create your
web page directly within your account using one of the text
editors available in the UNIX environment, like vi or pico.
UNIX text editors are old-fashioned, though, and can be difficult
to use, so most people create their web page files on their
desktop and transfer it to their Opsrey accounts.
The
Server & SFTP
UNIXHelp
Helpful information for users of the UNIX operating system. |
You have created your web page, but no one's going to know
about it if they exist only on your desktop computer. The
UNF web server is a machine running software that makes the
files you store on them available to the World Wide Web. The
environment that the web server runs on is an operating system
called UNIX. The way that you transport your files from your
desktop onto the server is called SFTP (secure file transfer protocol).
There are also some special CGI scripts that are available
on the web server that will allow you to add counter, create
guestbooks, etc.
The UNF web server does
not support Microsoft Frontpage extensions or .ASP.
Information for Using SFTP at UNF
One common use for SFTP is transferring web pages to web servers.
Web designers often create their HTML, GIF, JPEG, etc. files
on their desktop computers (local) and use SFTP to transfer
the pages to the server (remote) that will actually serve
the files over the Internet.
Whether you are using an SFTP program or a HTML editor with
the SFTP function built in the software, the concept is the
same. You will be putting or transferring your files from
your local drive (your desktop computer), to a remote drive
(the web server).
In order to do this, you will need four important pieces
of information:
- The hostname
of the server that will hold your pages.
At UNF it will be osprey.unf.edu
- Your userid,
(the name under which you sign onto the server).
Your Osprey account name. (i.e. n12345678)
note: you need to use a lowercase n.
- Your password.
Your password.
- The name
of the directory which will hold your pages.
For a personal homepage at UNF that directory must be "homepage".
The next section gives you more information about the directories
into which your files should be placed.
After you SFTP
the files to the server, your personal home page can be immediately
accessed as http://www.unf.edu/~username/
, where username
is your login id.
Please don't check
the box marked "save password" if others have access to your
computer.
Note: Osprey only
allows SFTP(secure SFTP) connections. Programs using a non-secure
SFTP connection will simply not work, so please make sure your editor
is set to connect securly.
Where
Do I SFTP My Files?
If you
maintain web pages for your department or a UNF organization
on the Osprey system, you will now find your files under the
/var/www/htdocs/... directory
on the osprey.unf.edu server. (Prior to January, 2002, files
were under either the "usr/local/http/htdocs/..."
directory OR "/disk3 ..." directory.) The remaining
portion of the address under "/var/www/htdocs/...
" will correspond to the web page address.
Examples:
- http://www.unf.edu/groups/aitp
-----> /var/www/htdocs/groups/aitp
- http://www.unf.edu/coas ------------>
/var/www/htdocs/coas
- http://www.unf.edu/dept/upd -------->
/var/www/htdocs/dept/upd
If you are looking
for the full path to your Osprey home page, that is /home/u/~username/
, where u is the
first letter of your login id and username
is your login id.
Ususally, when
you first SFTP into the server, you'll start off
in your home directory and will only need to use the cd
homepage command to be in the correct working
directory.
CGI
Scripting Available at UNF
Common
Gateway Interface or CGI scripts give web pages some added
functionality and interactivity. Examples of CGI's are counters
or guestbooks. The UNF web server does not give individuals
the ability to create and install their own CGI scripts.
The UNF web server
provides locally installed scripts, some of which require
special configuration for each user.
FormProc
FormProc (Forms Processor) allows you to work with forms
in a variety of ways, including guestbooks and form mailers.
There is separate
documentation for this program. It requires special
configuration for each form.
Homepage Access
Counter
Please see the local counter page
for more information on how you can set up a counter on
your home page.
Help
Available
Where should
I call for help?
The User Services ITS Help Desk can help you with all sorts of
computer problems and answer many of your questions. Their
phone number is (904)620-HELP. You
can click here to send your question.
Computer Based
Training for Students
Computing Services offers free web-based
training in major productivity applications, including
Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, HTML,
and Web Browsers. For more information, please stop by the
General Purpose Computing Lab (Building 15 Room 2102).
For Faculty
and Staff
UNF's Department of Computing Services offers Training
for Faculty and Staff creating web pages.
The Center
for Instruction, Research, and Technology (CIRT) provides
support to faculty in need assistance in creating web pages.
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