How can I create a web page in my PCN account?
Creating a web directory
First, you will need to have an account on bohr. In your home directory, create a directory called “.www” (dot www). This directory name is not arbitrary. It must be exactly as shown.
Creating a file named "index.html"
In the .www directory, create a file named index.html. This is your 'front page'. Your URL (Uniform Resource Locator, your website address) will point to this file as a default html file when your URL is accessed. Usually, your URL will be in the form: http://www.physics.purdue.edu/~your_login
Set protection mode
Often user home directories are created with restricted permissions. To enable your personal web space, execute the following command from a UNIX shell command prompt:
chmod o+x /net/aristotle/home/your_login
Next, you need to set the protection mode of the “.www” directory so that others can access your website. To do this, set your protection mode to “world readable”. In your Unix shell command prompt in your home directory, enter:
chmod go+rx .www
Any file within your web directory that is not set to “world readable” will result in a “broken link”.
Some HTML Basics
An HTML file basic components consist of “HTML tags” as follows: (blue text represents user-defined text string).
| In your HTML file | Explanation |
|---|---|
| <HTML> | An HTML file must begin with this tag and end with </HTML> |
| <HEAD> | Header information |
| <TITLE>Your webpage title</TITLE> | Title of your webpage |
| <BODY TEXT="#000000" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" BACKGROUND="IMAGE/image1.jpg" LINK="#0000EE" VLINK="#551A8B" ALINK="#FF0000"> | This tag specifies the color background, color of text, linked text, and visited linked text (vlink) within the body of the HTML file. You may also put an image on the background with the BACKGROUND definition. This callout will supersede “COLOR” definition. |
| </BODY> | Within the “BODY” tags is the main content of your webpage with plain text, linked text, and images. Some link aspects are discussed below. |
| </HTML> | Must include this tag to complete your HTML file. |
Linked Document
As the name suggested, HTML files are files with links to other pages. If the linked document is within your site, you don't have to specify the full URL. For example, if you have a document named “foobaa.html” in a sub-directory named “Doc”, to link to this document from the current directory, all you have to specify is
<a href="Doc/foobaa.html"> linked file </a>
For external links (links to files or images reside outside of your home directory), you must use the full URL callout. For example, to link to an HTML file named “exameone.html” located in your friend's directory with the path: /home/tzz, the linked URL callout should be:
<a href="http://www.physics.purdue.edu/~tzz/examone.html"> linked file </a>
Uploading Files to Your Web Directory
If you are creating a web page, then it is likely you are using some images. Those images must be present somewhere in your web directory to be accessible.
On a PCN windows machine your home directory is automatically mounted and accessible to you. You can navigate to the .www directory and place your images there directly.
On a PCN Windows host, you will need to open this directory and then copy any images you want to use into it. This procedure is similar as to when you open a share on the PCN Gutenberg server. On your Windows machine, open up the “Run” dialog (through the “Start” menu or by typing “Windows Key-R”) and type:
\\gutenberg.physics.purdue.edu\[your username]\.www
Enter your Purdue Career account information if prompted. This will give you direct access to your web directory. Files can placed using drag and drop or copy/paste.
Linked Image
Linked image is specified by an “AHREF” tag and an “IMG SRC” tag. In this example a file named “mickey.jpg” located in the “Img” directory is linked to an html file named “myfriends.html” :
<A HREF="http://www.physics.purdue.edu/~mylogin/myfriends.html"> <img SRC="Img/mickey.jpg"></A>