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Publishing Your Webpage to the Internet

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Once you have finished creating your Web page, or perhaps an entire Web presentation and tested it on your own system, you can publish it to a server. Right now your page exists on your local computer; you can browse your Web page, but no one else can. When you publish to a server, you're copying your Web pages (HTML files) to a Web server so that others can see what you've done.

What is a Web Server?

A Web server is a program that runs all the time and waits for Web clients (such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Interent Explorer) to connect to it and request data, usually a file. Servers and browsers communicate using the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a language created for transferring hypertext documents over the Web. Web servers are often called HTTPD servers.

Note: The "D" in HTTPD stands for daemon. A daemon is a UNIX term for a program that sits in the background and waits for requests. You don't have to be on UNIX for a program to behave like a daemon, so Web servers on any platform are still called HTTPD servers, or simply HTTP servers.

Ideally, you'll be able to publish your Web pages using the same organization that gives you access to the Internet. If you get access to the Internet through a commercial provider, that organization might offer Web space that you can use as well. Ask your system administrator if they offer Web server access. At Portland State University you are allocated webspace on the server when you get your ODIN account.

Note: The Portland State University helpdesk has published several pages of guidelines and information for publishing your pages to the web.

Using One-button Publishing

The one-button publishing feature in Netscape Composer makes publishing your Web pages quick and easy. You can select which files or directories you want to upload (publish) to a remote server. You can also specify the remote server site.

Choose File |Publish or click the Publish button on the File/Edit toolbar.


 
 

    Select the "include images in document" option to display all of the image files in the current document (default). Then select any image files you want to publish along with the document.Select the "include all files in document's folder" option to display all of the files (.HTML, .GIF, .JPG) in the current document's directory. Then select the files you want to publish along with the document. This is a quick way to publish an entire Web presentation that is made up of several .HTML files.
Note: If a file on the remote server where you're publishing has the same file name as the one you're uploading, it will be replaced with the new one without asking you to confirm the action.

3. Type the location of the remote site you want to publish your Web pages to.

Tip: Once you've typed some locations here, in the future you can select from the list of remote locations you've established. Click Use Default Location to have the editor automatically enter the location you've specified in your Editor preferences. 4. Type the name you use when accessing the network where your Web pages will be located.

5. Type the password for your user name. Check Save Password to save your password information so you don't need to retype it each time you publish your Web pages.

6. Click OK. Once the files have been uploaded successfully to the specified server, you can choose Go |Default Publish Location in the browse window to view the page(s) you have just published.
 
 

Using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

You can also use FTP to transfer (or upload) your files to a Web server. Composer lets you access FTP servers in the same way you access Web (HTTP) servers. You may also choose to use an FTP software package (like WS-FTP). These packages work similarly to the file manager in your windows operating system.

Note: Most FTP client software lets you choose either ASCII text or binary transfer mode. Although HTML files themselves can be transferred as text files, other files, such as JPEG and GIF files, cannot be correctly transferred that way. It is safest to alwalys select BINARY as your default mode.

Using JavaScript in the Editor

JavaScript, a Netscape-developed scripting language derived from Java, provides developers with a simplified language to create scripts and small programs. With Composer, you too can take advantage of the power of this scripting language in your Web pages.

JavaScript is a small, property-based scripting language. Scripts written in JavaScript can enhance the features of Web pages, as well as client and server applications. For example, a JavaScript script embedded in HTML can recognize and respond to user-initiated events such as form input and page navigation.

Adding JavaScript to your Web pages

You can insert JavaScript in the pages you edit with Composer by applying a special character style to the JavaScript you've typed in your document.

Tip: Choose Help |Web Page Starter and go to the Tool Chest for more information about JavaScript.
 
 

Copyright 2001, M.McVay-Lynch, Portland State University

Last updated: April 20,2001