CTSE 7970-002, Summer 2001
The most important point:
Keep your files synchronized! That is, keep a local copy of your entire Web site, neatly organized within a folder on a disk, hard disk, etc. That way if something goes wrong, you can easily retrieve your most recent version of a file.
Using an FTP client
Rather than relying on the "Publish" command within Communicator, you may find using an FTP client more useful in moving files to and from your Web site. On the Mac, the most common program is Fetch. In Windows, WS_FTP is common. The advantages are:
- You can move multiple files at once.
- You can see exactly where the files are going.
To look at your Web site using Fetch:
- Open Fetch and choose "New Connection" under the File menu.
- The host is mallard.auburn.edu; use your usual username and password. Leave directory blank. Click OK.
- There are some very important files in your directory that you should NEVER touch, including any files beginning with a period and the "Mail" folder. You may have put other files into this folder by mistake. You can safely delete them. See directions below.
- To see your Web site, double-click on "public_html". This is the "home" folder for your Web site. You will see all the pages and files you have published to your site.
Uploading files to your site.
- IMPORTANT: Always upload files as "Raw Data"; this ensures that they will be compatible across platforms.
- To upload a single file, click on the "Put" button and navigate to the file you want. Click OK. The file will be put into the current directory showing in Fetch. Remember to select the "raw data" format.
- To upload an entire folder or multiple files, choose "Put Directories and Files" under the Remote menu. Select each file or folder you want to include and click "Add". When you have completed the list, click "Done".
Downloading files from your site.
- This may be particularly important if you don't have all the files on your site saved onto your own disk.
- Select the file you want to download, then click "Get". You will then be given a chance to choose where you want the file to be stored.
Deleting files.
- IMPORTANT: Deleted files are immediately and permanently erased. There is no undo!
- Drag individual files to the trash, or...
- Use "Delete Directories or Files" from the Remote menu.
Using folders within your site
IMPORTANT: Before making any major changes to your Web site, you may want to back up the folder containing your files. That is, make a duplicate copy of that folder.
As the number of files associated with a particular assignment or other feature of your site proliferate (including graphic files, various HTML pages, etc.) you may find it useful to use a folder to enclose all the related items.
- The URL for that section of your site will then be of the form: "http://www.auburn.edu/~yourname/foldername/filename.html"
- As is true for your home directory, if no is specified, it will automatically look for a file named index.html. Thus, "http://www.auburn.edu/~yourname/foldername" is equivalent to "http://www.auburn.edu/~yourname/foldername/index.html"
To make the following discussion clearer, let's assume that you have created a folder called "writeup3" within your home directory to contain all the files associated with Write-up #3. Your directory looks (in part) like the following:
public_html (home folder)
index.html (your home page)
reflection2.html
part1.html
writeup3 (folder containing Write-up #3)
index.html (the main page for Write-up #3)
part1.html
part2.html
image.jpg
Linking is relative to the location of the file that is being accessed. For example, if you enter "reflection2.html" as the file to be linked to from your home page, the server looks for the file in your home directory. Likewise, if you link to "part1.html", it will choose the file within your home folder, not within the writeup3 folder.
- To access a file located within a folder contained in the same folder as the current page, include the folder name, followed by the file name, as in "foldername/filename.html". For example, to link to "part2.html" (located within the "writeup3" folder) from your home page, use "writeup/filename.html". Note that "writeup3/" will link you to "index.html" within the "writeup3" folder.
- To access a file located within the same folder as your current file, your link should not include the folder name. Thus, to link from "part1.html" to "part2.html", just enter "part1.html"
- To access a file contained in the folder above the current file, such as linking to "reflection2.html" from "part2.html", you have to use a special method: "../reflection2.html". "../" means to look up a level from the current level. As a second example, to link to your homepage from "part2.html", use "../index.html". If you use just "index.html", you will get the main page within the "writeup3" folder.
You can embed folders within folders, as in the following:
public_html (home folder)
index.html (your home page)
reflections (folder including all your reflections)
index.html (list of your reflections)
reflection1.html (one of your reflections)
writeups (folder including all your write-ups)
index.html (list of your write-ups)
writeup3 (folder containing Write-up #3)
index.html (the main page for Write-up #3)
The same principles apply for linking, except you may have to do things twice. For example
- To link from your home page to the main page for Write-up #3, you would use include the names of both directories: "writeups/writeup3/index.html" (although the "index.html" is optional).
- To link from the main page for Write-up #3 to your home page, you need to look up two levels, as in "../../index.html".
Final Warning
Always keep a local copy of your entire web site, so that if things get jumbled up while uploading, you can go back to the previous version.
Before making any major structural changes to your site (such as adding new folders), duplicate the entire folder where your site is stored. Again, you can then gracefully recover if things go awry.