MINNESOTA MICRONET Setting Up Your Website / Publishing Your Web Pages on our Web Server   Legal Stuff   Important Basics   Creating Web pages   FrontPage   CGI     -Cgiemail     -FormMail     -Imagemaps     -Mailto     -Password-protected       Web Directories     -PHP/MySQL   Transfer/ftp pages/   Uploading files   Viewing pages   What's wrong?   Announcing your pages   Commercial Web stats HOW TO SET UP YOUR WEBSITE LEGAL STUFF Each account holder is responsible for management of his/her own Web site. Websites can be managed through ftp access and through a control panel. We don't provide free training in the design or publishing of web pages or HTML. If you do not already know how to write HTML, we recommend you seek help from a friend, a book or from the many newsgroups and websites devoted to these subjects. Personal web space is intended for you to tell others about you, your family, hobbies and interests. You may tell others about where you work or include a copy of your resume, but absolutely nothing promoting a commercial product or service. Information about local community events, churches or clubs may also be included, as well as hypertext links to other Web sites. If you want to publish commercial information, you must have a business account. See our Rates and Services for more details. Web pages should be original and not contain copyrighted material. Material which violates any federal, state, or local laws, adult material or any file or any link to a file deemed offensive by Minnesota MicroNet's standards is prohibited. Minnesota MicroNet reserves the right to determine what shall be considered offensive and/or inappropriate. A FEW, BUT VERY IMPORTANT, BASICS When you get Web space from Minnesota MicroNet, setting up your Website basically involves: You (or your Web developer or both of you) can create your Website using pretty much whatever tools you prefer. Transfer the files into your Web space here. View your Website. Manage your Website using a control panel, if desired. You (or your Web developer, or even both of you) can create your Web and graphic files on a PC, a Mac or a workstation. You can pretty much use whatever software you want ... One software package that does it all, or a combination of your favorite software packages for creating HTML, creating graphics, moving files and viewing your Website ... It's up to you. And you're not limited to just HTML. You can: use CGI use a control panel set up databases using PHP/MySQL set up PERL scripts use Java set up a shopping cart set up a blog use FormMail password-protected Web directory image maps and more ... Questions? They're probably answered below. Or, if not, e-mail us. However you prefer to work is probably fine. Just remember to follow a few guidelines: When you want to transfer the files, get online and connect to our ftp server. Commercial Websites:     Host name:   your domain name     example:   companyb.com Login with your username and password. Don't anonymously ftp. If you're a Web developer, you'll need to get the username and password from your client. The directory the Web files go into is called public_html The name of the file that will be your home page must be either index.html or index.htm Spell file names exactly the same every time they are referenced in an html tag or hypertext link -- and that includes the use of UPPER, lower and Mixed case. That pretty much covers the basics. For more complete info, please read on. Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats CREATE THE WEB PAGE (html and graphic files) A Web page consists of an html file, which contains the text of the Web page and the html tags (the commands that make a Web page a Web page). Each graphic that appears on a Web page is a separate file that is referenced in an html tag. You can use pretty much whatever software you choose to do this: an HTML editor, Website template software, text editor, Adobe GoLive (tm), DreamWeaver (tm), Photoshop (tm), etc. And you're not limited to just HTML. You can: use CGI set up databases using PHP/MySQL set up PERL scripts use Java set up a shopping cart set up a blog use FormMail password-protected Web directory image maps and more ... To learn how to create the html files and graphics for your Web page, you can: Find out online: HTML Writers Guild If you don't already have an HTML editor, check out these: Tucows HTML Stuff - reviews and downloads available Try a free tryout of products such as Adobe GoLive Buy a book. Take a class. Use Web page template software. View the source of other people's Web pages. You can create your own graphics if you have graphics software, or you can use public domain icons, buttons, backgrounds, etc. Your html editor or publishing software probably provides some. Some good sources of public domain graphics available on the Web are: Image library. Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats FRONT PAGE YES, we support FrontPage server extensions. Your Website can be developed either with Front Page server extentions enabled or disabled: ENABLED: If you want them enabled, tell us before you upload your files into your Webspace! You can also skip reading the section below and go here for instructions on publishing your Web pages with server extensions enabled. DISABLED: If you choose to run with Front Page Extensions disabled, that's fine too. Simply read the section below, then go here for information on how to publish your Web pages with server extensions disabled. If server extensions are disabled, you can still use Microsoft FrontPage (tm) to create and publish your Web pages. Even functions that are not supported such as forms, can be created with FrontPage, then edited to use CGI (instructions can be found here), or, we can offer alternative solutions in the form of CGI scripts. If Front Page Extensions are not enabled, the following ARE STILL SUPPORTED: Frame Wizard HTML Markup Bot Image Map Include Bot JavaScript Wizard Substitution Bot Timestamp Bot TOC (Table of Contents) Bot VBScript Wizard If Front Page Extensions are not enabled, the following CAN BE USED WITH A SIMPLE CGI MODIFICATION: Confirmation Bot Discussion Web Feedback Forms (save results bot) Guest Book Forms Registration Web Save Results Bot Scheduled Image Scheduled Include Bot Search Bot Please note that yes, you can still create any of the above such as a form even if extensions are disabled. Simply modify the html so it uses CGI. If you're never done it before, you'll be surprised how easy it is. If you're an experienced Web developer, you already know how easy it is. Here's how. Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats CGI All customers with Web space have access to shared CGI programs. Business Web space customers have access to either shared CGI programs, or may install their own private CGI bin. We've installed the following CGI programs which can be used by any of our customers: Cgiemail - form to email gateway Imagemap - clickable image maps Mail to - it's just an html tag. For example: A HREF="mailto:soandso@mydomain.com" Select here to E-mail me /A Setting up a password-protected Web directory If you're interested in a CGI program not listed above, please contact us. We probably have the script you're looking for or know where to get one. Because some CGI scripts can also be security holes and/or CPU hogs, customers with virtual host Websites may install their own CGI script in their own CGI bin, provided those scripts are not security holes or CPU hogs. If you want to use FormMail, we already have FormMail installed. You don't need a private CGI bin to use it. Questions? E-mail us. We also support PHP and MySQL databases. Information is available here. Questions? E-mail us. We do not support .asp. Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats TRANSFER THE FILES/UPLOAD THE FILES Once your html/graphics files are finished, you can transfer (upload) them into your Web space using either ftp software or a Web browser that lets you upload or "publish" through it. (Note: "publish" is just another way of saying the files are transferred (ftp-ed), then viewed with your browser.) Commercial Websites:     Host name:   your domain name     example:   companyb.com If you're using: Adobe GoLive, direction are here WSFTP, directions are here. CuteFTP, directions are here Fetch, directions are here FrontPage, directions are here. Internet Explorer 7 (Download and upload): In the Address field: Enter ftp://ftp.your Website's domain name in the Address field. For example: ftp://ftp.companyb.com You will see folders that look like you've anonymously ftp-ed. Pull down File and select Open FTP in Explorer option. Then select Login as from the File menu and enter your username and password. (If your Internet Explorer has the Classic Menu toolbar option activated, you shouldn't see the Open FTP in Explorer option; you should see the Login as option.) Internet Explorer 6 or lower (Download only): If you have files in your Web space already that you want to download onto your computer: On a PC: Enter ftp://ftp.your Website's domain name in the Address field. For example: ftp://ftp.companyb.com Pull down the File menu, go to Login As and enter your username and password. From there, you can select the public_html folder. Pull down the View menu, go to Explorer Bar, then to Folders and a list of the folders on your computer will appear down the left-hand side. Find the folder where you want the files to go. Also in that list, you will see Internet Explorer with a folder underneath it called your Website's domain name. Underneath that will be a public_html folder. Open the folder. Right click once on the file you want. Select Copy to Folder. Select the folder you want the file to download to. Click OK. On a Mac: Enter ftp://username:password@your Website's domain name For example: ftp://username:password@companyb.com If you're using FTP software other than the ones above, that's perfectly fine. As long as the settings are correct, it should work. Again, the basic settings are: When you're online, connect to our ftp server (unless you're using Front Page with the extensions enabled, then you don't ftp, you follow the instructions here.) The host is your Website's domain name. For example:     companyb.com (However, some software packages require ftp://ftp.your Website's domain name   Front Page with the extensions disabled requires ftp://ftp.your Website's domain name/public_html   Please read your software's instructions.) Login with your username and password. Don't anonymously ftp. The directory your Web files go into is called public_html Your home page must be named either index.html or index.htm or index.php YES, you can create subdirectories in your public_html directory. However, your home page must go into the public_html directory and not a subdirectory. If a Web developer/designer is working on your Website for you, giving your username and password to the Web developer/designer is your responsibility. FTP software only transfers files. A Web browser lets you view them. File names are cAse-sEnSItiVe. Index.htm is NOT the same as index.htm companylogo.gif is NOT the same as companylogo.GIF When your account is opened, an "Under Construction" Web page is automatically created. That page is named index.html and it's in your public_html directory. When you ftp in your own index.html file, your index.html file will overwrite that one. If your home page file is named index.htm, it will NOT overwrite the "Under Construction" index.html file. You'll either need to transfer your index.htm file in, then delete the "Under Construction" index.html file, or change the name of your home page file to index.html. If you have both an index.html and an index.htm file, the Web server will use index.html as your home page. Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats LOOK AT YOUR WORK Virtual Host Commercial -- http://www.yourdomainname.com Personal: -- http://www.mm.com/user/yourusername Let us know when you want your personal Web space open to the world by sending us e-mail to help@mm.com. Small Business Commercial -- http://www.mm.com/whatever Whether you're moving your files into your Web space for the first time, or making changes to existing pages, please remember to click the Reload or Refresh button at the top of your Web browser to view your pages. Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats WHAT'S WRONG? Not quite satisfied with how something looks? To make changes, edit the file on your computer, then ftp it. Or, use the control panel for your Website by going to: http://www.yourdomainname.com/cpanel Enter the same username and password you use to upload files. Or, if you know how to use SSH, let us know that you want to use it and what network you'll be coming from. Getting a File Not Found, Forbidden or Access Denied message? Don't See the Changes? Make sure the file actually went into your public_html directory or desired subdirectory. Make sure the file you ftp-ed in has exactly the name you want it to have, including the exact same upper and lower case characters. Make sure no extra extensions or funny characters got added to the name. Also, make sure that ALL references to the file spell the file name that same way. For example: If your home page contains a link to a Web page you refer to as filea.html in your a href tag, the file you transfer into your public_html must be named filea.html. Make sure your public_html directory contains an index.html or index.htm file. If there's no index file, your Website won't work. If it contains both, index.html will be used. If you manually typed the URL in the Address or Location field in your Web browser, make sure it's correct. If you clicked on a hypertext link and got an error message, view the source of the html to make sure the hypertext link is correct. Like the file name, the path must also be correct. Every user on our system has his/her own public_html directory. Html and graphic files either go into this public_html directory or a subdirectory you create under public_html. If the only directory you're working with is public_html and you create a hypertext link to another file in that directory, you can simply put the file name in the a href tag (a href="filex.html") if you want, or you can type the full path (http://www.mydomain.com/filex.html) Do not include "public_html" in the path name; our Web server takes care of that for you. No matter how you denote the path, please take into account what directory your Web page resides in and in what directory the file you're hyperlinking to resides. Remember to include any necessary slashes or dots. NOTE: Good Web development software already knows how to handle the examples below, but just in case you wanted to know... Example A: If you create a hypertext link to a file that's in a subdirectory under public_html (or even a subdirectory underneath a subdirectory), please remember to include the subdirectory name and the file: a href="subdirectorya/sub-subdirectoryb/filea.html" Example B: Or, if your Web page is in a subdirectory and you create a hypertext link to a file that's one directory above it: a href="../fileb.html" Example C: And, if that file were two subdirectories above it: a href="../../fileb.html" Example D: If your hypertext links say: a href="c:\My Documents\fileb.html" the links are pointing to your computer, not your Web space. REMEMBER: When your files are in your Web space, they're on the Internet. The Internet is a UNIX world. The UNIX world is not backwards. Neither are its slashes. The slashes in hypertext links are forward slashes ( / ) on the same key as the question mark ( ? ) The slashes in URL's (Web addresses) are also forward slashes. Make sure you've clicked the Reload or Refresh button on your Web browser to view the most current version of a Web page. If you uploaded your file in through a shell instead of ftp-ed through PPP, check the file permissions. If you ftp-ed like you normally do, you generally don't need to be concerned about file permissions. Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats ANNOUNCING YOUR PAGES Appropriately announcing your pages and providing search engine optimization is your responsibility. You can do this by: Appropriately announcing your Website to search engines that accept submissions. Making sure your Website, especially your home page, contains the information you want it to convey for search engines that do not accept submissions. Including your Web and e-mail address in all your printed materials and e-mail messages. There are many search engines where you can appropriately announce your Website. Start with the major search engines -- there are links to them on our home page. Visit those sites and follow their instructions exactly. Different search engines use different terms for adding your Website to that search engine: Add a Site, Submit a URL, Suggest a Site, etc. A Web search can also provide links to other Websites where you can appropriately announce/add your site. Or, if you have a favorite search engine, visit it to see if your Website can be added. There are also search engines (or portals) that do not let you submit to them. They search the Web and catalog the information. You do not submit the information to them. You wait for them to come to you. Anytime you consider announcing/adding your Website to a search engine -- please remember that there may be a cost involved, especially for business Websites, so be sure to read all information carefully. It's up to you whether you want to incur any cost or not. Another way to propagate your Web and E-mail addresses is to include them on all business cards, stationery, advertising, etc. Whenever you're going to have a Web or E-mail address printed, please make sure any Web or e-mail addresses are correct BEFORE you give them to your printer. This can save you the cost of needing to have something reprinted because the URL or E-mail address is wrong. Want to Improve Your Ranking in Search Results? There are lots of Websites. The owners of every single one of those Websites would like their URL to come up at the top of a search result. Obviously, this is impossible. However, there are definitely things you can do to optimize your ranking when a search is conducted: Know how different search engines determine ranking (keywords, number of hits, titles, submitting the URL, descriptions, etc.) and make sure your Web pages meet those criteria. Remember that search criteria change over time. Make sure your Web pages contain the necessary information to find you when conducting a search. For example, if you want your Website to be included when folks search on, say, "iguana manicures", please be sure to include that phrase in your Web page content, in the keyword tags, description tags, title or in whatever criteria the desired search engines use. Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats COMMERCIAL WEB STATISTICS Website statistics are provided free of charge for customers who have commercial Web space. These Webstats are available online through the control panel and are updated daily. They are available by adding /cpanel to the end of the URL for your commercial home page. For example: http://www.mydomain.com/cpanel You'll need to enter the same username and password you use to upload files into your Web space. You no longer use a special 4-character password to access the Website statistics. Click on the icon Web/FTP Stats. Most customers will click on Webalizer to view the Webalizer statistics. To view detailed stats, click on the name of a month. There is quite a bit of information there, including number of visits, referring domains, etc. Probably the most important statistic is Visits. Visits is the closest number to the actual number of people who viewed your Website. "Hits" are not the same as "Visitors". To a Web server, one person accessing your page is equal to one hit for the html file itself plus one hit for each graphic on the page. If your page has 10 graphics on it, one visitor accessing your page is equal to 11 hits. Adding more graphics to a Webpage does indeed increase the number of "hits". But it does NOT automatically increase the number of "visitors". We count transfer quota instead of hits when determining the amount of monthly data transfer. Network transfer quota is the maximum number of megabytes of outbound data transferred over the Internet from your Web space. (Hits on your Web pages from within our network, inlcuding you looking at your own Website, are not counted toward your transfer quota.) The amount of disk storage and data transfer quota needed by a Web site can vary greatly, depending on the mix of text and graphics. To help estimate the size and space needed, we consider a "typical" Web page -- that is, one with text and graphics -- about 50,000 bytes or less. 10 MB of storage will accommodate at least 200 pages of this size. On the other hand, a page containing text only would require about 2,500 bytes, so the same 10 MB will accommodate around 4,000 pages. Again, using our rule of thumb of 50,000 bytes for a typical Web page, a 300 MB/month transfer quota yields about 6,000 plus page transfers or "hits" per month, or about 200 "hits" per day. But again, the number of hits that will fit in, say, 300 MB/month will vary greatly depending on the mix of text and graphics. NOTE: Currently, Web servers CANNOT record the E-mail address of the person accessing your Web pages. Even programs that promise to "capture" the person's E-mail address depend on the person to type in a complete, valid E-mail address. Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats Top Home > Help > Publishing Your Web Pages       Copyright © 1994-2008 by Minnesota MicroNet. All rights reserved.