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 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 commercial 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 instead of cgi-email, we already have FormMail installed. You don't need a private CGI bin to use it. Questions? contact us

We also support PHP and MySQL databases. Information is available here. Questions? contact us

We do not support .asp.

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Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages
Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats

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FRONT PAGE

Microsoft no longer supports FrontPage for UNIX, so we can no longer support FrontPage server extensions for new Websites. Yes, you can still develop your Website and ftp your files with FrontPage.

If you already have a Website that uses FrontPage server extensions, it's fine. Just upload files to your Website with ftp. Go here for information on how to publish your Web pages with server extensions disabled.

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.

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Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages
Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats

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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:   example.com
    Directory:   public_html

• If you're using:
  
  • Adobe GoLive, direction are here
  • WSFTP, directions are here.
  • CuteFTP, directions are here
  • Fetch, directions are here
  • Filezilla, 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.mydomainname.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.example.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@example.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:
      mydomainname.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 index e.g. index.html, index.htm, index.php, index.shtml, etc. and must go into the public_html directory.
  
  
• YES, you can create subdirectories, sub-subdirectories, etc. under your public_html directory. However, your home page must go into the public_html directory, 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 where your home page will be. The page is named index.htm and it's in your public_html directory. When you ftp in your own index.htm file, the original index.htm file will be overwritten. The index.htm file you upload can be your finalized home page, or you can first upload your own "Under Construction" page until your home page is finalized, then upload your own finalized home page.

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Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages
Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats

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• Virtual Host Commercial -- http://www.yourdomainname.com

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.

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Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages
Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats

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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.

Getting a File Not Found, Forbidden or Access Denied message?
Don't See the Changes?

1. Make sure the file actually went into your public_html directory or desired subdirectory.
   
   
2. 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. Make sure no extra extensions or funny characters got added to the name.
   
   
3. 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.
   
   
4. Make sure your public_html directory contains an index.html, index.php, index.shtml or index.htm file. If there's no index file, your Website won't work. If it contains both, index.html will be used.
   
   
5. If you manually typed the URL in the Address or Location field in your Web browser, make sure it's correct.
   
   
6. 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.
   
   
7. 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, or a sub-subdirectory, etc. that 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.

   

8. Make sure you've clicked the Reload or Refresh button on your Web browser to view the most current version of a Web page.

9. You generally don't need to be concerned about file permissions, but occasionally this can be the case.

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Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages
Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats

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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.

Click on the icon 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, including 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

ANNOUNCING YOUR PAGES

Appropriately announcing your pages and providing search engine optimization is your responsibility. You can do this by:

1. Appropriately announcing your Website to search engines that accept submissions.
2. Making sure your Website, especially your home page, contains the information you want it to convey for search engines that do not accept submissions.
3. 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.

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Important Basics | Creating Web pages | FrontPage | CGI | Transfer/ftp pages
Viewing pages | What's wrong? | Announcing your pages | Commercial Web stats

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