So ya wanna have a homepage...

This is a guide to the process of creating WWW pages, from deciding on your page's content to getting it up and working on Pegasus. This isn't an HTML tutorial, but it points to tutorials and other HTML resources.

To put a homepage on Pegasus:

1. Decide on the Content
2. Learn HTML and Editor Basics
3. Create the Homepage
4. Transfer the Page to Pegasus
5. Maintain the Page

 

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1 Decide on the Content

Before jumping into HTML, take some time to think what you want out of your homepage. Remember, your homepage can be visited by anyone with WWW access. Some people advise never putting anything on a WWW page that you would not publish in print. Your page will reflect on you positively or negatively, so give it some thought.

Try to answer these questions:

Why do I want a homepage?

Who will use the page?

What will it be used for?

How will the page be used?

Will I have time to maintain it?

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2 Learn HTML Basics

To create your homepage, you will need to learn some HTML - Hyper Text Mark-up Language codes. It is not as complicated as it sounds. To learn about HTML, check out some tutorials.

• HTML Quick Reference

  My very own creation. A list of HTML tags without explanation. Feel free to copy it.

• The UCF HTML Primer

  The official HTML tutorial for UCF.

• Revised Introduction to HTML: 1995 Edition

  A nice HTML tutorial by James Powell

• Yahoo's HTML Guides and Tutorials Page

  A list of many HTML tutorials and other HTML related material.

Another way to learn about HTML is to take a look at the HTML source code of your favorite Web pages. Select View from your browser's menu bar, then select Source.

3 Create the Homepage

Once you understand HTML a bit, use an editor to create and edit your page. Any editor will do, as long as it can produce plain-text files (no word processing codes). Several editors are available. I've used FrontPage extensively, and it is the standard for the Library.  Dreamweaver is the de-facto standard on campus, and there is frequent training available from Course Development and Web Services.  In a pinch, even Notepad can be a good HTML editor.

I recommend using a browser and and editor simultaneously. Edit your page, then open it in the browser to see what it looks like. You can also easily cut and paste URLs, titles, and text from the browser to your pages. Beware of hidden HTML and Javascript when you cut and paste from the web.  A good way to strip down to just the text is to past into Notepad, then copy from Notepad and paste into your page.

4 Transfer the Page to Pegasus

To make your page accessible on the web, you must to put it on a WWW server, such as Pegasus. If you don't want everyone to have access, you probably shouldn't put it on a server. Transferring your page to Pegasus involves:

1. Creating a public_html directory in your Pegasus account.
2. Setting the permissions, so people other than you can see pages in public_html.
3. Transferring your homepage to your public_html account on Pegasus.

Creating a public_html Directory in Pegasus

On Pegasus, all personal WWW pages must be in a directory named public_html. To create a public_html directory in your account:

1. Login to your Pegasus account in your usual way.
2. Enter homepagesetup

Pegasus will run a script that does several things. For more information, visit A Guide to setting up a Public Home Page on Pegasus. Be warned, I'm outlining a slightly different process than the one they describe, but both work.

Transferring Your WWW Page to Pegasus

To get your page from your PC to Pegasus you need to run an FTP session. Here are step-by-step instructions based on basic Windows 2000 FTP. If there is another FTP program you are more comfortable with, by all means, use it instead!

1. Click on the Start button and select Run.
2. Type command and press Enter.  A DOS session will start.  You should see a C:\>  prompt.
3. Go to the directory where you stored your WWW page. 
4. Start an FTP connection with Pegasus
5.  
   • Enter ftp pegasus.cc.ucf.edu
   • Wait for a connection. Enter your Pegasus username and password after the prompts:
     • Remote User Name:
     • Remote Password:
6. Transfer the file:

1. At the ftp> prompt enter bin  Bin is short for "binary".  Binary transfers are the most accurate.
2. Enter cd public_html
3. At the next prompt, enter put home.html  If your web page file isn't named home.html, enter whatever the file is named. If you use images with the page, you must transfer them too.
4. Done! To end the FTP session, enter quit.

Once your page is transferred, take a look at it using your WWW browser. To, to look at your page using Netscape:

1. Open Netscape
2. Select File from the menu bar
3. Select Open Location from the drop down menu
4. Enter the URL

Your homepage's URL is:  http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~username
Replace username with your Pegasus username, of course. The tilde symbol, ~, is just to the left of the 1 key on my keyboard. Your keyboard may be different. 

Any other web page you put on Pegasus will have the URL: http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~username/file.name
Replace file.name with file's name, of course.

5 Maintain the Page

As I said earlier, your homepage reflects positively or negatively on you, and an out of date homepage always reflects negatively. If your page includes current information, such as office hours, projects, etc., it should be accurate! Also, periodically check all the links on your page. URLs have a way of changing, and web pages disappear and move.

When you need to make minor changes to your web page, use the pico editor on Pegasus.

1. Start from Pegasus in your public_html directory
2. Enter pico home.html (or whatever the filename is)
3. Edit the file. Pico works similarly to the editor in Pine.
4. Save the file. Enter [Ctrl][x]
5. Check the page's appearance in your browser. Once you've transferred the page to a server, you should check it's appearance in other browsers, such as lynx and Mosaic, too.

Athena Hoeppner
1 April 2002