Uploading Your Files to the HWCN and Testing Them

Steven Nagy, February 2000

Last updated: May 2000 by SN

  1. Your Web site consists of one or more files which must be transferred to the correct location on the Community Net's hard drives before they are accessible to the world over the Internet.

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  2. When your Information Provider account was set up, two separate areas were allocated to you on the Community Net's hard drives. Not being aware of the difference between these two areas is the source of many headaches. (See Figure 1.)

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Figure 1: The Difference Between Private and Web FoldersFigure 1
  1. There are several ways of transferring your files into your Web directory. One way is to "upload" the files to your account directory and then to "install" them. The install command transfers them to the correct Web directory.

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Figure 2: Tagging Multiple Files To Install Them TogetherFigure 2

The FTP Alternative

  1. Using ftp (file transfer protocol) to maintain your Web site is an alternative to the "upload" and "install" process described above. You can ftp your files directly to your Web directory, cutting down on the number of steps needed.

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  2. In order to be able to use ftp, you must have a PPP (point to point) connection to the Community Net. (This is also referred to as "graphical" access.) If the only connection you have to the Community Net is a dial-up, text-based account you will not be able to use ftp. You can transfer files to and from your IP account via ftp as long as you have graphical access to the Internet with any ISP (Internet Service Provider)--it could be a Community Net account or it could be an account with a commercial ISP.
Configuring The FTP Software
  1. WS_FTP LE (Ipswitch, Inc.) is a highly-regarded freeware program used by many Information Providers to transfer files from their personal computer to their IP directory on the HWCN. It is available for Windows 3.1, Windows 9x and Windows NT. You can download and install this program from many sites on the Internet. (Try, for example, www.tucows.interlynx.net.) These instructions are based on version 4.6 of the program running on Windows 98. WS_FTP LE can be customized to quite an extent. If some of the following directions do not correspond exactly to how things appear on your computer, it could be because you (or someone else who uses your computer!) has already changed some of the settings.

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  2. After you have WS_FTP LE installed on your computer, launch it and you will be greeted with a "Session Properties" dialog box. (See Figure 3.) You must create a new profile with information specific to the Community Net computers and to your account:

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Figure 3: WS_FTP Session Properites Dialog BoxFigure 3
  1. After clicking on the OK button, you will be connected to the Community Net (assuming that your Internet connection is active). You should see two windows or "panes" displayed in the program. The left hand pane is a view of the directory structure (folders and files) on your personal computer (the "local" computer) and the right hand pane displays a similar view of the "remote" computer (the HWCN computer).
Navigating To The Correct Folders
  1. Using standard Windows conventions, you should navigate to the drive and folder on your local machine which contains your Web site files. (As a reminder, double clicking on a folder will "open" it and let you see a listing of its contents. Double clicking on the "crooked arrow and two dots" icon at the top of the directory listing will take you up to a higher level folder (the "parent" folder). Double clicking on one of the drive icons at the very bottom of the directory listing will let you view the contents of another disk drive.)

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  2. When you connected to the HWCN via ftp, you should have been automatically placed in the /cfn/info/Information folder. From there, you must navigate to the folder where your Web site files will be found. Every Information Provider has their own folder to contain these files. You should have been given the name of the folder when your account was set up. If you don't have a record of it, e-mail infoadmin@hwcn.org to ask for it. As an example, the files for the Hamilton Country Dancers Web site reside in a folder named "jig". The "jig" folder resides in the "leisure" folder which resides in the "sports" folder. In other words, for the Hamilton Country Dancers to update their site, they would have to transfer their files to: /cfn/info/Information/sports/leisure/jig. Again, remember that you open folders by double clicking on them.

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  3. Once you have navigated to the correct directory on both the local and remote computers, you should save this configuration so that next time you use this WS_FTP LE "session profile", you will be taken back here automatically. To save the configuration, click on the "Options" button at the bottom of the WS_FTP LE screen, make sure that you're looking at the "Session" tab, and then click on the button which reads "Save Current Directories as Connection Directories". Finish by clicking on the OK button.
Transferring Files
  1. You should now be ready to transfer files from one computer to the other. Let's say you want to transfer files from your personal computer to your IP directory on the Community Net. (You can, of course, transfer files in the other direction as well.) In the left hand pane, select the files (or even folders) that you want to transfer. (As a reminder: select a file or folder by clicking on it once. To select multiple files or folders which are contiguous in the list, click on the first one, hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and, while holding down Shift, click on the last one you wish to select. If the files you whish to select for transfer are not contiguous in the list, click on the first one, hold down the Ctrl key and, while holding it down, click on any subsequent files which you wish to add to the selection.)

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  2. To transfer the selected files, simply click on the grey arrow button in the middle of the screen, the one which point towards the right (towards the remote computer pane).
UNIX File Naming Conventions
  1. On occasion, you may have to rename a the file on the remote computer. (From index.htm to index.html, for example). Simply click on the file name in the right pane to select it and then right click on it (i.e. click using the right mouse button). From the menu of choices which pops up, choose "Rename file..." (by left clicking) and then type in the new file name.

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  2. It is very important not to forget that file and folder names in UNIX (the operating system used on the Community Net computers) are case sensitive. "Index.html" and "index.html" are considered two completely different files by the HWCN computers. Your homepage file must be named index.html.

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  3. UNIX supports file names up to 256 characters in length. It is safest to limit yourself to numbers and upper and lower case letters because there are some punctuation marks and other special characters which are not allowed in UNIX file names. Do not use spaces, &, $, ~ or #, for example. One common convention is to separate words in file names by using the underscore character. A file named: dance_member_form1.html would be perfectly acceptable.
Testing Your Files
  1. Using your Web browser (e.g. Navigator, Internet Explorer or Lynx), you should now visit your site to make sure the files were properly transferred and are accessible to the visiting public. If, when you try to browse to your site, you receive an error message indicating that your files are not accessible, one of the things you should check is that the file "permissions" are set correctly.

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  2. Lynx is the text-based browser that the majority of Community Net subscribers still use. The wherefore and why of creating pages which can be easily viewed in Lynx was addressed earlier in this presentation.

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  3. Although it is possible to download and install on your personal computer a version of Lynx for Windows, in most cases it is more convenient to dial in (or telnet in) to the Community Net, log on to your account, and use the remote version of Lynx to navigate around the Community Net site or surf the Net.
UNIX File Permissions
  1. The HWCN computers which host your Web site files use the UNIX operating system. When using the Community Net, you don't usually have to worry about the differences between UNIX and the Windows or Apple operating system you likely use on your personal computer. Other than the file naming rules mentioned above, the other difference which causes IPs the most trouble is the UNIX concept of "permissions". Knowing a little bit about permissions will help you troubleshoot a problem which IPs commonly experience when they first start using the Community Net.

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  2. In UNIX, each file has a set of permissions associated with it. These attributes determine who can do what with a file. UNIX recognizes three categories of users, each of which can have a different level of access to a file. The categories are "owner", "group" and "other". You can independently set "read", "write" and "execute" permissions for each of these three categories of user. You are the owner of your IP files and must have "read" and "write" permissions on them. The general public, surfing in from the Internet, belongs to the "other" category. If "other" does not have permission to "read" the files in your Web site folder, they will receive an error message and will not be able to visit your site. On the other hand, if you give "write" permission to "other", anybody could modify or delete your files! Note that when you browse your site using a graphical browser (e.g. Navigator or Internet Explorer), you too are considered "other" and won't be able to view your files unless the permissions are set correctly.

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  3. Please note that the Information Committee is currently discussing possible modifications to how permissions work for IP accounts. A possible result of this modification is that files in your Web folder which do not have read permission enabled for "other" may nonetheless be visible to everybody over the Net. In other words, you should consider all files in your Web folder to be potentially publicly accessible, whether or not you have enabled read permission for "other".

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  4. WS_FTP LE lets you easily change the permissions on your files. To do so, click once on a file in the remote computer directory listing to select it, then right click (i.e. click using the right mouse button) on it. From the menu which pops up, choose "chmod". Ensure that you give the following permissions (by making sure that there is a check mark in the box beside each one):

    Owner: Read, Write Group: Read, Write Other: Read

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  5. Make sure that you click on the OK button in the dialog box to have the changes take effect. You can select multiple files in the remote folder (using the same techniques as explained above) and reset the permissions on all of them at once. (See Figures 4 and 5.)


Figure 4: Using WS_FTP To Set UNIX File PermissionsFigure 4

Figure 5: File Permissions For Files in the Website FolderFigure 5

  1. It is also straightforward to change file permissions when logged in to the Community Net as a text-based user.

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Figure 6: Setting File Permissions in LynxFigure 6

More Help With WS_FTP

  1. For more information about the features of WS_FTP LE, make sure to check out the help files which come with the program. (Click on the grey Help button at the bottom of the WS_FTP LE screen.)
Making The Most Of Your IP E-mail Account
  1. Every IP that registers with the Community Net has one e-mail address. By default, it takes the form ipxxx@hwcn.org. For example, the e-mail address for the Hamilton Country Dancers is ip082@hwcn.org.

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  2. You can set up an alias for this e-mail account. Rather than expecting your "clients" to remember your numerical IP e-mail address, you can change it to something easier to remember. Perhaps dancers@hwcn.org, in the case of our example. In order to set up an alias:

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  3. To read your mail, log on to your IP account then type "gmail". This will launch a mail reading program on the Community Net's computers called "PINE".


    4. When you are finished with PINE, type "q" and then Enter to return to Lynx.
     

  4. You can also set up e-mail client programs on your personal computer so that they access your IP e-mail inbox over the Internet (i.e. no need to dial up to log on to your account). Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator both have e-mail modules which can be used in this way. Other e-mail clients which have a good reputation are Eudora (shareware) and Pegasus Mail (freeware).

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  5. The HWCN supports both the pop3 and IMAP e-mail protocols. If you are configuring your e-mail client software, you need to enter the name of the pop3 server (pop.hwcn.org) or the IMAP server (imap.hwcn.org). You will also need to specify your IP user name (e.g. ip082) and your password.

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  6. Your e-mail account is an important means for your clients to get in touch with you. As described in a previous part of this presentation, make sure that you have a mailto: link on your Web pages.
Mailing Lists
  1. When you send an e-mail message to a mailing list, it will be received by all the people who are subscribed to that mailing list. There are two mailing lists which are of importance to all Hamilton-Wentworth Community Net Information Providers.

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