The goal of this document is to provide instructions on creating a basic homepage, consisting initially of:
As an initial demonstration, I suggest that you (now!) first VIEW my own (more complicated) master file at the URL http://math.uic.edu/~smiths/courses/m310 which is the equivalent of what I'm calling course.html in this note. Notice that you can click on the line for course syllabus and see that document also (what I'm calling schedule.long in this note). So getting some brief version of those set up for you is today's goal.
Having understood the simple syntax of these two, you should in the future be able to embellish the master file, and edit in many links to as many further files as you wish. At the end, I will also mention how to post TeX files (in dvi form) --- as is done in my more complicated master file, which ideally you've just seen.
GETTING STARTED:
Suggested pre-requisite: read Heidi Burgiel's documents on the generalities of web pages at the URL: http://math.uic.edu/~burgiel/Docs
From those, I review the facts that to start out you need:
(I) ESTABLISHING THE MASTER FILE:
On the web machine, you will have a "home" directory, usually named in the form:
~<yourloginname> (thus mine is ~smiths)
For Web purposes, there will be a subdirectory with the conventional name
public_html
The first file usually put in this directory is your PERSONAL homepage, under the conventional name
index.html
But this directory public_html is also the obvious place to stash your course homepage etc; so this document assumes you will be adding two further files to this directory---for demonstration purposes I've chosen the names
course.html
schedule.long
Probably you'll want your personal page index.html to have a link pointing to your course homepage course.html; but don't worry about that for now, it should clarify later.
So how can you get your master file course.html set up, that is a SOURCE file, which under a web browser (eg Netscape) will produce the VIEWED effect of the above demonstration? I recommend your getting a simple copy of mine, and just editing in your information in place of mine.
(a) First, try to use your web browser to save the file m310webpage directly to your account or machine.
If this doesn't work, you must use ftp to get a copy to your office machine. If you are using the unix command line, enter
ftp ftp.math.uic.edu
and when prompted enter as user / login name:
anonymous
and as password just your email address. If you are at an ITIP machine (PC, Mac should be similar) open the FTP icon, and enter the above remote host as ftp.math.uic.edu; and user/password.
Next you need to get to my directory on that machine. From the unix command line you enter
cd pub/smiths
or on ITIP, on the right ("remote machine") side of the screen double click first on pub and then on smiths. Then you should see the contents of the directory on ITIP, though on unix you'll need to enter the command
ls
to see the contents. You should among the files see one named
m310webpage
To obtain a copy of the file, on unix you now enter the command get m310webpage while on ITIP you highlight the file name on the right and click the right-to-left arrow. (You probably want first to make sure to change directory on the left side to the directory on the office machine WHERE you want the file placed). After it has transferred, click the left "rename" to call it course.html Now you can "quit" ftp in unix, or close the icon in ITIP.
(b) next step: Now EDIT the file you just got to your machine. That is, enter the editor on your machine for that new file m310webpage, save it to a new file named course.html (in case you make a mistake), and start filling in what you would prefer. This template contains some simple html language, about which I'll only say a few words: Notice that groups begin and end with an html command: for example the heading in the form
<head> ....text.... </head>, where / means "end group".
Most useful for beginners is the next group
<pre>...text...</pre>
where "pre" stands for "preformatted" --and just tells html to reprint VERBATIM (spacing etc) whatever text you fill in between.
Also notice the group in the form
<UL>
<li> course SYLLABUS
<A href="schedule.long"> (ascii text file: schedule.long)
</A>
</UL>
The text between <A and </A> is the basic syntax for a LINK, which allows viewers to proceed to another file you have established. For this demonstration, under href you would create a file schedule.long in your public_html directory/folder, which contained the syllabus. (The A is for "anchor", to say where it is.) The words (ascii text file: schedule.long) will appear as colored or underlined text linked to that file, i.e. the text the users will click on to GO to schedule.long.
The <UL>, <LI> and </UL> tags start an "unordered list", insert a "list item" and end the list.
(c) Now let's say you have done all the editing you want, and are ready to install the master file. You do this with ftp again---now just reversing the direction from step (a). That is, connect now to remote machine where your account lives
lou.math.uic.edu (for NeXT lab accounts) or math.uic.edu (for Sun accounts)
this time give your ACTUAL login name and password. When connected, change directory on the remote machine first to your home directory ~<yourloginname>, then to public_html; and make sure on the "local" machine your are pointing to the file you just edited. Now click left-to-right, or on unix
put course.html
And then the file should be in place.
You can now TEST your new course home page by entering netscape and opening the appropriate URL; if on www machine, then
http://www.math.uic.edu/~yourloginname/course.html
If you like, you can go back and forth between editing the source file course.html, and viewing the result on netscape: Each time you edit a change to course.html, SAVE it. Then on netscape click "reload" -- the effects of the change should be visible.
(Note: You may also be able to test your document by using the "Open Local" option on your "File" menu. If you do this, keep in mind that links in your document will not work unless the files and directories on your local computer match those of your remote account.)
(2) ESTABLISHING THE LINKED FILE
To make the above link effective, you actually have to create a file under the name schedule.long, where you had said via "href" above that it was going to be.
And you can probably now figure out the steps:
(a) edit: on your office machine, create file schedule.long and put in it everything you want. I recommend starting with just a plain text file; worry about fancier formats later.
(b) ftp: now as in last step (c) of (1), use ftp to transfer the file from your office machine onto your web machine, in directory ~yourloginname subdirectory public_html
Once that is done, you can click on the underlined area in the master file course.html, and it should then transfer you to the linked document schedule.long.
Again you can test with Netscape; and go back and forth to check changes using "save" and "reload".
WHAT ABOUT TeX DOCUMENTS?
Most of us habitually prepare formal course documents such as exams (maybe even syllabi) in TeX, which is a format much more complicated than plain text. I'll explain how you can link to dvi files so that they are web-visible.
Most web browsers need a "helper" to interpret some format like dvi. This may require a further step on your part, but it is already pre-set at some important locations:
--200 Lab: here clicking on a dvi file will open up a TeX window. You need to click "view" in the menu at the left to see what the dvi file looks like on the screen.
--Computer Center/Library computer arcades: These are preset to have PCTeX installed as a helper, and when a dvi file is clicked on, they automatically "view" it. (Slowly, I'm afraid).
But this does mean that you can, as above, link dvi files into your course page---and the students can see (and print!) them in those standard locations.
But an extra step may be required in the netscape on your office machine. Basically you have to click on "options", then on "general preferences", then on "helpers". From the various file types listed, then click/highlight "x-dvi" and "application" instead of "inform user". Now you have to tell it where to find the necessary application. On unix machines, the path is /usr/local/X11R6/bin/xdvi %s (that last parameter %s is crucial) while on ITIP machines you can browse until you find the icon for PCTeX. (If you do not have PCTeX installed on your machine, you can do so automatically using w:\winstall\winstall.exe ...but that is another story; get a PC expert to help you with that).
That's what I've discovered lately. Please send comments on this draft to smiths@math.uic.edu, and I will update it for clarity, completeness, etc.
--Steve Smith, 20 Aug 97
Edited by Heidi Burgiel, August '97