Options for Creating HTML Files

There is a great amount of flexibility in creating and editing HTML files. Since the files are simple text files, you can use any text editor that is available to you. For example, you are not forced to use a specific software package, on a specific computer, a specific operating system, which can often be the case when authoring material for a hypermedia package.

Although this flexibility gives you a lot of freedom as far as when and where you can work, it also introduces a lot of confusion as far as determining which methods are the most convenient and effective for you. There is no global best method; rather, you must discover what is the best method for you.

There are two restrictions, however, that you must be aware of when you are ready to make the files available to the web server here at Lehigh:

• All HTML files must have the correct file extension, that is, the HTML files must end in either the .html or .htm extension.
• The files must be placed in the correct location within the AFS file system. This means that all of your files must be in the following AFS directory (or in a subdirectory of that directory):

  
      /home/userid/public/www-data/
  
  

  This is the same directory that you can access from the Network Server using the following pathname:

  
      /ahome/userid/public/www-data/
  
  

In summary, as long as the end result is: you have a text file, with the correct extension, in the correct place, it really does not matter how you accomplish that goal.

Here is a brief list of some of your options for creating HTML documents:

The following methods all describe ways that you can edit a file directly in your AFS space. You don't need to worry about uploading and downloading files, and you really don't need to worry about where to put the files, because you created and edited them in the correct directory. The files can be edited with any one of the three text editors available on our Network, Compute and AFS Servers, dte (the default editor), emacs, or vi.

• Edit the file (using one of the text editors, either dte, emacs, or vi) on the Network Server, accessing your AFS file space using the link created in Exercise 2, Day 1. This technique allows you to remain on the Network Server, yet access your AFS space through the /ahome/... path.
• Edit the file from the Compute Servers. Your AFS space is accessible from the Compute Servers in the same manner as from the Network Server (use the /ahome path.)
• Edit the file directly in your AFS file space. The default home directory when you log into this file system (unless you have done something to your .profile file to change this) is: /home/userid/private, so you will need to change directory to your public space. One way to do this is to issue the following command:

  
     cd ../public/www-data/
  

• Remotely log in to an AFS workstation from any computer that is connected to the Internet and has remote login capabilities (the telnet program is typically used to accomplish this). For a list of AFS workstations on campus, and their hostnames, enter SITES at any Network Server prompt.

The following methods all describe ways to create files on other file systems or computers, then upload the files to the correct directory in your AFS account. Many people prefer to do all of their editing on a microcomputer and upload the finished product to their AFS space

• Use a text editor on any system and upload the file.
• Use a text editor with an HTML add-on or HTML "mode" (X windows version of emacs, tkwww, tkhtml, BBEdit for the Mac, etc.) and upload the file if necessary. Although you are still using a text editor, the additional capabilities provided by the HTML add-on may make your life a lot easier.
• Use a word processing package (MS Word, WordPerfect, etc.) to create an HTML file, save the file as text, upload the file.
• Use a software package specifically designed to create HTML documents. There are many packages currently available, and more are being released everyday. Some popular examples are: Netscape Navigator Gold (it's not just a browser anymore!), HotDog, and HTMLEdit.
• Use an add-on to a Word Processor to convert a word-processed document to an HTML document. WordPerfect uses Internet Publisher and MS Word uses Internet Assistant.