Publishing Web pages on UD's central Web server: www.udel.edu

Before you can create a Web page for your department, you must set up a department Web project:

  1. Be sure that everyone who will be on the project has activated their UDelNet account. If non-University people will be working on your Web pages, set up University UDelNet accounts for them: Submit a Help Request for the form, University Sponsored Access for External Users. The form requires the signature of the University employee requesting access and the signature of the outside individual. For more information, see Sponsored access for non-affiliated individuals.
  2. Request a UNIX project that includes everyone who should be able to create and edit the Web pages. To do this, go to the Support Center A-Z index, select Access forms, log in, and complete the UNIX New Project Request form.
  3. Request a Web directory: After you have been notified that your UNIX project has been set up, complete the WWW Directory Request form.
  4. Create a link to your directory to make it easier to get to your files.

If your department already has a Web page, and you've been asked to maintain it, you must first be added to the Web project. To have you added, the project director must go to the Support Center Web A-Z index, select Access forms, log in, and complete the UNIX Project-Add User Request form. Once you have been added, send an email message to www-dir-req@udel.edu giving the name of the directory in which the pages reside, requesting that you be given ownership of the files and specifying your UDelNet ID.

Once you are notified that your Web directory has been created, you can access it by logging in to the the central UNIX system called Copland.

Publish your Web pages

When you are satisfied with the appearance of your page, you are ready to publish it by copying the new files (including any image files) to your Web directory. To transfer the files from a Windows computer, use the SSH Secure Shell file transfer window; from a Macintosh computer use Fetch. Both programs are available from the University's software download page. Be sure to name your main page index.html.

Address for your Web directory

When you use either the SSH Secure Shell file transfer window or the Fetch program, the address you type in the remote directory box is

     /www/htdocs/your_directory_name   

Browse your page

Once you have published your page, you will want to look at it in a browser:
  1. Open Firefox or another browser.
  2. In the Location: box, type the URL of your new home page.
    http://www.udel.edu/your_directory_name/

To make changes to your Web page, you can edit the copy on your local computer and then repeat the publishing steps.

Set the protections for your Web page

Once your pages are in place, you must make sure they are readable to the world. The SSH Secure Shell file transfer window offers the easiest way to do this by allowing you to change file protections right in the remote window. You can also change them by logging directly into your Web directory through your UDelNet account:

  1. Log in to your UDelNet account and change to your directory by typing the following command at the % prompt:
    cd mydocs 
  2. Note: You must have created a link to your directory to do this.

  3. Make all your files readable to the world by typing the following command at the % prompt:
    chmod 644 *        

Read more about protection settings if your want to modify the settings for your pages.

After you complete the above steps, the URL (address) for your Web page is http://www.udel.edu/your_directory_name/.

Set up a shortcut (link) to your Web pages

You can create a shortcut (symbolic link) to your www directory to make it easy to access. (After typing each command, press ENTER or RETURN.)
  1. Log in to Copland.

  2. At the % prompt, type the command below, substituting your www directory name for directory_name and a word of your choice for mydocs. (Note: the command is ln -- as in the word "link" -- that is, the letter "el" before the "n." After the ln, there is a space before the "-s.")
    ln -s /www/htdocs/directory_name mydocs
  3. This will create a link (shortcut) to your www directory.

  4. If you have more than one www directory, repeat the ln command for each one, replacing mydocs with a word you haven't yet used in a link command.

  5. You will only need to issue the ln command once for each www directory you have. Subsequently, you can access your www directory by typing
    cd mydocs
  6. where you replace mydocs with the word you used in place of mydocs in the ln command.

  7. To verify that you have successfully created the link, type
    pwd
  8. You should see

    /www/htdocs/directory_name

General information

  • If you are using the SSH File Transfer Program or Fetch to transfer files, you can change to your www directory by clicking the link name ("mydocs" or the word you chose) after you connect to Copland.
  • On Copland, you can return to your home directory from anywhere by typing
    cd
  • and pressing RETURN.

  • If you create a subdirectory within your www directory, you must change the permissions for the subdirectory so that people can read the files it contains. You change the permissions using the chmod command. For example,
    mkdir special 
    chmod a+X special
  • makes the subdirectory (in this case, named "special") executable so that people can read its files.

  • For a Web browser to be able to display your files, you have to make them readable to the world. To do this, change to your www directory and type:
    chmod a+r *
  • If you create your Web files on your desktop computer, upload ".html" or ".htm" files as ASCII text, regardless of what platform you're using. Images, sounds, or movies must be uploaded as binary files from a PC and as raw data from a Mac.

  • When your files are in place and readable, the URL will be http://www.udel.edu/directory_name/filename.html. If you name your home page "index.html," you can leave the filename out of the URL (recommended).

Special information for directories with group write access

When more than one person edits your Web pages and a directory has been created with group ownership, there are a few additional steps to be taken to allow others in the group to edit the pages. If your Web directory isn't set up so that files are automatically placed into the correct group, you should change the group number for the uploaded files. Also be sure to change the file permissions. You must repeat these steps any time you add new files to the directory.
  • After your files are in your www directory, log on to Copland, change to the directory, and type
     chgrp project_number *
  • replacing project_number with your group project number.

  • You must also change the permissions on the files for members of the group to be able to edit them. To do this, type
     chmod 664 *

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