Beginners' help

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nasb/local/cwistart.html (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)

PUTTING INFORMATION ON THE CWIS

This is a very simple guide, suited to beginners. More help on the technical aspects can be found on the Newcastle University web server itself at the DIY page There is also a UCS 'Getting started' sheet on writing HTML documents.

The information which appears on the pages linked to the Newcastle web is

EITHER kept on the UNIX machine which runs the Newcastle University bit of the web (known as a `server'). looked after by the UCS,
OR it is kept on another UNIX machine in the `personal file space' belonging to a member of the University. (Any member of the university may apply to have personal file space (i.d.)on a public UCS UNIX machine; you must then ask the webmaster@ncl.ac.uk to register your personal id on the web server, before items in your space can be displayed via the University server,)
OR You may set up your own little server on any machine connected with the campus network (ie has an ethernet connection). There is free software available on the web to do this for most standard PC's & Macs, but this method does imply that your machine is running at all times when internet hunters wish to access it, and that it has the capacity to handle (possibly large) volumes of traffic while still doing what you are using it for now!

I shall deal with the first two options here.

Web information is kept in computer `files', just as a word-processed document is, but extra information needs to be included to handle the on-screen display layouts; a standard wordprocessed file needs adaptation before it can appear on the web.

1. Information which exists already as a wordprocessed document

You have to begin, unfortunately, by altering the file to remove much of the layout info. understood by the wordprocessor. Most wordprocessors have the option to write a file in `DOS text with layout' or `ascii'; save a copy of your file in this format if you have this option. Some more recent wordprocessors have an option to turn your original file into web format, keeping your layout (Word 6, for example, will do this) but the results usually require some tidying.

When you have an `ascii' file, you will need to define the headings, paragraphs and bold text using `HTML' markup language. This is not very complicated - for example
this is bold is just a matter of putting an html command in the angled brackets < >, (in this case b for bold), at the start and /b in < > at the end. A new paragraph is .

All documents begin like this
<html>
<head>
<title> this is what appears in the bar at the top of your web browser</title>
</head>

<body>

Now most of your info...........

</body>
</html>

To become familiar with this, look at the source file of web displays which you like, to see how the effect is achieved. (You can do that using Netscape or Mosaic & the option 'view' from the menu bar.)

Save your html marked-up work in a file called something.htm.

As you study source files on the web, you will see two other frequent features:-
<img src="[unarchived-media]"> - which is a picture, stored as a file in `gif' format. Many PC & Mac drawing programs offer the facility to store in gif format, and it is possible to convert photographic slides, or scan in ordinary paper illustrations.
and
<a href="[unarchived-link]">;Link to something</a>,which is the way a `link' to another piece of info. in a different file is made. On most web browsers the words between> and </a> appear in blue. The example I have shown you is a link to another file in the same place as your present one, if you wish to leap to another part of the internet you will have to give the full address, which looks like this......
<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/199603/http://www.bids.ac.uk/>BIDS</a>%3C/b">

2. Information which you type yourself

If you have to type in the information, there are many HTML wordprocessors, which will put in the  and (for example) as an ordinary wordprocessor would. This is a bit quicker, but for simple documents you do not really need them.
When you have got a file in HTML, you can look at it on your own computer - if you have a browser such as Netscape or Mosaic - by choosing the `file' option from the menu bar & then the open file option. Choose the html file you have prepared & you will see how it displays, and can alter it to your satisfaction.
When you are satisfied with the effect, you must send it
EITHER to your UNIX file space (having registered your id with the webmaster) , where you keep it in a directory called public_html, with both the directory, the file(s) and your root directory permitted for all to read. (For more, see the DIY page)
OR to the CWIS manager (Stephanie.Barber@ncl.ac.uk) as an attachment to an e-mail message or on a PC disk by mail. The CWIS manager will then put the file on the University web server and provide a link from the University home page.
If you are unhappy with the idea of producing a layout in HTML yourself, the CWIS manager can convert university information documents from files (preferably accompanied by a printed copy laid out as you would like to see it), but cannot undertake to do anything which requires a significant amount of keyboarding of original documents. Files may be sent on disc, or by email.
Stephanie.Barber@ncl.ac.uk x 7662 11.12.95