Common Concern #3: "I wish to put my Web template on my Web account. How
do I do that? "
Launch Fetch
Go to your public_html directory (see Fetch handout for directions)
Upload your .html pages/picture files
Remember to Set Permissions (see Fetch handout for directions)
To see how your page looks from your URL,
Check out Your Web Page, After Making All Your Changes! Step 1 : The Macintosh
can run Fetch and Netscape at the same time, so
before you quit your Fetch session, check your work.
Step 2: After you have
set your permissions, launch Netscape.
Step 3: Go to File
and select Open Location and
Type your URL: http://www.unc.edu/~userID/filename
(Use your userID name and the name of the file you
want to preview. If you don't include a filename, Netscape will
look for a file called "index.html." If there is no
index file in your directory, Netscape will display the list of
files in that directory.)
Step 4 : As your page
comes up hit Reload to see if your changes appear on the
Web page.
Common Concern #1: "How can I work on my Web page templates
?"
Possible Solutions: Put your disk in the computer.
Double click on your Disk to open up your Web templates.
Start making changes on your template without deleting the tags.
IMPORTANT: Never, never open up your Web template page from
Netscape using View and Document
Source command. The HTML-coded
page you will see as a result of this IS NOT YOUR TEMPLATE, and
will create confusion. You will know that you are doing it wrong when... you save your changes and you notice that the file name ends
with a number such as
index.html-9867
If this happens, go to Save As and save the file as .html
without the numbers.
Additional Resources to Help You With Your Web
Pages:
There are scads of printed books about how to write HTML available
in UNC's Ram Shop and many other bookstores. However, a good
online guide to the basics is "HTML in Seven Lessons"
by NCSU Systems Librarian Eric Morgan, available at <http://152.1.24.177/teaching/manuscript/1000-html.html>.
Links to many other beginning HTML tutorials are available at
<http://www.devry-phx.edu/webresrc/webmstry/lrntutrl.htm>.
Common Concern #2: "I wish to see how the changes look
on a Web page "
If you wish to see how your changes look on a Web page:
After you have worked on a couple of changes on your template,
Go to File and select Save.
Now launch Netscape.
While in Netscape, Go to File and select Open File.
A dialog box will ask you what you wish to open.
Go to your disk and Open the Web template file.
You should see your template in a Web page format.
Common Problems
Common Error #1: "My page does not show up."
Possible Problem: You did not upload your "index.html"
file, or you uploaded it under a different name. Because UNIX
is case-sensitive, your web server (Ra) treats the following as
three *different filenames*: INDEX.HTML, Index.html, index.html.
Possible Solution: Use Fetch to upload your page with
new revisions and make sure that the filename is "index.html."
Another Possible Problem: You did not set permissions
on your "index.html" file.
Possible Solution: Use Fetch to set permissions.
Another Possible Problem: You did not upload the file
to your public_html directory. You may have accidentally uploaded
the file into your home directory in ISIS.
Possible Solution: Be sure to enter your public_html directory
before you upload.
Another Possible Problem: You accidentally typed in the
wrong URL in Netscape--don't forget the ~, or any other part of
your address.
Possible Solution: Double-check or retype the URL in the
location box.
Common Error #2: "The changes on my page do not show up."
Possible Problem: You made revisions on your Web template
but have not uploaded the pages to your Web account.
Possible Solution: Use Fetch to upload your revised page.
Another Possible Problem: Netscape is loading a previously
cached version of your page.
Possible Solution: Select Network Preferences...
under the Options menu.
In the Network Preferences window, select Cache. Click Clear Disk Cache Now button.
Click OK button after Netscape finishes clearing the disk
cache.
Your pages should now show the changes.
Another Possible Problem: You did not save the changes
on your disk before you re-uploaded the file you've been working
on.
Possible Solution: Go back to SimpleText. From the File
menu, select Save, (if Save is shadowed and
unselectable, you did save your changes.) Upload the new file
to your account.
Common Error #3: "My Picture Does Not Load Up"
Possible Problem: Your picture is not in the right GIF
format.
Possible Solution: Use GIF Converter to reformat
your picture.
Another Possible Problem: Error in filename tag for picture
(such as "Gif" instead of "GIF").
Possible Solution: Make sure the picture tag is ".GIF"
or ".JPEG," etc.
Another Possible Problem: Error in tag for picture: missing
quote marks (").
Possible Solution: Put quote marks on both sides of the
URL for your picture.
Another Possible Problem: You uploaded a TIFF file instead
of a GIF file.
Possible Solution: Reformat as a GIF file and upload again.
Another Possible Problem: You uploaded the picture into
root directory
instead of public_html
Solution: Use Fetch to put the picture into your public_html
directory.
Another Possible Problem: Tag gives only the filename,
not the full path. (This will work when viewing a page on your
disk, but only works on the file server if the user puts a slash
at the end of your URL.)
Solution: Use the complete URL in the tag for your picture.
Another Possible Problem: You have not properly set the
permissions for the GIF file in your account.
Solution: Set the permissions for the GIF file so everyone
can see it.
Another Possible Problem: In the Fetch file list, my picture
filename has .bin at the end and it does not show up.
"You did not upload the picture as "Raw Data"
in Fetch
Possible Solution: Open up Fetch and upload your
picture file in Raw Data format
OR "My HTML code/s look(s) fine in Simple Text but doesn't
work."
Possible Reason: Invisible extraneous characters or "bugs"
in Simple Text.
Solution: Open up your .html page in Microsoft Word and
delete junk characters or extra spaces. Delete all the small square
box characters; these are "invisible" to Simple Text
and can appear as "junk" on the web page or can make
an HTML code unreadable to the web browser, as if you had a blank
space in the middle of the code. Be sure to save file in "TEXT
ONLY" format when using Microsoft Word.
Another possible reason: A URL or other HTML code that
is so long
that Simple Text or Word breaks it at the end of the line.
Solution: Put a line break in at a space or during the
*text* part of the URL For example, in a line like
For a good time, look at <a href =
"http://ibiblio.org/uncpress/quiz/">Southern
Culture quiz</a>
(It might help to press the return key after the
word "at" or before the word "Southern" to
keep the HTML code itself intact)
Another possible problem: Your Web page has some strange characters,
such as the play ÓHamletÓ
where you typed in the play "Hamlet"
JohnÕs Page where you typed
in John's Page
that is because your page has
Smart Quotes (" ") instead of
dumb quotes such as (" " and/
or Smart Apostrophes (' ') in it, instead
of dumb quotes such as (' ')
Solution:Netscape does not take well to smart quotes.
Open the file in Simple Text, and erase all the quote marks
and apostrophes and retype them in Simple Text.
Common Error #5: "My background is the wrong color or
has the wrong image."
Possible Solutions: For pix files: Use the full pathname and the correct
HTML code.
.
For pre-coded color backgrounds: See these pages to find
color background codes:
http://www.phoenix.net/~jacobson/rgb.html and http://www.infi.net/wwwimages/colorindex.html
The HTML coding is fairly simple. The code for setting background
color follows this format:
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
This produces a page with a white background because the
color code #FFFFFF is the code for white.
The code for setting the unvisited links color follows this
format:
<body link="#00FF00">
This produces a page with blue links because the color code
#00FF00 is the code for blue.
The color codes are made up of 32-digit codes with each 2-digit
code representing the amount of red, blue or green that makes
up the color. The digits are not base-10 numbers, which make them
look strange to most people. They are actually hexidecimal or
base-16. So 10 in hexidecimal is 16 in base-10.
But it gets much easier!
When you are writing for Netscape 2.0 or higher, you do not have
to know the code for the following 16 colors
navy, olive, purple, red, silver, teal, white, and yellow
When you are using these colors, you do not have to use the #
sign, and all you have to do is type the color's name; for example,
to make your page have a white background, you could use the code
above, or you could type this:
<body bgcolor="white">
The code for setting the active link color follows this format:
<body alink="purple">
The code for setting visited link color follows this format:
<body vlink="red">
When you use these color-setting codes in your page, you have
to include all of them inside of your <body> tag. For example,
to have a white background, blue text, red links, purple active
links and silver visited links, you would use the following code:
<body bgcolor="white" text="blue" link="red"
alink="purple" vlink="silver">
Not every browser displays color the same way. For example,
Netscape on Macintosh and Windows sometimes dithers colors that
make up the background. The dithering pattern makes text difficult
to read. A solution for this problem is to use a graphics program
to create a small square image filled with the color that you
want for your background. Then use Netscape's background command
within the body like so:
<body background="red.gif">
Remember to place a </body> at the end of your html
file.
For other cool background colors:
Go to the ColorMaker makes it easy to create colorful web pages
without having to bother with confusing hexadecimal numbers:
http://www.missouri.edu/~wwwtools/colormaker/
For other texture backgrounds:
Go to the page with the background. For example:
http://home.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/bg/backgrounds.html
USING THE BACKGROUNDS AT NETSCAPE
You can use these backgrounds directly from the NETSCAPE
server. An example of the HTML would be:
The URLs for each of the backgrounds are shown along with the
images. The advantage of using the backgrounds directly from
Netscape's server is that when your users visit a page that uses
a Netscape background, the chances are very good that it will
be in the cache and thus load more quickly.
When specifying a background image (with BACKGROUND) it is a
good idea also to specify a background color (with BGCOLOR.) That
color should be one similar to the prevailing color of the image;
this ensures that if the user viewing your page has image loading
off, or if your background image cannot be loaded for some reason,
the page will still look close to the way you intended.
Also, if the image you specify as a background has transparent
areas, the bgcolor will show through.
COPYING BACKGROUNDS
To obtain your own copy of these images, use Netscape's pop-up
menu feature. Here's how:
Position the Pointer over the image If you are on Macintosh, hold down the mouse button for about
1 second.
If you are on Windows or X/Motif just hold down the right mouse
button.
This will make the popup menu appear
Choose "Save this Image as..." from the menu and voila!
It's yours.
Open up your Template page and type the following tag for the
background:
<body background="gray_fabric.gif or filename.gif">
to see if you like the background.
If you like the background, upload the background file
through Fetch and Set Permissions.
Now open up your Template page and type the following tag
for the background:
<body background="http://www.unc.edu/~jdoe/gray_fabric.gif">
Using Fetch, upload your Web template page with this tag
and then you should see the page with the background.
Hit Reload if your background does not show up initially.
An alternative solution: The computer is acting very smart
and forcing you to question whether you *really* think that background
is worth having. After all, LYNX users can't see it and Netscape
users have the option of not seeing it -- AND it slows down the
loading of your page. Given all of that, does it really add anything
to the page? Maybe your time would be better spent rewriting
the "why I want this job" section of your resume.
Common Error #6: "Netscape says '403 Forbidden' "
The 403 Forbidden message looks something like this:
403 Forbidden
Your client does not have permission to get URL
/~userid/filename.html from this server.
If you see this message when you try to access your pages, you
probably have not given the appropriate read permission for this
file. You will need to use Fetch and the Set Permissions
command discussed in the Fetch handout to change the file's
permissions accordingly.
Common Error #7: "Netscape says '404 Not Found' "
If you get this message, it means your browser cannot locate
the file. You may have typed the URL incorrectly, or you may
have a problem with the file name.
Note for Windows and DOS users
Windows and DOS users have the problem that they are restricted
to only three characters in the file extension, so the extension
.html is shortened to .htm. To avoid this problem, at the Unix
prompt create a link to the file:
ln -s page.htm page.html
This way whenever someone uses the page.html name Netscape will
load the file page.htm.
Common Error #8: You see these
Icons Where Graphics Should Be
If these icons appear where your graphics should be, the graphics files
referred to in the page are either not available, not saved in
the correct format, or damaged.
If you see an icon with a question mark,
make sure that the graphics files are in the proper directory
and have the correct permissions.
If you see an icon with an image of a broken file, then Netscape has found the file but does not recognize
it as the kind of file it reads. Check to be sure the files are
saved in .GIF or .JPG format and that they were uploaded as Raw
Data.
Common Error #9: Missing quote marks in a code like this:
<a href="http://www.unc.edu/campus/**>Campus
Sites and Services</a><br>
[The stars (**) represent missing
quote marks]
Common Error #10: Missing the </a> tag after a link.
<a href="http://www.unc.edu/campus/">campus Sites
and Services**<br>
[The stars represent a missing </a> tag]
Common Error #11: "My picture quality is really poor!" Solution: Re-scan picture. Remember to follow all the
steps!
Another possible solution: Open your picture in PhotoShop
or another good graphics program. Adjust the image's brightness
and contrast. Sometimes it makes the picture look sharper.
Common Error #12: "My picture isn't where I want it to
be!"
If you wish to align the picture to the right or left: You can
do so by using the following tag: align=left or align=right as
shown below:
<img align=left src="jdoe.gif" "HEIGHT=70
WIDTH= 50">
For some examples, please go to the page:
http://ibiblio.org/rbeckman/Remembrance/UsingPhotosWeb.html
This page by Prof. Rich Beckman outlines some solutions.
Common Error #13: "My picture is too large/too small!"
If the picture is too large or too small, you can change the
size of the image by using the following tag:
<IMG SRC="jane.gif" ALT="jdoe's photo"
HEIGHT=in pixels WIDTH=in pixels>
For Example: <img src="jane.gif" "HEIGHT=70
WIDTH= 50">
Before you use the HEIGHT and WIDTH tags, be sure you use
the right scale. Open up your picture/image file in Netscape.
(Use the OPEN FILE command in the FILE menu.) In the title bar,
Netscape will list the original pixel measurements in pixels of
your picture. When you increase these measurements with the HEIGHT
and WIDTH tags, make sure you multiply or divide the height and
width pixel measurements by the same number. (For example, if
I want a picture to look half as small, and its original measurements
is 200 by 300 pixels, my code would like this: <img src="wonderful.gif"
alt="Half as big" HEIGHT=100 WIDTH=150>)
Common Error #14: I centered some text, but all of the text
below it is also centered (and I don't want that at all!).
Solution: Be sure you have inserted an "end-tag" to
your beginning <center> tag.
®
Common Error #14: "When I open it in Netscape I get a
"parent directory" list and have to click on "index.htm"
to get it to come up."
Possible Solution: Your "index.html" file has
not been uploaded properly.
Please upload your file again and ensure that when you upload
it, the file name does not have extra spaces in......
......the front such as
"  index.html"
......the back such as "index.html  "
Notice the extra spaces before or after the word index
Common Questions with Uncommon Answers
Question #1: How do we put a counter on our page? Answer: Use Internet Search to look for sites that offer
a counter service such as the one offered at http://www.bayside.net/counter.htm Answer: Also, UNC will give you a free counter for your
page. For more information about this visit http://www.unc.edu/courses/jomc050/counter.html
Question #2: Can we copy someone else's program for one, or
are there rules against that? Answer: As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of
flattery! So here are two answers:
1. If you copy HTML codes from some page and adapt some of the
tips and tricks as your own, that is fine and people always do
that. Not only on the Internet, but in real life, too. Perhaps,
observing HTML codes or programs from other pages is the best
way to learn!
2. However, you should not make an exact copy of anyone's program
and I do not see why you need to do that. In other words dittoing
is a no-no.
Question #3: Also--I'm having trouble getting my background
to load up (so my current background is black). Third--I can't
get my visited links to change color.
Answer: Please read Common Error #5: "My background
is the wrong color or has the wrong image."on
Page 5
Question #4: I was wondering...can we have links to whatever
we want from our web page? Or, are there rules that restrict
certain things?
Answer: You can link to any page on the World Wide Web
and there are no restrictions to that. And you can link to the
Disney home page.
Question #5: I want to have a link to the Disney homepage.
Can I do this as long as I don't use a picture?
Answer: Yes you can. You can even use some official icons,
such as some organizations like United Media have "Official
Dilbert Link Icons"(see below) that you can use to link to
the Dilbert Zone. Read about the official Dilbert Link icons
at http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/icon.html
These are some of the icons you can use:
Write to the Webmaster of a site of an Institution, Agency or
Corporate entity to check if they have an official icons that
you can put on your page as a link to their site.
Question# 4: How do I make Netscape print the URL of my page
when I print my final draft?
Answer:
Go to the "FILE" menu and select "PAGE SETUP"
You will see this:
Adjust the "HEADER" and "FOOTER" sections
to include "LOCATION" in at least one area.
Question# 5: My links to other Web pages (such as resume.html
and research.html) do not work. What is the problem?
Answer:
That is because you may be using relative pathnames. (A relative
path name looks like this:<a href = "resume.html">.
Always use full pathnames for all links. (A full path name looks
like this: <a href = "http://www.unc.edu/~tahughes/resume.html">
IMPORTANT: You will lose points for using relative pathnames
Question #6: Not only do some of my links not work but there
are spaces in the text of my page in Netscape where I don't want
them (like in the middle of wo rds.)
Answer:
When you upload the file in Fetch, you must specify the file as
"Raw Data." This is done in the box which is titled
"Save file on isis.unc.edu as..." This box appears
just before the file is actually uploaded and looks like this:
Notice where the words "Raw Data" appear. If this is
set to either "Text" or "Wrapped Text," several
stray spaces may be placed in your HTML file on isis.unc.edu.
Question #7: I can't get my text or images to line up the
way I want.
Answer:
If your aim is to have a picture on one side and text on the other
side, you may need to create a table in HTML. Tables can help
you to make a multi-columned apperance on your page. To learn
how to use tables, visit the J50 tables web site at http://www.unc.edu/courses/jomc050/scratch/table.html
This site made by
This site was created especially for students of the UNC School of Journalism's JOMC 050 Class, and anyone else who may be interested.
For more information, please contactdaikat@email.unc.edu