Uploading Web Pages

The purpose of this page is to explain how to prepare web pages for use on islandnet. It assumes that you are already familiar with creating HTML documents. This is not a tutorial on writing HTML.

islandnet.com employs several web servers, all of which run Apache, likely the world's most popular web server software. These servers use the UNIX operating system, which means there are a few things you need to keep in mind when preparing your web pages:

• Do not use any hard disk references. A common mistake by people creating web pages on a Windows platform is to build links that reference C:\. Since there is no concept of a "C: drive" on a UNIX server, your links will no longer work once the pages are uploaded.

• UNIX's file system is case sensitive. If you have a link on your page to "LOGO.GIF", and the actual file is named "logo.gif", you'll find that it may work under Windows or MacOS, but once your pages are on-line the links will be broken.

The only real disadvantage to preparing web pages off-line is that you can't test any Web Gadgets that you may incorporate. Because web gadgets are programs that both reside on and run on the server, there is no way to test them until you place your pages on-line.

When you are ready to upload your web pages, there are two ways to do it. You can use the Helpdesk's File Manager, which gives you an easy to use web interface for managing your files, or you can use any FTP program.

To access your account via FTP, make sure you connect to "islandnet.com" Do not connect to "ftp.islandnet.com", since that is a separate server and you will be unable to log on. You will need to enter your account username and password.

Some people are not aware that you can upload web pages via FTP using your browser itself. Try typing something like this into the Location window: ftp://username@islandnet.com Of course, you'd replace "username" with your islandnet username. Your browser will then prompt you for your password, and then show you your root directory.

When you first log into your account (via the File Manager or via FTP) you will be located in your root directory. Along with a few other files and directories, you should see a subdirectory called "www". All your web pages must reside in or below the "www" directory. Pages that are uploaded to your root directory will not be visible to anyone.

Let's say you create a web page called "mypage.html" and place it in your "www" directory. The URL that people can use to view this page is:

  http://www.islandnet.com/~username/mypage.html

  index.html
  index.htm
  index.php
  homepage.html
  homepage.htm

It is possible to replace "www.islandnet.com" with your own domain name if you have one. For more information about obtaining your own domain name, click here.

Before you upload your web pages to islandnet, double check our Terms and Conditions to ensure that it falls within our established policies.