You can create a simple personal home page from your Unix account on Owlnet or RUF by creating a file called "public_html/index.html" under your home directory. Everything you place in the "public_html" directory will be visible on the World Wide Web, and your home page will be the "index.html" file.

The first step is to create your public_html directory. Log into your Owlnet or RUF account and type the following commands:

    cd
    mkdir public_html

Your web pages themselves should mostly be in the format known as HyperText Markup Language or HTML. There are two basic ways to edit your HTML document:

• Use a text editor to edit your HTML files directly.
  Log into your Owlnet or RUF account and use your favorite Unix text editor (pico, vi, emacs, etc.) to edit your HTML files. For example, to open your home page in the pico editor type the commands

      cd
      cd public_html
      pico index.html
  

  A good introduction to HTML can be found in the Beginner's Guide to HTML (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html) as well as in other references listed in the World-Wide Web documentation in RiceInfo (http://www.rice.edu/about/index.html#WWW).

  You can also learn HTML by examining the HTML behind other people's web pages. Most web browsers like will let you view the HTML source for any web document. In Netscape or Mosaic, look for a choice like "View Source" in a "File" or "View" pull-down menu, or in lynx use the "\" command.

  - or -

• Use an HTML editor.
  Some people find it easier to use an HTML editor than to learn the nitty-gritty of HTML themselves. An HTML editor runs on your desktop computer and offers a graphical user interface much like a familiar word processor. The copy of a new or existing web document is stored on your desktop computer while you are editing it; when you are finished you must instruct the HTML editor to upload it to the departmental account on the RUF using FTP. Carry out this upload step by specifying your personal Owlnet or RUF account name and password together with the location of the file in your account, for example, if your userid is yourname:

      /home/yourname/public_html/index.html
  

  A list of HTML editors in use at Rice is available in the RiceInfo WWW documentation (http://www.rice.edu/about/index.html#webedit).

When you're finished, your page will be visible at the location:

   http://www.yourdomain.rice.edu/~yourname/

Within 24 hours it will also appear in the list of personal pages at Rice (http://www.rice.edu/webshare_all.html).

Important: Remember to keep Rice policy and the law in mind when you publish information on the World-Wide Web. For more information, see Copyright issues for WWW publishers at Rice (http://www.rice.edu/about/copyright.html)
and the Rice University "Appropriate Use of Computing Facilities" Policy (832-99) (http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~presiden/Policies/General/832-99.html).

Good luck. If you have any questions, feel free to send them to "helpdesk@rice.edu" or call the IT Help Desk at 713-348-HELP (4357). (Note that these instructions apply on Owlnet and the RUF as well as IS, ES, RiceInfo and other Unix web servers maintained by Information Technology. There are also many other servers at Rice which may operate differently.)