Accessing your personal web space
General HTML Tutorials:
Webmonkey
- Possibly one of the best/largest resources on the web. Highly
recommended.
Barnes
& Noble - No, not the Brick and Mortar building, but the
site. They have online (free) courses that can get you started.
HTML tools:
CoffeeCup
editor - Not free, but powerful and very popular.
NoteTab
Light - Free, full of useful tools.
PSPad - A free, lightweight yet powerful programmer's editor. Recommended for advanced users.
BBEdit
- For Mac users.
Finally, you'll need an FTP program to upload your web
page:
FileZilla - An open source (free) FTP client.
Cuteftp
- Free trial, disabled after 30 days.
WS_FTP
- Free trial, pay after 30 days.
Auto
FTP - A Free FTP program for home use.
Smart
FTP - Free FTP client for home use, works with Windows XP
themes.
It might be worth mentioning that Windows (95, 98, NT and 2000-possibly ME as well) have an FTP client within the command (DOS) prompt. There's a tutorial here, if you're interested.
First things first.
Okay, on to the real thing. I'll
be using SmartFTP for this tutorial because it's easy to use and
has a lot of nifty features as you become an advanced user (and
it's free!). When you signed on with Kinex your space was already
set up for you, so all you have to do is create the files, and
upload them there. Your web space is located on the following
server:
members.kinex.net
and that's what you'll need
to log on to. Click here for
an example pic of SmartFTP, and what you'll need to enter. Your
FTP program may look somewhat different, but the information that
you enter will be the same. You'll need your username and password
handy as well, and as you can see from the pic you'll enter them
along with the server name.
I'm logged in, now what do I do?
You should see
something like this.
Hopefully. If you didn't log in correctly you would have seen an
error, so everything should be good. Each program is different,
so check out the help section included in your particular software
program if you do have problems.
Choosing your local directory.
At this point, you
should have already created your web pages, and saved them in a
local directory. SmartFTP has a local browser option on it's
toolbar. Most other FTP programs have a split pane (CuteFTP and
WSFTP come to mind) with the local directory on the left, and the
remote directory on the right. Navigate as necessary to your local
directory of web pages. You can see an example of SmartFTP's
window here
Okay, I'm here. Now what?
Again, it all depends on
what program you're using. Many of the standard split pane
programs have arrows in the middle of the window. You select the
file you want to transfer, then hit the arrow to send it in the
direction you want it to go. SmartFTP is a little different (hate
to sound like a broken record, but...) in that you drag and
drop to wherever you want it to go. Click the file and hold
the button down. Drag it over to the remote directory, and
release. That's it! The file is transferring (or has been
transferred).
I've uploaded my files. Now where are they at?
Simple. Go to http://members.kinex.net/your_username and your home
page should appear. You did name your home page index.htm or index.html
didn't you?
This is an incredibly short and incomplete tutorial, and will be added to as time goes on. Please feel free to contact the lazy person who wrote it at schidester@kinex.net and he'll be happy to help you upload your webpage.