How to Publish a Web Page Using Windows

Last Revised:8/26/2004

This publication will explain how to make a web page available on the SSCC's web server using Windows. We will assume you already have web pages made and just need to know where to put them. If you want to learn how to make web pages, please see Creating Web Pages Using Dreamweaver. If you would prefer to use Linux, please see How to Publish a Web Page Using Linux.

A note for advanced users of Microsoft Front Page: the normal SSCC web server does not have the "Front Page Extensions" installed so that other users are not forced to use Front Page. If you are interested in using these extensions, we do have an alternative server you can use. Please contact the consultant.

Connecting to Your Linux Space

Any PC that is logged in to the PRIMO domain has access to the Linux file system. It is available as if it were on a file server called sscunix. Your home directory is available as a share (a folder you can access on a server) with your user name. Thus you can access your Linux home directory by clicking the Start button, Run, and then typing \\sscunix\{login name}, for example \\sscunix\rdimond. The directory will open in a window just like any other Windows folder.

If you prefer, you can give this share a drive letter by mapping it. See Mapping a Drive to a Network Share for instructions. You may also want to read Accessing Network Storage from Windows for more background on how shares work and Accessing Linux Files Using Windows for more details on Windows/Linux interaction.

The PUBLIC_web directory

Your web site is simply a folder called PUBLIC_web under your home directory. So the next step is to make this folder. In the window containing your Linux home directory, click File, New, Folder, and give it the name PUBLIC_web (note that this is case sensitive!).

Once this is made, copy all the files you want to put on the web into this folder. Again, if you need to know how to make these files, see Creating Web Pages Using Dreamweaver.

Setting Permissions

Next we must give everyone permission to actually view your web pages. In Windows 2000/XP, right-click on the PUBLIC_web folder and choose Properties, then the Security tab. If you use an older operating system you will need to set the permissions using Linux. See the appropriate section of How to Publish a Web Page Using Linux.

Setting permissions window

In the Name box select Everyone, then check Read & Execute (List Folder Contents and Read will also be checked automatically). Then click OK.

Your Address

Your web address will be http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~{your login name} (for example http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~rdimond). Note that the little squiggle character is a tilde, found in the upper left of the keyboard (and requiring the SHIFT key). If a user types that address without giving a specific file, they will get a file called home or index if one is available. So you probably want to create a file called home.htm and make it the logical starting place for your web site.

Please keep in mind that anything you put on the web is accessible to anyone (unless you password protect it--see Limiting Access to a Web Page). Furthermore the web server was purchased and is maintained with University funds. Please take a few moments to read the SSCC's Web Publishing Policy.