How to Publish a Web Page Using Linux

Last Revised:3/19/2007

This publication will explain how to make a web page available on the SSCC's web server using Linux. 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 Windows, please see How to Publish a Web Page Using Windows.

Begin by logging in to any Linux server. If you're not sure how, please see Connecting to SSCC Linux and Linux Computers Using SSH (or reconsider How to Publish a Web Page Using Windows).

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. Type

> mkdir PUBLIC_web

Note that the name is case sensitive! Once this is made, copy all the files you want to put on the web into this directory using the cp command. Again, if you need to know how to make these files, see Creating Web Pages Using Dreamweaver.

Setting Permissions

Next you must give everyone permission to actually view your web pages. Type

> chmod -R 755 ~/PUBLIC_web

The little squiggle character is a tilde, found in the upper left of the keyboard (and requiring the SHIFT key). You will want to repeat this command (or something similar) whenever you add new files.

Your Address

Your web address will be http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~{your login name} (for example http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~rdimond). 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.