The Hologlobe Press -- Servers

Making Web Pages
and
Getting Them to Servers

by
Victor Edward Swanson
The Hologlobe Press
Postal Box 5263
Cheboygan, Michigan 49721

c. copyright 2004

This document may be freely distributed,
but it may not be reproduced and sold
for commercial purposes.

Version 1
(April 27, 2004)

 As a public service, I present this page within the home of The Hologlobe Press on the Internet. The page is designed to show how the Web pages for The Hologlobe Press were made and how they were posted on a server (a computer) on the Internet so that you could see the pages. I thought my giving you instructions about how to post Web pages on the Internet would help you. Officially, I must say that I also put this information together for a friend of mine, who wanted me to tell a woman (a writer) how I made my Web pages and put them on the Internet so that people could read them.
 I must assume a person who will read this document has some knowledge about personal computers. However, let me begin by noting that a computer is an electronic machine, and it is a machine that is made up of hardware (parts that can be held) and software (electronic information), and, in essence, the machines can be worked with after operating systems (software instructions and more) get loaded into memory areas of the computers and after application software programs get loaded into memory areas of the computers. Generally speaking, from 1981 to 1995, computers that were found in the home were mostly computers that worked because they were given or contained operating systems that had been produced or manufactured by Microsoft Corporation, and the operating systems were varieties of MS-DOS. (I will avoid a long discussion about operating systems for Apple-type and Macintosh-type computers, which were manufactured by Apple Computer Company, and other operating systems.) At first, people used computers with stand-alone operating systems and particular software application programs, but, in the mid-1980s, computer users began to use computers that had operating systems loaded into memory areas, then had Graphic User Interface "environment" programs loaded into other memory areas, such as "Windows 3.1," and then had software application programs loaded into other memory areas, or, starting in the mid-1980s, a computer user might have started to use a computer that had an operating system installed in memory when the computer was started up and then had an "environment" (such as a "Windows" environment) loaded into memory, which made the computer ready to use, and then the person chose and started up an application program with which to work, and the person controlled the computer by operating a mouse and typing on a keyboard. In 1995, Windows 95 appeared, and it was an operation system and Graphic User Interface environment program in one package, and, later, Microsoft released such other operating systems as Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows XP. When I talk about operating systems within this document, I am talking about the package systems (each of which is an operating system and environment in one package). Today, if a person is going to work with a computer at home, the person's computer gets turned on, and that starts a process that gets the operating system into the memory areas of the computer, and then to do a particular job, the person who is working with the computer selects or chooses a particular software application program, which gets loaded into some memory area of the computer when the person chooses it (usually by clicking twice on the icon or little image on the monitor screen that represents the program). A software application program can be a program that allows a person to write a document, such as a letter, or draw a picture or hear a song. Now that I am sure you know some basic information, I can begin a discussion about Web pages.
 A Web page is a document, which can have text or can have text and other material. When a Web page is stored on such things as a floppy diskette, a hard drive, or a USB drive, it is an electronic file. And a Web page can be short, maybe made up of a few words, or can be long, maybe made up of 10,000 words, and no matter how long a Web page is, the Web page is thought of as one page.
 In essence, a Web page is nothing more than a glorified text file. A text file in the basic form is nothing more than an electronic file that is made up of characters, letters, and numbers. A text file lacks formatting codes that would exist in a file made by a writing program (or a word-processor program), such as WordPerfect or Microsoft Word. Often. people who think about text files think about "ASCII" (pronounced as "ASK-kee" or "AS-key") text files, which are files that can have up to 256 different characters or symbols. Look at this sentence:

A Web page is a glorified text file.

 The line that is given above is presented with "Web page" in boldface form and "file" in underlined form. A basic text file is unable to have characters in boldface, underline, or italic forms. A Web page is a glorified text file, since it can have characters in boldface, underline, and italic forms, and Web pages can have other features that text files cannot have. Web pages are text files that are expanded in form by surrounding characters with tags or codes that indicate to programs that can read Web pages how to display the Web pages on computer monitors. Basically, Web pages are made by using a programming language called "HTML" (or or "HyperText Markup Language" or "Hyper-Text Markup Language").
 A Web page can be created by writing out every detail that makes up the Web page. In this case, a person uses some type of "text editor," such as "Edit," which existed in several versions of MS-DOS (the operating system from Microsoft Corporation) released in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The person uses the text editor to type out each tag that does something and all the text of the document. To complete the process, the person must know each code, one of which is <html> (which I have put in boldface to better show you what the code is).
 A Web page can also be created by using a computer software program that allows a person to write text and to choose options about how the text should be displayed when viewed. Such a program is informally called an "HTML-editor"; in the 1990s, when the fad of having a Web site was on, some of the HTML-editors were FrontPage and HotMetal. Today, one of the software programs that people use to make Web pages is "Mozilla Composer," which is related to the "Mozilla" Web browser software program (which is a type of program that can be used to see or read HTML-type documents), and another software program that people use to create Web pages is "Netscape Composer," which is one of the programs in the package of programs called "Netscape Communicator." "Mozilla Composer" and "Netscape Composer" are considered "GUI"-type software programs, because they are Graphic User Interface-type programs, which display materials in graphics form or in a "what-you-type-up-and-how-you-format-it-is-what-people-will-see" form. Actually, GUI-type HMTL-editors are considered "WYSIWYG" software programs (or "What-You-See-Is-What-You- Get" software programs). When using a "WYSIWYG"-type HTML-editor, a person chooses how something will be displayed by clicking on an item offered on the screen by the software program, such as the option to boldface or the option to center.
 Look at this line:

The Hologlobe Press makes books, such as The United States Book.

 I have mentioned that Web pages can be created with text-editor programs, such as Edit. Web pages that have been made with GUI programs can be viewed with text editors or in text-editor mode (of some application software programs). If you were to look at the line above (the centered line) with a text editor or when in text-editor mode you would see:

The Hologlobe Press makes books, such as The United States Book.

 The <...> items are tags or codes, which tell a software program that can read HTML-type files--informally called "Web browsers"--how to display HTML-type files; a Web browser can be used to read HTML-type files that are on computers on the Internet or read HTML-type files that are stored on the computer containing the Web browser. I will not report all the tags or codes that exist (and often exist in sets), such as <html> (which is like a start code or tag) and </html> (which is like an end code or tag), but I will note that a tag exists to start a document (<html>), and a tag exists to start a list of items, and a tag exists to start putting something in boldface form, et cetera, and a tag exists to end a document, and a tag exists to end a list of items, and a tag exists to stop putting something in boldface form, et cetera. (Notice in the line above how "Hologlobe Press" and "The United States Book" are seen in non-boldface form or non-italic form when viewed by a text editor.) Some of the tags that a person will probably see when looking at an HTML-type document with a text editor are: <body> and </body>,  (which indicates the start of a paragraph) and  (which indicates the end of a paragraph),  and , and <center> and </center>. Tags exist in relation to putting photographs on Web pages, and tags exist that allow people who are seeing a Web page to jump from one place to another in the Web page, and other types of tags or tag lines exist.
 I hope you noticed how an end tag or end code has a slash in it.
 By the way, people who have used WordPerfect (a computer software application program) are familiar with "reveal codes" of that program, which allows a person to see codes that the program puts in documents when a user puts something in boldface or whatever. In essence, "reveal codes" is a type of viewing mode that shows codes that exist in a document but cannot be seen in the document when the document is viewed in regular mode or normal mode. I have used versions of WordPerfect since the mid-1980s, and some of the documents at www.hologlobepress.com/ were originally created with a version of WordPerfect (such as version 5.0).
 I use a version of "Netscape Composer" to create Web pages. I wish not to confuse you with a discussion of operating systems that exist in the world, but I will say that I use a version of Netscape Composer that is installed in a personal computer that uses a version of the "Linux" operating system. I must say that Netscape Composer took little time to learn, and, in fact, I can say that a person can learn how to work with Netscape Composer within a couple hours.
 To create some of the Web pages that appear at www.hologlobepress.com/, I typed out and formatted the pages on the computer that had the Linux operating system and Netscape Composer. To create a few pages, I took documents that had been created with a version of WordPerfect (which does not make HTML pages), added <html> to the first line of each of the documents and added </html> to the last line of each document, and saved the documents as ASCII text files. When the documents were saved as text files, the pages lost whatever special formatting they had had, such as boldface formatting. I then transferred the documents that had been made with WordPerfect to the computer with the Netscape Composer and reformatted the documents into presentable HTML documents. (By the way, I had started creating the WordPerfect documents in the mid-1990s when I had no idea that I was going to use the documents as HTML-type documents someday.) When all the documents on the "Linux"-based machine were in Web-page form, I transferred the documents to the computer that I can connect up to the Internet, and, officially, I copy the files to a directory called "html" (which is a directory under the root directory).
 I have a number of computers that I do not connect to the Internet so that I can create materials, such as materials for books, and not worry about the materials or the computers getting infected with computer viruses.
 Let me provide information about "Internet access providers" or "Internet service providers." An Internet access provider is a company that gives clients access to the Internet. Of course, a client pays a fee for the ability to access to the Internet. To get to the Internet, a client of an Internet access provider dials up the Internet access provider (in essence, a computer), using the client's computer, and once contact is made with the Internet access provider, the client can begin to work with the Internet. A telephone company can be an Internet access provider, or a computer company can be an Internet access provider. Besides offering Internet access, a business might offer "Web hosting," which, for one, allows a client to post Web pages on the Internet for people to see (at anytime). Internet access providers run computers, which are often called "servers," on which clients can place and store Web pages and other electronic files that can be viewed by people working with the Internet.
 By the way, my Internet access provider happens to be the same company from which I get "Web-hosting" services, but I could have had my Web hosting done by one company and had my Internet access service provided by another company.
 My computer that can be connected to the Internet has a software application program informally referred to as a "File Transfer Protocol" program (or an "FTP" program), and it is a GUI-type program. Many such FTP programs exist, such as various versions of "CuteFTP" and "WS-FTP." I happen to use a program called "AceFTP." The files that are in the "html" directory of my computer are going to be loaded into a directory that exists on a big computer of the Internet access provider that I use, and it is the "AceFTP" program that will allow me to place or "post" my Web pages in the directory of that big computer (that "server") belonging to my Internet access provider.
 Let me talk about the names of files. A "Web site" is a place on the Internet, and each Web site has a main address. When you see an address for a Web site (or the "URL" or "Uniform Resource Locator" for a Web site), you might be looking at an address for a Web site that is made up of one Web page or several Web pages. No matter how many pages a Web site has, one page is the "main" page (or that is how I think of it). To allow people to access the Web page or the Web pages that exist at a Web site, the person who runs the Web site has to give the main page a name or give each of the pages a name.
 You might think the main page for the Web site is the name of the Web site. It is not. For instance, my Web site is www.hologlobepress.com/ (that is the official name), but the main Web page is really labeled default.htm (or, more fully, www.hologlobepress.com/default.htm). Over time, computer software engineers have set up systems in which the main Web page of a Web site is usually called default.htm or index.htm (or even index.html, which I will not take into consideration here). If a Web site has a page called default.htm and a page called index.htm and when people go to the Web site, the people will automatically see index.htm, since it has a higher default status than default.htm has. I do not use the "index" idea, since I prefer to consider what page that a person will see upon arriving at my Web site as the "default" page. In essence, "default" is something you automatically get.
 Since my Web site has several pages, one page is labeled default.htm. To see the other pages, a person uses a computer mouse to click on one of the spots on the default page that will cause the Internet to then present to the person the particular page that is associated with the spot that was clicked on. (Each spot on which people can click to get to another Web page has the full address of the page to which it relates, though the address is hidden from view usually.) Some of the secondary pages for my Web site have these full addresses: www.hologlobepress.com/that.htm and www.hologlobepress.com/wayn.htm. Notice how the addresses of the previous sentence have parts added on to www.hologlobepress/.
 I believe I can now say that my computer (under the "html" directory) has such files as default.htm, that.htm, and wayn.htm and that you should know which will be the main page of my Web site when it is posted and which will be the other pages or documents when they are posted.
 Now, here is the process involved in getting my files or documents on the "server" (once my computer that can be connected to the Internet is turned on). I contact the Internet access provider that I have, such as by dialing the telephone number for the Internet access provider. When I make contact with the Internet access provider, I start up the FTP program, which is AceFTP. When AceFTP is working, I put in address information and password-type information at particular places on the monitor screen and hit or click on "go," and that tells Ace FTP to make contact with the server that will hold my files. An FTP program sort of allows me to manipulate the server or work with the server from where I am (I have no idea where in the world the server is, and that is no matter). When I have reached the server, I simply do some clicking work to transfer copies of my files (under my html directory) to the directory that I have on the server, which is www.hologlobpress.com/. When I have finished transferring the files or "uploading" the files, which takes a few moments for each file, I shut off AceFTP or I exit AceFTP, and I disconnect from the Internet. Anytime I wish I can remove files from the Web site, add files to the Web site, or replace files with updated files.
 Keep in mind: My files in the "html" directory of my computer have such names as wayn.htm and that.htm and not www.hologlobepress.com/that.htm and www.hologlobepress.com/wayn.htm, and I simply transfer files with such names as wayn.htm and that.htm to www.hologlobepress.com/ (of the server).
 The hardest process of getting Web pages to the server is the process of creating the Web-page files, or, more specifically, the hardest work is done in writing the text for the Web pages. Writing takes time. You should see much time has been put into creating the Web pages for www.hologlobepress.com/.
 I have yet to add photographs to my Web pages. Maybe, sometime, I will. Adding pictures to Web pages is easy to do with an HTML-editor, but I will not cover that topic in this document. Anyway, I have covered the most important information about putting Web pages on servers, especially the part about naming files, which surely many people who "surf" the Web do not know anything about.
 One reason that I have kept my Web pages free of photographs is to reduce the time in which it takes to download the pages or copy the pages to the computers of people working with the Internet.
 If you work with the Internet, you will come across pages that have to be read with a software program called "Adobe Acrobat Reader." The program reads files that are called "PDF" files (or "Portable Document Format" files); such files might have been created by "Adobe Acrobat Distiller" (a software program). I wanted HTML-type files instead of PDF files on my Web site so that a person could download the files and rework the files if the person wished; for instance, a person can get an electronic copy of one of my files, read it with text editor and remove the HTML tags, and then work with the file with a word-processing program (such as a version of WordPerfect).
 Most people will never be involved with having a Web site. If you are a person who will never be involved with setting up a Web site, you know how it can be done. If you are a person who will someday be involved with having a Web site, you now know the basics of setting up Web sites.
 Stay well!

 Victor

To get to the main page of The Hologlobe Press,
 click on: www.hologlobepress.com

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