Assignment 2 (Revised 29 Sept 2003)
Making a Home Page on a Web Server

The next assignment is a practical one. Marks will be awarded for completing each of the following five tasks:

  1. Create a simple web page containing the required tags to support validation by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Page Validator (see the revised notes for Web Site Coding, Page 8). Make sure the web page is called index.html. Include a page title, a level one heading, and several items in an unordered or ordered list.
    20%
  2. Create or manipulate a static (non-animated) .gif or .jpg graphic to make it your own - enough that I can tell you didn't just download it (perhaps a cropped or resampled photo of yourself?). Link this into your page - remember this content is going to be published on an Apache Web Server, and these are CASE SENSITIVE - use all lower case letters for your file names to avoid problems with broken graphics once your page is published.
    20%
  3. Create an animated .gif using one of the many Gif Animation programs out there, or make use of a web site-based gif animation system such as that at http://www.gifworks.com/. Link this into your page too.
    20%
  4. Check your page for errors using the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Page Validator and correct any errors on your page.
    20%
  5. Upload the content to your home directory using either of the FTP systems shown below.
    20%

Check that the page works by opening a web browser and navigating to:
http://www.classaxe.com/home/group24/yourusername (Dot net course people - group25) Can you see your web page? If so, welcome to the world wide web folks - you just put up your first web page!

Using Smart FTP to upload files

  1. Obtain and install Smart FTP
    From the teaching resources web site (http://www.classaxe.com/home) follow the link for the SmartFTP Program site. Download and then install SmartFTP on your PC at home.
  2. Start smartFTP and enter the following details to establish a connection to the FTP server at classaxe.com:
  3. Change to the WWW directory by double clicking on it
  4. Now change to your group's user directory:
  5. Find your own home directory - this should be named with your first initial and your surname (or at least part of it if that's what you gave me)
  6. MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN THE CORRECT HOME DIRECTORY
  7. Open up a Local Browser window from within Smart FTP (the button which looks like a computer monitor and keyboard
  8. Arrange the screen so you can see both the remote directory and your work directory (Tile windows horizontally normally works best for me)
  9. Navigate to where you keep your work files.
  10. Find the index.html file and supporting graphics files you created and drag them all into your remote directory

Using Internet Explorer to upload files

  1. This is simpler. Click on this link:
    ftp://tct:w5te74jjp1@www.classaxe.com
  2. Enter the www folder by double-clicking on it.
  3. Find your group directory and enter that (group24 for Java Oracle students, group25 for .NET).
  4. Find your home directory and go there.
  5. Open up standard windows explorer and navigate to wherever you put your web page files (index.html plus graphics), click on them and drag them into Internet Explorer's FTP window to upload content.