So you've completed your html document(s) and want to
show them to the world on the internet. This is basically a two
step process.
- Determine what server to use
- Upload your html file(s) to the server
Determining a server
In determining what server to use you need to understand a little about url's and
internet domains.
A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is what you use
to locate and interpret any internet resource(html page,image,directory,newsgroup,etc).
For instance, the URL for Chisholm Technologies
home page is "http://www.chisholmtech.com/index.html". The syntax
for URL's is protocol://host:port/resource
The protocol that you're probably most familiar with is HTTP which is
the common language between internet servers and web browsers. Others are
FTP, FILE, MAILTO, and NEWS. Note that for the mailto and news protocol, the
2 forward slashes after the protocol in the url are not used.
The host is the domain name (discussed below) and the port, which is optional,
is the port number which further specifies the location.
The resource, which is also optional at least for the http protocol, is the
internet resource you wish to locate such as an html page or newsgroup. If omitted,
it defaults to a page named index or default.
A domain name is a unique identifier (such as chisholmtech.com)
that is registered with InterNIC, an organization
that keeps track of all domain names on the internet. Once a domain name is
registered, it must be associated with a unique address, called an IP
address on a physical server that is connected to the internet backbone, in order
to be accessible.
If you want your page(s) to be accessible
from your own domain such as www.yourdomainname.com, then you must
pay to register a unique domain name with InterNIC and find a
webhosting company that will give you a unique address and space on
their servers for your domain. Most of them will also register your
domain name. There are hundreds of such companies with
various price ranges and options. Go to www.hostview.com if you want to
explore your options.
If you're not prepared to pay for and maintain
your own domain, or you just don't care if your page(s) are accessed
from someone else's domain, there are several options available to
you. If you are currently using an ISP such as AOL, then you may not
know it, but they probably already have a location for your personal
web page(s). Contact your ISP to find out. If not, there are several
companies that will give you space on their servers in exchange for
advertising on your site, such as www.geocities.com
Uploading Files
Once you have a server location and unique userid and password to it, you can
begin uploading your files. Most web hosting companies provide easy to use
tools to upload your files with. If not, you will have to use FTP(File Transfer
Protocol) yourself. I recommend using one of the many graphical ftp programs available such
as CuteFTP or LeapFTP. These programs allow you to drag and drop files from your
machine to the server you specify. This way you don't have to learn FTP.
Now you (or anyone) should be able to see your pages at your internet address.
This concludes the tutorial. Hopefully it has helped improve your knowledge of
HTML. The last page is links to sites that will help you continue your HTML education.
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