As a free service to our Dial-Up
subscribers, SkyBest will provide up to 10 megabytes (MB) of
space for you to create and store your own web site. If you are
a current subscriber to our Dial-Up service, just
refer to the following instructions and your presence on the
World Wide Web will be off and running!
The information that follows will introduce you to the basics
of Web page creation, including:
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how to set up your personal Web space; |
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where to find tutorials and tips for learning
HTML; |
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how to test your newly-created Web pages; |
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and how to upload your materials to your
newly-created Web space. |
Although creating and posting a Web site can be a complex process,
simple sites can be created in a straightforward manner, and
the rewards of having your presence felt on the Web are well
worth the effort.
Activating Your Personal Web Space
Personal web space is established when you activate your account.
If you wish to set up your personal web space, all you need
to do is to log onto http://web.skybest.com/~username (your
username is your actual login name). This will direct you to
your personal web space and give you step-by-step instructions
on how to set up your web page. It also provides a list of
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
Learning HTML/Creating Your Pages
The first step in creating a web site is to learn the basics
of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). A web page is simply a
plain text file (created in a text editor such as Notepad or
Siimpletext) with various HTML commands. HTML is an easy language
to learn, and a good place to start is NCSA's
Beginner's Guide to HTML.
If you don't have the time to learn HTML, you can use any of
the popular WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") Web page
creation software such as Macromedia Dreamweaver. By using WYSIWIG
software, you can create web pages without learning HTML. However,
WYSIWYGs are often limited in their functionality and are usually
not as efficient as coding HTML "by hand." They are, however,
extremely useful for novices.
Testing Your Pages
No matter whether you code your HTML by hand or with WYSIWYG
software, you will need to test your pages in a Web browser.
You can do this by simply selecting File>Open and selecting
your page. If your page doesn't appear correctly in both Netscape
and Internet Explorer, you might want to make a few modifications.
Also, you should make sure your images appear and your links
work.
Moving Files to the Web Server
To copy your Web files—all of the HTML files, as well as any
graphics or other related files—to your newly-created WWW.directory,
the easiest way is with FTP software such as WS_FTP or CuteFTP
for Windows platforms, or Fetch for Macintosh.
1. |
Using FTP, connect to ftp.skybest.com but not via an Anonymous login. Enter the Username and Password you are currently using for your own account. When FTP makes the connection to Spirit Telecom, you will be placed in your top-level directory. There will already be one or more subdirectories shown the Remote host side, such as ftp. One of these directories will be public_html. Change to that subdirectory (most simply by double-clicking on the public_html subdirectory name). |
2. |
Copy all relevant files from your system to your new public_html subdirectory. (This would include all of your HTML files, as well as any graphics or other files that are referenced within those HTML files.) Be sure to copy all HTML files in ASCII mode! You can now access these files across the 'Net using any WWW browser.
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Accessing Your Files from the Skybest.com Server
The URL for your new files is:http://web.skybest.com/~username/filename.html
Where
username is your Username and filename.html is the name of
any HTML file you wish to access. Note that if your "home
page" file is named index.html, you do not need to specify
the filename; you may simply open the following URL: http://web.skybest.com/~username
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