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SkyPoint Communications is a full service Internet Service Provider.

Creating And Changing a Commercial Web Site on SkyPoint

Members wanting a commercial Web site on SkyPoint's server must be subscribed to our PersonalLink, LanLink, HostLink, or InterLink account and must have a registered domain name. Additional Web hosting charges apply. Members who have purchased any of our Commercial Web Packages have a PersonalLink account included in the package.

Professional custom Web site design services are available through the WebSpan Design Group, a division of SkyPoint. We offer the latest and best new Web services, including RealAudio, Shockwave, Java, cgi, secure commerce server for on-line credit card orders, and many others.

For those users creating or updating their own Web pages, there is a wide assortment of Web page creation software on the market. Much of the software can simply be downloaded using FTP programs. Among other locations, Macintosh choices can be found at http://www.jumbo.com and at http://www.shareware.com, while PC platforms are represented at http://CWS.wilmington.net. Also, many word processors and desktop publishing systems have HTML document translators. We strongly suggest, however, that you have a good familiarity with HTML, even if you want to use authoring software to do the work for you. No software is as good a coder as the human brain, and many packages add garbage comments every time you edit a document. After a while, your site may become slow and huge if you are not careful to optimize your code after using an authoring application!

Remember, every Web page must run somewhere on the spectrum between total entertainment and total education. You must decide what "market" you want to reach. A successful Web site is targeted, visually interesting, neat, easy to use, and informative.

To transfer your web pages to SkyPoint, you need to use an FTP client program. On MS-Windows, a common FTP client is WS-FTP, and a common Macintosh FTP client is called Fetch. The host name to connect to is "ftp.skypoint.com". Use your login name (for example, if your email address is foo@skypoint.com, then your login name is foo) and your password; this password is the same password you use to login and also to get your e-mail. When you connect, you will be placed in your home directory.

In your home directory, you have a subdirectory called "www2" or "yourdomain.com." followed by the domain name. Select the directory and change into it; if you are using a graphical application, such as on a MS-Windows or MacIntosh system, you will be able to double-click on the directory name to change into that directory.

Note: It has been discovered with WS_Ftp (for MS-Windows), the www2 subdirectory does not show up in the directory listing. If this is the case for you, you can click on the ChgDir button, or another button that allows you to change the directory you are looking at, type in the www2 directory name and click on the "Ok" button; you may need to append the www2 directory name onto the existing directory listed - be sure to use the proper slash if necessary. This should put you in the www2 directory.

You will find three subdirectories. The first directory is called cgi-bin; this is where you put your CGI scripts to interface with your web pages. (NOTE: All CGI scripts must be reviewed and approved by the SkyPoint WebMaster, or have come from a designer on SkyPoint's Known and Trusted Designers List.) The second directory is htdocs; this is where your put all your HTML files, pictures, and anything else that is displayed on your web page - more on this later. The third directory is called logs; there are two files there: access_log and error_log. The access_log shows you connected to your web page and the error_log shows any errors that may have occurred - do NOT delete these files, they are necessary!

The htdocs subdirectory is where you put your HTML files, pictures, etc. The main page needs to be called "index.html" (without the quotes) or "index.shtml" if you are doing CGI scripts or counters. The file name MUST be in lowercase letters!

All other files may have any file name you wish - they do not even have to have the .html extension. Having the .html extension on your HTML document files is recommended to help keep the files clear as to what they are. Watch out for upper and lowercase differences in file names; on the SkyPoint computers, foo.html is not the same as FOO.HTML or Foo.Html or foo.HTML.

Select the file(s) you wish to transfer to SkyPoint and send them. With the WS_Ftp program, you have two arrows in the middle of the screen, one pointing to the left, one pointing to the right. Your local files are on the left side and SkyPoint is on the right. When transfering files from your computer to SkyPoint, highlight the files on the left side and press the arrow pointing to the right.

Caution: HTML document files are text (ASCII) files and pictures are binary files. Transfer all HTML files as ASCII and all pictures as binary files!

If you want subdirectories to keep your files organized, create a new subdirectory using your FTP applications. You will be asked for a directory name to be made. Change into the new directory by following the steps you used before to change into the www2 directory.

If you need to delete a file, highlight the file and click the Delete button or drag it into the trash. To delete a subdirectory, use your FTP application's rmdir function (if available).

The URL for your homepage is: http://www.yourdomain.com

 

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