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WEB DESIGN SKILLS

Module Study Guide
2008/09

Copyright © Thames Valley University 2008

Session 10

Uploading

On this page:

Introduction

So far you have been creating pages 'locally', that is on an ordinary computer, and viewing them on a browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox. At the moment nobody else can see what you've made unless you show it to them.

Sooner or later, however, you will want to put your work up on the internet so that the world can see what you've done (if the world is interested!). This process is known as uploading or publishing. In simple terms, what you have to do is to transfer your files on to a special computer known as a web server. Actually there is nothing special about a web server computer itself; any computer can be configured as a web server if it has the necessary software and you have obtained an appropriate IP (Internet Protocol) address for it. One significant point about web servers, though, is that they are generally online 24 hours a day, so that viewers can see the pages at any time. Since most of us don't want our computers on continuously, it's standard practice to use someone else's server.

If you work for a company or institution, it's likely that they will have servers of their own, and if the work you're doing is job-related then you can put it up online using their servers. Otherwise, you need to find some space which you can use. Many companies offer web space, either for free or chargeable. Normally free space will be accompanied by advertising over which you have no control, whereas if you pay for space it will be ad-free.

If you're serious about a site, then you need to ask some questions about your ISP (Internet Service Provider) before committing yourself:

  1. How much space will I need?

    This depends on what is on your site. Remember that large images, sound files and videos take up huge amounts of space.

  2. What traffic am I likely to get?

    Many web space providers limit the bandwidth available to you, which means that if you get a lot of traffic, or if your users are 'bandwidth-heavy' (for instance if they are downloading substantial files) you can run over your limit and incur penalty charges.

  3. What support do I get?

    If things go wrong you might need someone on the other end of a phone line to help you put things right. Will you get charged for this?

  4. What facilities are offered?

    This can get quite technical, but if you're going to build a complex site, you might need PHP, MySQL and a variety of other features.

  5. Can I get my own domain name?

    Ideally you want a nice, snappy web address like 'www.fashionshow.com', not 'www.geocities.org.uk/users/206832/cgi-bin/fashionshow08'. 'fashionshow.com' is a domain name, and you would have to pay a fee to rent this name. The actual rent for a name is nominal, but of course all the most popular names have already been bought up by companies with an eye for the main chance, who will charge you well over the odds to let you use them. A good ISP will build into their price the cost of letting you have your own domain name - if it's available, of course.

What next?

Once you have obtained your web space, you need to know how to transfer files to it. The most important thing to remember is that the file/folder structure you have been using locally must be transferred complete to the web server, otherwise all your links and references will not work properly. So if all your images are held in a subfolder called 'images', that's how it should be on the server - you can't just put all the images into the root folder and expect the site to work properly.

Some web service providers will have a form on their site which allows you to upload files. This can be a real pain, as these forms often only allow one file to be uploaded at a time, so uploading a large site can take hours. Also, uploading to subfolders can also present problems. You really want to find a site which will allow you to upload using FTP.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is a protocol for transferring files from one computer to another over the internet. To transfer files to another computer you need to have authority to write to some directory (folder) on that computer. You will have a user name and a password to give that authority and the user name will determine where you have access to.

To FTP, the computer you are using needs a program called an FTP client. This may be a free-standing program, such as WS_FTP (in PC labs), or may be built in to some other program such as Dreamweaver. The remote computer will be running an FTP server able to respond to any FTP requests from users. You will need to tell your computer the host name (the remote computer you wish to connect to), your user name on that remote computer and the password. Once you have made the connection you may transfer files in either direction, delete files from the remote computer etc.

For the purposes of this module you need to FTP your web site to the computer zappa, which has the host name zappa.tvu.ac.uk. The user name and password will be supplied to you by your tutor. If offered the option to specify "Host-Type" select "Automatic Detect", which lets the software sort it out.

Find out how to use Dreamweaver to upload your web site here. Find out how to use Dreamweaver to upload your web site at http://mercury.tvu.ac.uk.wds/uploading.html. You can also use WS_FTP on the PCs in the lab or download a free FTP client from the web to use on your own PC. (Try FTP Commander at http://www.internet-soft.com/ftpcomm.htm)

Note: uploading from outside TVU

In theory you can upload to zappa from anywhere, but in practice TVU operates a firewall which is designed to stop hackers getting in to the university's systems. This can block attempts to upload from outside the tvu.ac.uk domain, and unfortunately any error messages you may get are not always clear. You may have to come into the university to upload, even if you have been doing most of your development work somewhere else. Make sure you allow time for this.

How to find your pages on the web

Once you've put up your pages, you want to be able to find them, so you can tell all your mates where to look. If you're using your own ISP you will have to find out from them what your URL is, but on 'zappa' you can work it out from your login:

If your login is '07johnsonz', then your URL will be 'http://zappa.tvu.ac.uk/~07johnsonz'

Notice that there's no 'www' in the address, and don't forget the '~' character.

If that doesn't work, check that your home page is in the root folder, and has the name 'index.html'

Exercises

  1. Don't leave it to the last minute to test out your 'zappa' account and check that it's working. Upload a page or two now and verify that you can see it on the web.
  2. Once you've put up some content, go somewhere outside TVU and check again. Are all the images visible? Do all the links work?
  3. If you're interested in creating a web site of your own not on zappa, do some research to find out where you can get web space at a good price.

Links

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Maintained by Alan Rolfe

Additional material by Lucie Hernandez

Last updated June 25, 2008

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