Web Pages - Frequently Asked Questions

n.b. – this is a complement to the Guide to FTP and Web Pages and HTML Tips handouts

Table of Contents

 

Online Presentation (created in Power Point)

 

 

Online Home Page (created in Word)

 

Online Retirement Calculator (created in Excel)

 

I want to make some changes to my online presentation—how do I do this?

The version you are viewing on the web (at the address http://www.acs.brockport.edu/~username/presentation.htm) is the version that is currently located in your public_html file. Using the analogy of the “museum,” this file is the one you have sent to the museum—you cannot make changes directly to that file. Instead, you will have to find the “copy” of that file that you have kept in your j-drive folder (and, hopefully, another back-up copy on a floppy diskette or another computer). 

 

Recall that the presentation you created in Power Point is called presentation.htm, which is accompanied by a supporting folder called presentation_files. To update these files, first open up Power Point, go the File menu, select “open an existing presentation,” and maneuver through the menus until you find your j-drive folder. Now, make sure that you open the file called presentation.htm (not presentation.ppt, which is the original Power Point version of your presentation). If you choose to open up presentation.ppt, each time you make a change to your presentation you will have to “Save as Web Page,” which will convert presentation.ppt into html format  (i.e., presentation.htm + presentation_files). Whether you do this is a personal choice, but involves an extra step each time.

 

Now your presentation is open. Make whatever changes to the file you choose. When you’re done, go the File menu, select Save, make sure you are saving into your J-drive folder, ensure that the name of the file is presentation.htm, and then save the file (since your file is already saved in web format, you will not have to “Save as Web Page”).

 

What you have just done is update the version of your online presentation that is in your j-drive folder. Nobody but you has access to this file. To update the version that is on the web, you will have to upload the file you just updated to your public_html folder.

 

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I have updated my online presentation file in the lab or at home. How do I get that new version to show up on my web page?

You now have a brand spankin’ new version of your online presentation that you’ve worked on at home or in the lab. This file is called presentation.htm (accompanied by the presentation_files supporting folder).  If the file is on your home computer, click here.  You have now saved or moved the latest version of your online presentation in html format into your personal j-drive folder. Now you will have to upload those files to your public_html folder. Refer to the Guide to FTP and Web Pages for detailed instructions for using WS_FTP. In brief, what you will have to do is open up WS_FTP, ensure that the address is po.brockport.edu  and type in your userid and password. On the left hand side of the screen scroll to your j-drive folder; on the right hand side, make sure you are in your public_html folder. Now you can transfer the presentation.htm file and the presentation_files folder from the j-drive to the public_html folder. Doing so will keep a copy of these files in your j-drive and replace the older version of these files in your public_html folder with the new version.  You’re done. If you open up Internet Explorer and type in your URL, you—along with anyone else surfing the web who has your web address—will be able to see the new work you’ve done. Congratulations!

 

 

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I want to work on my presentation at home. How can I get the file that is in my j-drive folder home?

The short answer: transfer either presentation.ppt or the combination of presentation.htm and presentation_files onto a floppy disk, take the disk home, copy it to the hard drive of your home computer, and make any desired changes to the presentation. Do the reverse to bring the updated file(s) back to your j-drive folder in the lab’s computer.  It is likely, though, that your presentation may be too large to fit on a floppy disk. In that case, use a “zip” disk instead. If that option is not available to you, then you can e-mail the file(s) as an attachment to an e-mail address to which you have access at home.

 

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I want to make changes to my home page—how do I do this?

The version you are viewing on the web (at the address http://www.acs.brockport.edu/~username/index.htm) is the version that is currently located in you public_html file. Using the analogy of the “museum,” this file is the one you have sent to the museum—you cannot make changes directly to that file. Instead, you will have to find the “copy” of that file that you have kept in your j-drive folder (and, hopefully, another copy on a floppy diskette or another computer). 

 

Recall that the home page you created in Microsoft Word is called index.htm, which is accompanied by a supporting folder called index_files. To update these files, first open up Word, go the File menu, select “open” (make sure the “Files of Type” drop-down menu says “All Files” or “All Word Documents”) and maneuver through the menus until you find your j-drive folder. Now, make sure that you open the file called index.htm (not index.doc, which is the original Word version of your home page). If you choose to open up index.doc, each time you make a change to your home page you will have to “Save as Web Page,” which will convert index.doc into index.htm. Whether you do this is a personal choice, but involves an extra step each time. See the next question below for more details if this is how you want to work.

 

Now your home page is open. Make whatever changes to the file you choose. When you’re done, go the File menu, select Save, make sure you are saving into your j-drive folder, ensure that the name of the file is index.htm, and then save the file (since your file is already saved in web format, you will not have to “Save as Web Page”).

 

What you have just done is update the version of your home page that is in your j-drive folder. Nobody but you has access to this file. To update the version that is on the web, you will have to upload the file you just updated to your public_html folder.

 

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How do I make changes to my home page if I want to work with the Microsoft Word version instead of the html version?

This is the same as the above answer, with the need to make an additional step at the end. First, make sure you know where the latest version of your home page document is. This should be in your j-drive folder. To update the home page, first open up Word, go to the file menu, select “open,” and maneuver through the menus until you find your j-drive folder. Now, make sure that you open the file called index.doc (not index.htm, which is the converted, html version of the home page).

 

Now the Word version of your home page is open. Make whatever changes to the file you choose. When you’re done, go the File menu, select Save, make sure you are saving into your J-drive folder, ensure that the name of the file is index.doc, and then save the file.

 

 

 

 

Note that the file is in Microsoft Word format. Before these changes will be visible on your actual web page, you will have to take two more steps: (1) save the file as a web page, and (2) upload the web page version to your public_html folder. More on these points can be found on this page.

 

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I have just made some changes to the Word version of my home page—how do I convert that file into web-ready (html) format?

Open up Microsoft Word, go to the File menu and open your index.doc file. To convert the file into the format that can be viewed over the web, go to the File menu, select Save as Web Page (the “Save as Type” drop-down menu should say “Web Page *.htm, *.html”), make sure that the “Save in:” drop-down menu is showing your j-drive folder, then type “index.htm” as the “File Name,” click the “Change Title” button if you want to change what people will see at the top left-hand corner of their Internet browser as a title for the page, and then click the Save button.

 

 

 

Word has just converted your index.doc file into web format. This means it has generated two sets of files—index.htm and index_files. Both of these will now have to be uploaded to your public_html folder if you want others to be able to see your changes over the web.

 

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I now have a new version of my home page in my j-drive folder. How do I get the new version to show up on my web page?

You have saved or moved the latest version of your home page in html format into your personal j-drive folder. Now you will have to upload those files to your public_html folder. Refer to the Guide to FTP and Web Pages for detailed instructions for using WS_FTP. In brief, what you will have to do is open up WS_FTP, ensure that the address is po.brockport.edu  and type in your userid and password. On the left hand side of the screen scroll to your j-drive folder; on the right hand side, make sure you are in your public_html folder. Now you can transfer the index.htm  file and the index_files folder from the j-drive to the public_html folder. Doing so will keep a copy of these files in your j-drive and replace the older version of these files in your public_html folder with the new version.  You’re done. If you open up Internet Explorer and type in your URL, you—along with anyone else surfing the web who has your web address—will be able to see the new work you’ve done. Congratulations!

 

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What do I do if my retirement calculator does not fit on the screen in Internet Explorer?

The problem usually lies in the default screen options. To correct it, take the following steps:

Ø       Tools à Options à Web Options à General à ensure that “pixels per inch” is not at 120 (select either 72 or 96)

 

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Last revised: 10-30-02