email set-up anet.net

How to Set Up Your Free Web Page

NOTE: If you have a virtual server with aNet (www.yourdomain.com) click here

Most aNet dial-up accounts include a free Web page at: http://www.anet.net/loginname/

Here's a quick overview of the process. First a page has to be written in a language called HTML, then it has to be transferred to the aNet Internet server, and finally you need to promote it on the Web. It's easy!

Building Your Web Page

A Web page is written in a language called HTML, which stands for Hypertext Markup Language. It has "standardized" tags that Web browsers interpret for displaying the Web page.

How do you write a page in HTML? Well, you can learn some basic codes and write a simple page in a word processor that can save ASCII text, or you can use an HTML editor.

An HTML editor allows you to build a Web page without learning HTML. It uses a graphical interface instead of manual codes.

To Download an HTML editor go to: Download.com . Once on download.com's website you will see many different types of HTML editors. CoffeeCup 7.2 Html Editor is a great pick for an HTML editor. The CoffeeCup Free HTML Editor is a drag and drop HTML Editor with built-in FTP uploading. It has wizards for tables, frames, forms, and fonts and comes with all HTML 4.0 and XHTML tags.

Writing A Simple Page

A quick lesson! All HTML tags start and end with the lesser than < and greater than > keys used as brackets, ex: <HTML>. Most HTML tags use both a beginning tag and an and ending tag, ex: <TITLE> notes the beginning of a title and </TITLE> notes the end of a title; the only difference is the /.

Open your word processor program, start a new document and type the following exactly as it appears below:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Type Your Title Here </TITLE>
</HEAD>

<BODY>

<H1> Type Your Headline Here </H1>

<P> Type Your Paragraph Here </P>

</BODY>
</HTML>

That's it. So what do all these tags mean?

<HTML> identifies the page as an HTML document.

<HEAD> tells the browser that the header will be appearing.

<TITLE> tells the browser what to show in the title window of the browser.

</TITLE> tells the browser that your title entry is now closed.

</HEAD> tells the browser that the header information is now closed.

<BODY> tells the browser that the body of the page or document begins next.

<H1> tells the browser that your headline is next and that its size is 1. (There are six levels of headline sizes, and 1 is the biggest.)

</H1> tells the browser that your headline is now closed. You can add as many headlines as you want. Just be sure to use <H> at the beginning and </H> at the end.

<P> tells the browser that there is a new paragraph and immediately enters the text that follows. It will include the text as one paragraph until it reaches the </P>.

</P> tells the browser that the paragraph is now closed.You can add as many paragraphs as you want, just be sure to use the <P> at the beginning and </P> at the end.

</BODY> tells the browser that the main body of the document is ended.

</HTML> tells the browser that the HTML document is now closed.

Now SAVE your file as an ASCII text file with either an ".htm" (for PC) or ".html" (for Mac) extension. We suggest that you keep all of your filenames short, memorable and in lower case. Graphics files have to end in ".gif" or ".jpg".

Posting Your Web Page

Now you need to transfer your document from your hard drive to the aNet Web server, so that anyone on the Web can view it. This is called "uploading."

The easiest way to "upload" your page is with an FTP (File Transfer Program) like WS_FTP for Windows or FETCH for Mac. In addition, some HTML editors offer an easy "publish" function.

This page was uploaded using the Windows-based FTP software WS_FTP, which can be downloaded free from the IP Switch Website.

1. First, open your FTP software: WS_FTP or FETCH

2. Under host name type: http://anet.net

3. Under username type your aNet login name

4. Under password type your aNet password

5. Under Dir/Remote type: /public_html

6. Click on OK.

NOTE: If you're using FETCH, skip to step 8. For WS_FTP users, go to step 7.

7. For WS_FTP users, a split window appears. The left side is your hard drive directory; the right is aNet's.

A. Go to aNet's directory and select the public_html directory.

B. If you do not have a public_html directory you can create one. Click on create DIR, type public_html (all lower case), click on OK.

8. Now you can transfer your files to public_html in aNet's directory.

{Your home page (first page) must be named index.html}

For WS_FTP Users:

A. Highlight your file(s) in your hard drive directory (left window). Make sure that the file transfer is on auto.

B. Click on the arrow key pointing to the right, and your file will copy into the aNEetdirectory.

C. Now highlight your files in aNet's directory (right window).

D. Click on "rename" and rename your file with the extension ".html" (all lower case).

E. Click on OK.

For FETCH Users:

A. Highlight your files one by one.

B. Make sure that the file transfer is set to ASCII for ".html" files (and RAW DATA for ".gif" files).

C. Click on save. Repeat these steps until all your files are transferred

NOTE: All users remember to upload your graphics files separately, as they are not embedded into your html files.

9. Now go to your Web browser and type your URL: http://www.anet.net/your_login/

Promoting Your Web Page

Once your Web page is completed, you may want to promote it so that other Web surfers can easily locate it and visit it. An excellent free service for posting your Web page to all the Web directories and search engines is Submit-It.