This page explains how to install your home page on the WWW using your FTP client.

To install your home page using an FTP client, you must first log on to your WebCom account through FTP. After logging on successfully, you will be automatically placed in your home directory.

A command line FTP client will display a "ftp>" prompt when you load it.
Installation using a Command Line Client

A list of files should be visible. Only a few files and directories will be listed if you have not installed any files in your account yet. Most graphical FTP clients will display directories and files in separate boxes.

Double-click on the "www" directory to display the list of files within it (this is where all files you wish to make available through the World Wide Web will be stored). A single file, called "welcome.html" should be displayed, if you have not yet installed any other files into your account. This is your default home page, installed when your account was set up. You will need to replace this file with your new home page.

Display the directory on your local machine where your new home page is stored. Transferring your new home page to your WebCom account should be as simple as highlighting this file and clicking "Copy", or "dragging" the file from the directory on your machine, and "dropping" it into the "www" directory on WebCom. If how to transfer a file is not immediately obvious, the "help" menu of your FTP client should have an explanation.

Type "dir" to see a list of files in your home directory if using a command line client. Directories can be identified by the "d" in the first character of the first column of output from a list command, ("drwxr-xr-x"). Files have a dash ("-") as the first character, ("-rwxr-xr-x") in this column instead of a "d".

Type "cd www" to move to the "www" directory. Type "dir" after you have done this. You will see a file called "welcome.html". This is your default home page, installed when we set up your account. You will need to replace this file with your new home page.

Change the working directory on your local machine to the directory where your new home page is stored. To do this, type "lcd [path/to/file]". See our explanation of paths if you don't understand what this means. On a DOS system, the command would be similar to "lcd c:\location\of\file". On a Unix system, the command would be similar to "lcd /location/of/file". After doing this, enter "put [filename]" at the "ftp>" prompt. The file will be transferred to your "www" directory.

If your computer does not allow long filenames (for example: computers using DOS or Windows), don't worry. The WebCom FTP Server automatically converts the extension of any file ending in ".htm" to ".html" when it is transferred to your WebCom account.

To transfer a image file to your "www" directory on WebCom, first make sure your FTP client is in binary mode. Many clients start out in ASCII (text) mode, which will damage your image file during transfer. Choose the "Binary" option in your graphical client (this will be a button or menu item labeled "Binary"; if it is not immediately obvious, consult the "Help" menu of your client). If using a command line client, type "binary" at the "ftp>" prompt.

Follow the instructions for installing your home page, substituting the filename of your graphic image, to transfer it into your "www" directory on WebCom. Make sure the filename of your graphic image is the same as the one referred to in this tag:

<IMG SRC="filename.gif">

and that you transfer the file into your "www" directory (where your home page has been installed). If the image does not appear properly, see the Testing a Image page.

The default URL for any directory in your acccount of a user account consists of two parts: the address of the server, and the userid of the account being accessed. If a directory within the account is being accessed, the name if the directory is added after the userid. A default URL looks like this: http://webcom.com/~webcom/~userid/[directory]/. Your "home page" is the default URL for your account, without any directory names appeneded to it: http://webcom.com/~webcom/~userid/.

When someone enters a URL of this form into their browser, the World Wide Web server at the site the URL refers to looks for a file named "welcome.html" in the directory specified and send it to the browser to be displayed. If the server does not find a file named "welcome.html", the browser displays a list of the files stored in that directory instead. This is why your home page must be named "welcome.html".

The next step is to test your home page, to make sure it displays properly.