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Web Hosting

Part 1: File Management


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To make your website accessible through the World Wide Web, you need:
Storage space in a reliable web server that is connected to the internet. A domain name through which visitors can reach your website.

Once you obtain these two, all you have to do is upload your files to the web server.

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Log in
In this course, we will provide each student with an individual web storage. To log in, follow these steps:
Go to http://yourDomain.311web.com/cpanel Enter your user name: stxxxxxx (xxxxxx is the last six digits of the ID of the first student in the group) Enter password which is the full ID

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Your website URL will be (YourDomain.311web.com)

The Control Panel

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The control panel is where you can control many aspects of your website.

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File Manager
While the control panel provides you with great functionality to control your website, the most important one is the File Manager. The File Manager enables you to browse through the files hosted in your storage space. Most importantly, it enables you to upload all the files that make up your website (HTML, images, etc.)

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The File Structure


The overall file structure of your server will be as the picture shows:
Only files in the folder public_html and its subdirectories can be viewed by visitors. Both folders www and public_html point to the same folder (i.e. they are aliases)

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Note that the folder public_html is the root of all paths in the URLs of your website. However, it does not appear the path. Example: if you have a folder named HW2 in the public_html folder, you can access the HW2 folder by typing in your browser: yourDomain.311web.com/HW2

The Home Page

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When a visitor visits yourDomain.311web.com the browser checks the public_html folder for a file named index.html (or index.xxx where xxx is any supported web extension) If it fails to find the file, an automatic index page is rendered. You should always upload the home page of your website as an index page in the public_html folder

Upload Files

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Click on the File Manager icon A new window will ask you which folder you would like to access. Select the web root to access public_html folder directly. Then click Go.

Upload Files

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The File Manager window will open:

Upload Files

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The Upload Tool:

You may upload as many files as you want. Be careful when Overwrite existing files is checked.

Upload Files

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Relative Vs. Absolute paths: Absolute paths start from the root (domain name in case of URLs and Hard disk label in case of local machine). Example:
http://el.ksu.edu.sa/jusur/ C:\Users\Desktop\home.png

Relative paths describe the location of the file starting from the location of the referring file (the file containing the link)

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Example: index.html has the code: <img src=home.png alt=home />


home.png (means that index.html is in the same folder as the home.png file)

If it were:

/images/home.png
It would mean that index.html is in the same folder as an images folder which contains a file called home.png

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Remember: Your code should always use relative paths when you need to link to other files in your website (e.g. images, CSS, JavaScript, etc.)

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FTP Clients
The previous File Manager tool is adequate. But it uses HTTP protocol which might slow down the operation. You may use FTP client software that facilitates browsing, downloading and uploading files to and from your server. FTP clients such as:
FireFTP (Firefox Add-on)

FTP Clients

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FireFTP provides two panes one browses the server, the other browses your computer, so you can simply drag and drop files to upload or download them. You can maintain an upload queue (files that are waiting to be uploaded).

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FTP Clients

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To use FireFTP, click on create an account. Provide the following information:


Account Name: choose any name. The account will be saved under this name for future log in. Host: yourDomain.311web.com Login: stxxxxxx (xxxxxx is the last six digits of the student ID) Password: students full ID

Then click Connect.

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Need Help?
Please refer to the help options provided in the control panel:
The Getting Started wizard. Video Tutorials

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