How To: Create A Web Page

Here is some information from our ASU Webmaster on how to publish web pages using your student email account.

Dreamweaver is available on ASU lab computers and will do everything you need and more. If you've used Dreamweaver in the past you may certainly continue using it for this class. However, if you are new to web page authoring, I recommend using Contribute. This program is Dreamweaver-Lite and is less dizzying to use than Dreamweaver.

Contribute can be found on ASU lab computers under the COEducation list of applications.

Open Contribute and do this:

1. Click the "Website Connection" link in the middle of the window.
2. Click "Continue" on the welcome screen. 
3. Connect to: Website
   URL of Website: http://www.appstate.edu/~yourusername
   Click "Continue"
4. Connect to web server: Secure FTP (SFTP)
   Name of SFTP server: www.appstate.edu
   SFTP user name: yourusername
   SFTP password: yourpassword
   Click "Continue"
5. Type your name and email. Click "Continue"
6. Role assigned to: Administrator
   Click "Continue"
7. Click "Finish"

You are now ready to start creating, editing, and publishing web pages on the ASU server. If you get a permission denied message, or a 404 not found message, don't panic. This just means you haven't created any pages on your site yet.

1. Click the "New" button at the top left.
2. Select "Blank Web Page"
   Page title: "w00t"
   Click "OK"
3. Type w00t on your blank page. (Play with font sizes and colors if you like).
4. Click the "Publish" button at the top left of the window.
5. Click yes on the warning box asking if you want to publish it without any links.
6. Filename: w00t.html
   Click "Publish"
7. Now open FireFox and browse this web page: www.appstate.edu/~yourusername/w00t.html
   

Congratulations! You have now published your own web page and you are now live on teh interwebs. w00t!

The next time you open Contribute, you may need to go through the set up procedure again. Also, the next time you use Contribute, the button at the top left may say "Connect." Click it. You can navigate around your site until you reach a page you want to work on, then click "Edit Page." Or you can always click on "New" to create a new page on your site. You can have as many pages as you like. Just make sure each page has a unique filename that uses only letters and numbers without any spaces or special characters.

For more information on using Contribute, here is an online tutorial.

Now you just need to practice. For next class, your homework is to create and publish the ugliest web page possible. For inspiration, you can visit the World's Worst Website. Here's an ugly page by a previous student. I think you can do worse though. Appall us.

Post a link on your class blog to your Ugly Website.