Web Browsing and Publishing

Netscape Communicator is the default Web browser application on Waterloo Polaris.

Web Publishing

Many Waterloo Polaris users will have an account on a Unix or NT computer which is acting as a Web server. Responsibility for this service rests in the faculties, so it may not be available to all Waterloo Polaris users. See your faculty consulting office for details.

Those users with accounts on a Web server can use the Configure Waterloo Polaris tool to link the account as drive W (if your Web server is configured to allow it). E.g., in Engineering, the Network Path to specify is //schooner/user_id, where "user_id"" is your user ID. N.B. Schooner is another name for www.eng, the common name for Engineering's Web server. However, the network path does not accept a host name containing a period in it.

If you select to link in your Web account, you are asked to provide your account's password when you log in to Waterloo Polaris. You can then use Windows Explorer to publish your Web documents on the Web server.

Tips on Web Publishing

For those new to Web publishing here are a few tips which should help you create a working home page:

Your Web documents are HTML (HyperText Markup Language) files which must reside in a directory called "public_html" under your home directory on the Web server.
Your HTML files must have the extension "html" or "htm"
Your public_html directory must have public read and execute permissions. All files in the directory tree under public_html must be publicly readable. All directories in the directory tree under public_html must also have public execute permissions. If you are using Unix or NT file spaces mounted as Windows95 drive letters, the correct file permissions should automatically be set for you when you create folders or copy files there. If not, contact your local consulting office. If you are connecting to a remote Unix Web server through a terminal emulation program or and FTP program, you will have to set the proper file permissions yourself.
There are many applications on Waterloo Polaris which you can use to edit an HTML document including MS Word, WordPerfect, Netscape Communicator and any plain text editor such as Notepad or WordPad.
There are many courses and course notes on the UWinfo Web space about Web publishing.

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