Setting Up a Personal Web Site

Revised: October 2003.

This article explains how to:


Create a "public_html" directory to hold your Web files

The easiest way to create the required "public_html" directory is to use the Home Page Setup Tool.

You will be asked to identify the ACS server that supports your account. Some students have access to more than one server as shown by the Account Look-up Tool. If in doubt, simply select the server that supports your ACS e-mail.

Create your first Web file

Web documents are written in a special style called HTML -- HyperText Markup Language. Sequences of characters called "markup tags" allow you to adjust the appearance of your page, add links and add images. HTML files can be created with special authoring software or "manually" using an ordinary wordprocessor or text editor. To find information about special authoring software search the Web for "html editor wysiwyg". However, you can get started now using your favorite wordprocessor or text editor.

Name your first file index.html. The file name index.html has a special property. If you point your web browser to a URL containing only a directory name and no explicit filename, the Web server will look in that directory for a file called "index.html" and present it to the user.

Here's an example of what to put into your index.html file. This bare-bones sample shows the required elements of an HTML page.

	<html>
	<head>
	<TITLE>A Simple HTML Example</TITLE>
	</head>
	<body>
	<H1>HTML is Easy To Learn</H1>

	<P>Welcome to the world of HTML.
	This is the first paragraph. While short it is  
	still a paragraph!</P>
	<P>And this is the second paragraph.</P>
	</body>
	</html>

This example is taken from The Beginner's Guide to HTML. See that guide or any of a number of tutorials available on the Web to learn about HTML. Search for "html tutorial".

Another good way to learn HTML tricks is to look at what others have done. All browsers have a way of viewing the raw HTML code for a document. Find someone else's Web document that does something similar to what you want to do and look at their HTML code.

This is a reminder that all activities on ACS systems, including setting up personal Web sites, are subject to the ACS Acceptable Use Policies. It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not violate Copyright Laws.

Put HTML files in your public_html directory

There are many ways to do this.

  • You can do this at an ACS PC lab running Windows XP by opening the "Class Resources" folder, double-clicking on the "server home" for the server you are creating a web page on, and dragging the files into the public_html folder.
  • If your local machine has an SFTP or FTP program installed, you can use SFTP or FTP to transfer the files. There are some basic instructions on using SFTP, most of which also apply to FTP, at here.
  • There are other methods of Transfering Files.
  • Or, you can always mail the documents to your UCSD mailserver email address and then save them out to files under your home directory on the server.

If you need help with any of these transfer methods, feel free to visit a Student Computer Consultant during zebra hours.

Set file permissions to make you HTML files viewable

An easy way do this is to use Home Page Setup Tool. Notice the option "Allow others to see documents in public_html."

See your Web site in a browser

To test your Web site start a browser and give it a URL of this form:

http://server/~username/

This will cause the server to look in your public_html directory and display your index.html file if you have one.

For example, for the user jsmith on server sdcc21.ucsd.edu the URL would be:

http://sdcc21.ucsd.edu/~jsmith/

Examples for other files beneath public_html would be:

http://sdcc21.ucsd.edu/~jsmith/sports.html http://sdcc21.ucsd.edu/~jsmith/pictures/me.gif