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FAQ - Creating Web Pages

Your Web Presence

There are multiple ways to present yourself on the web:

Web Files stored at Olin

Where are the files for my PERSONAL web page?

Short Answer: On your personal network drive, there is a www folder (U:\initial\username\www). Navigate to YOUR folder on the U: drive (or use the shortcut mapped to M:)
Detail: Each Olin student is given several megabytes of disk storage space in their "network folder" (commonly called "the U drive").
Your network folder can be accessed in multiple ways:
(see Getting Started for more info on accessing and editing your pages)

--Local Computers: M:\ (shortcut to u:\initial\username\)
--Remote via FTP or via browser -- see Remote Access to Files for detail

Every Olin person has a WWW folder stored at m:\username\www/
(if you don't see it, contact HELPDESK@olin.wustl.edu)

  1. Create a default web page (default.htm, index.htm, default.aspx, etc) at the www root (NOT in a sub-folder)
  2. Ask for your site to be enabled by filling out the form
  3. --- ONCE REQUESTED/COMPLETE, THEN - you can share your URL with anyone you like - Visitors can access the web pages via the uniform resource locator (URL) in this format: http://students.olin.wustl.edu/~username. SAMPLE: A student named John Smith with username smithjo would use the URL: http://students.olin.wustl.edu/~smithjo
  4. IMPORTANT--Be sure to retain the name index.htm in the WWW root folder (not a sub-folder), or the page will not display with the URL above.

How can people view my page?
    Visitors can access personal web pages after you
  1. create a HOME page at the www root
  2. STUDENTS ONLY -- ASK for your page to be enabled by filling out the Show My Page form. (Faculty and Staff should not use this form!!)
  3. Provide the visitor with your URL.
Are there guidelines I should know about?

You Are Using University resources and must abide by the University's Code of Conduct. Further, we remind you that it is unethical to use the University's resources for commercial gain. This includes selling ad space on your pages.

Web use is discussed in Washington University's Computer Use Policy as well as in Olin's Student Computing Handbook. Specific guidelines for files storage are also available for Online Storage

Olin's web server is an IIS server. You can create htm/html pages or asp/aspx pages.

Regarding Copyrights

If you intend to post some content (graphics and/or text) on your page that you did not create, make sure that you receive permission to do so from the owner of the copyright on that work. If the copyright owner refuses to allow you to use their graphic on your site, respect their decision and find some other way to accomplish your design goal. Using a copyrighted image without permission is illegal, and the university has been threatened with legal action a number of times over this sort of thing.

For more in-depth information about copyrights and the Net, see The Copyright Website (or just do a search on your favorite search engine):

Note: Some designers do make collections of images and animations available that are freely downloadable without the need for permission to be granted. You may copy such images freely and use them on your own pages. Do abide by the authors' rules, though - some artists request that you provide them with credit via a link on your page.

Your Own Web Pages

Getting Started

Modify the index.htm file to add text, graphics, photos, or links to other pages and sites. Create link pages as desired. You don't have to be a web designer or know html programming to accomplish this (although it wouldn't hurt to know at least a little bit about html before you venture into the land of html authoring tools).
IMPORTANT--Be sure to retain the HOME file index.htm or default.html, or index.aspx, etc at the WWW ROOT folder AND submit the form to request your site to be enalbed -- or the URL will not work.

Edit your pages in one of several ways:

What editing tools should I use to edit web pages?

For editing HTML, use any text processor (see HTML editor recommendations) or a WYSIWYG ("what-you-see-is-what-you-get") editor with which you are comfortable. If you opt to use one of the many available WYSIWYG editors or authoring tools, look for something that is made especially for web pages and that will let you view the html code so you can troubleshoot. (see WYSIWYG editor recommendations)

Where can I learn more?
References and Tutorials
Many on-line references and tutorials are available, Google for more information. Or see some of our favorites in the list below.
Tips and Hints
There is such a thing as badly written HTML! Once you start getting comfortable with the basics, check out our HTML Tips page, which shows you some common mistakes to avoid and has some advice on page construction.
View Source
A good way to learn HTML is to see how other people write their pages. Find a page you like and use your browser's View Source command to see the HTML source code behind it. It's a great way to (legally) steal ideas on how to make your pages better!