Downloading, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), NetScape Composer

1. Downloading

Typically up-and downloading files from a remote server is done by File Transfer Protocol. Since our web pages are also files, we usually must use ftp to up-and download them from our Web server.

You can find various ftp 'client' programs (remember the 'client-server' analogy which is used in computer language -- the client resides on your local PC, typically, and 'gives commands'; the 'server' is remote and 'obeys' or processes the commands).

You should download and install an ftp client. The one I recommend -- because it is very highly rated, and because I'm familiar with it -- is WS_FTP LE. I'll assume you're using this one. But you can use any client you feel comfortable with. Here are some places to get ftp clients:

Tucows affiliates, like this one.  For the Tucows home site, go here.

There are lots of other download sites, like http://www.download.com, http://www.shareware.com, and lots of others. Each has a Macintosh section, too

2. Decompressing

When you download a program over the net using a browser, you'll either get a ".zip" file or a ".exe" file (that's "dot-zip" and "dot-exe").

The "dot-zip" files are compressed, and need to be "unzipped", or uncompressed. The easiest way to do this is to download the latest version of WINZIP at a local Tucows site, like here. But there are many other shareware compression utilities. Follow directions for "unzipping" and "installing" the program. If confused, contact me.
The "dot-exe" files are "self-extracting" files. You just download them into a temporary directory -- it's always good to create a directory called "Temp" or something, using Windows Explorer (on a PC) for your downloads -- and then you "run" it. You can run it either by (Windows 95/8) using "Start-Run" and browsing til you find the program, or by finding it in Windows Explorer and double-clicking on it.

In either case, at the end of the process you'll have an ftp client installed.

3. Web Page

We'll be using NetScape Composer, because it's free. It's part of the NetScape Communicator suite of programs. But it's not on the lab machines, so that is a problem! The main thing to do is, therefore:

Get NetScape Composer on your home computer. You can get it by going to this Tucows site (for the PC); or this one (for Macintosh).
Naturally, you can also get it from the NetScape Home Page. Click on the little text to the left of the ad at the top of the page that says "Download NetScape Communicator 4.5", or something like that.
Finally -- if you sign up for the free Erols account and software you are entitled to as a student at MSU, you'll get NetScape Communicator, including Composer, on the CD-Rom.

There are many other web-page makers -- called HTML editors --  besides NetScape Composer, which comes with NetScape Communicator. But I'll be using this one for our class purposes, so you will probably want to use it.

For PC users, you can check out the HTML editors listed at this Tucows site.

Web Pages are text and graphics which are encoded with a code called "HyperText Markup Language", or HTML. These editors make it possible for you to put this code into your pages, without learning the code. Of course, you can also learn the code -- as I and many others did "when the Web was young".

But recent versions of HTML (the most recent I've seen is HTML 4.0 -- it was 2.0 when I started almost three years ago) are very, very complex! Even professional web page designers use some advanced HTML editor.

I will teach you some of the very basic, elementary code, so you can get a grasp of what you are doing. But you won't have to learn the code at all. However, it's helpful to know the basic code, since it helps "troubleshooting" pages that somehow don't show up the way they should.

4. What You Should Prepare For Class.

  1. Be sure to bring a file in MS Word format (a ".doc" file) or in TEXT format (a ".txt" file), but for PC's, obviously, that has the text of some material you'd like to begin with as a "Home Page" for yourself.
  2. Be sure you have an active Alpha account. Make sure you have checked your password recently, so it's up to date and you can actually log into your Alpha account.
  3. Make sure to create your ".www" subdirectory on Alpha. You do this by typing 'faq' at the $ (VMS) prompt on Alpha; reading the file called "How do I create my own web page?". Then, use your mouse and the "copy" command to copy the command given there, "@MSU$COM:SETUP_WEB" (without the quotation marks). Get out of the 'faq' by pressing "Q" for "quit" and then "Y" for "yes" when prompted, and "paste" the command @MSU$COM:SETUP_WEB at the $ prompt. Then, press "Enter." This command, which has been set up by the Alpha systems administrator, will create a subdirectory in Alpha for you called ".www" ("dot-www"). That's where you'll put your web page.

http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/int/dlftpnscomposer.html | furrg@alpha.montclair.edu | last modified 27 Oct 98