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Home Pages For CompuSurfers by Benoît Marchal Version 2.21 Copyright © 1995-1996, Benoît Marchal. All Rights Reserved. There have been The Internet is a dynamic environment. Addresses change, sites come and go. By the time you read this, some of the links may be broken. I apologise for the inconvenience. Internet Access HTML versus Word Processor Last year I wrote a paper on Web publishing for CompuServe users. At the time, CSi had no publishing service and I described how to manage a Web site on a third-party service provider. At the end of the last year, CompuServe expanded its range of Internet services with Our World, free Web space for us. I grabbed my keyboard and wrote version 2. This is the first major revision to this document since version 2. A significant number of small enhancements mandate this revision. I have also decided to re-organize the document in two sections:
There are plenty of good reasons to publish on the Internet, whether to promote your business, local association, or just for fun. CompuServe has made it very easy to create your own page if you know some basic rules. With surprisingly little investment you can achieve a really nice looking result. This paper is a sort of road-map in Web Publishing on CompuServe; I do not intend to cover every aspect of Web publishing but to get you started with the Our World service. This document is free but if you find it helpful, please pay me a link, i.e. include a link to my Web site from your pages. Thank you. Shameless plug: I am a software developper/consultant in Belgium that specializes in distributed applications. My company, Pineapplesoft, excels at remote development. You can find more information on the Pineapplesoft web site. I believe there are four steps to successfully set-up a page: In the next sections I will review each of these steps. If you are familiar with the Internet, you can start writing your page immediately. I suppose it is possible to write a Web page without knowing anything about the Internet, but I doubt it is the easiest, funniest and most effective way. If you have never surfed the Web so far, you won't find a better time to get started: all you need is the latest version CompuServe software. CompuServe offers two forms of access to the Internet:
Except for e-mail, all the services available under the CIM interface are also available through the PPP connection with appropriate software. Web browsing is available through the PPP connection only. All Internet services, including dedicated forums, are available by GOing INTERNET. To set-up and maintain your home page you are likely to use at least a Web browser, e-mail and the Home Page Wizard. I suggest you become familiar with these services before going any further. It won't hurt if you try other Internet applications (FTP, telnet, usenet, gopher, IRC, etc.). To access the World Wide Web from CompuServe, you need a TCP/IP stack (the infamous winsock) and a Web browser (like CompuServe Mosaic, Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer). The latest version of CompuServe software, available free of charge from the WinCIM area (GO WINCIM) comes with Internet software. It comes in two flavours:
The CompuServe Dialer that comes with CompuServe 2.5 manages communication for Internet applications like Internet Explorer. Please note that you can use almost any Internet application for Windows 3.1 with the CompuServe Dialer. The dialer is a Windows 3.1 application and, although it runs smoothly on Windows 95, it does not support Windows 95-specific applications. If you use Windows 95, you should install CompuServe 3.0 that comes with Windows 95-specific software. Again this software is generic and allows you to run any Internet application. Unlike the CompuServe 2.5, CompuServe 3.0 supports both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95-specific Internet software. Although Internet Explorer is the default browser, you can install Netscape Navigator on both version of CompuServe software. A Web browser is very easy to use. It is similar to Windows help: some words or sentences are underlined and if you click them, the browser displays a new page with more information on that topic. The only notable difference is that the pages are fed from the Internet instead of your hard disk. In Internet lingo, underlined words are known as links. When you click on a link, you follow it. I'm sure you have seen those http://something on various ads, on TV, etc. That's an URL or the equivalent of a GO WORD on the Internet. Because the Internet is a global system, URLs are longer and less friendly than CompuServe GO WORDs but that's the only difference. With the latest CompuServe softwares, you can type an URL wherever a GO WORD is required. If you know the URL of a page, use the File|Open... dialog to jump directly to that page (OK, given the speed on the Internet, to jump may not be the most appropriate word). File|Open Local File... opens a file from your hard disk which is faster (and cheaper too). To save a page in a file, view the page source with File|Web Page Source... Next use the File|Save As option in the source code window. You must save images separately. Right-click an image to open a menu with a Save To Disk item. You can receive guidance on all aspects of Internet in the Internet New Users Forum (GO INETFORUM) or, if you speak French, in the Internet France Forum (GO INETFR). Many forums, including the Win Benelux forum (GO WINBEN) have an Internet section. The Windows Benelux forum is the place to discuss this paper. For assistance with the PPP connection, visit the NetLauncher Support Forum (GO NLSUPPORT). CompuServe Mail has a gateway to the Internet. Use this format to send mail to the Internet: internet:user@domain where user@domain is the address you obtained from your correspondent. For example, my address on another system is ben@brainlink.com, from CompuServe it translates into: internet:ben@brainlink.com. Tip! WinCIM 2.0.1 automatically inserts the internet: prefix when it recognises an Internet address. Your CompuServe address for Internet users is: userid@compuserve.com where you replace the coma with a dot. E.g. my CompuServe address 100345,354 becomes bmarchal@compuserve.com on the Internet. Mind the dot! If you have registered a personal address (GO REGISTER), your Internet address becomes pa@compuserve.com. I.e. my personnal address is bmarchal and my Internet address is therefore bmarchal@compuserve.com. The Home Page Wizard is CompuServe graphical environment to create and publish Web pages. You can download the Home Page Wizard by GOing HPWIZ. The wizard is your primary tool to write and publish Web pages. The Wizard is supported in the NetLauncher Support Forum (GO NLSUPPORT). Note for Macintosh users The Macintosh version is available from GO MACPUBWIZ. Unlike the Windows version, it does not include an HTML editor. You must provide your own editor. Check the Better Editor section for more information. The best place to learn about the Web is the Web itself. Therefore, I encourage you to surf as often as possible. Don't forget that you now wear a Web author cap and look for:
How do you find pages of interest to you? There are a variety of search engines that work like the FIND command of CompuServe. To get started, give the following sites a try:
It is best to record interesting URLs in a notebook or add them to the browser hotlist (Favorites|Add to Favorites...). Record as much information as possible, you will use these notes when you write your page. Tip! If you use CompuServe more than 10 hours per month, you should join the Super Value Plan (GO CHOICES). Remember that practice makes proficient. Now it is time to write your own page! Web pages are written in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) which is an application of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language). Thanks to CompuServe Home Page Wizard, you don't have to study HTML to create dazzling pages. The Wizard takes care of all the technical aspects. Your free page can be up to 5 megabytes, believe me that's pretty large even if you include pictures, sounds and applets. This section introduces the Home Page Wizard, gives practical advice and discuss the Publishing Wizard. In the rest of this section, I assume you have downloaded and installed the Home Page Wizard. If this is not the case, please return to the Practice Internet Access section. The first time you run the wizard, it asks a few simple questions and creates a default page. You are more than welcome to modify the default page. You edit elements by double-clicking them. Most elements have both a Text and a Style tab. The Text tab edits the content of the element while the Style tab controls how its look and feel. To add new elements to your pages, you click the large buttons on the toolbar:
The test button fires your favorite Web browser. It is
a good idea to carefully test your page before you upload it to
CompuServe. Amongst other things test all the external links. The publish button fires the Publishing Wizard which I will introduce shortly. The help button is self-explanatory. This is a perfect time to practice with the Home Page Wizard. You can upload your first page as is and point your friends to it. It's always fun to read early visitors comments. At this time your site is limited but it's a very good basis. To further expand it, take a piece of paper and think how you will organize your site. For example decide which information goes on which page, etc. Try to organize your pages for easy and convenient access to information. A typical site (non-business) may contain:
This is just one possible organization, don't hesitate to experiment. When you plan your site, remember that long pages or large graphics are slow to download and boring for Web surfers. If you have one large page, you may want to split it in two or more smaller pages. Don't forget to add numerous links between those pages. Tip! Use internal links to link the various pages and try to reuse graphics, e.g. use the same background image on every page. Do not wait until your site is perfect to upload it! You will gain valuable experience through the feedback of early visitors. Remember that, unlike traditional publishing, it is very easy to modify and upload a new page. So feel free to make plenty of mistakes. After your first site is ready and running take the time to re-read this section and see how you can improve your existing site. You may want to review the «HTML versus Word Processor» and «Don't forget» topics too. The publish button fires the Publishing Wizard that will send your page to the Our World server. The Publishing Wizard asks a few easy questions, then it logs to the CompuServe Web server and uploads your page. Tip! If you run Windows 95, copy the winsock.dll file from the cserve\cid\ directory to the cserve\hpwiz\ directory. To view the winsock.dll file, you may have to change the View|Options...|View|Hidden Files to Show all files. If you have not yet registered an alphanumeric address, the Publishing Wizard will prompt you. Think twice because you cannot change that address afterward! The initial of your first name followed by your last name
(bmarchal) or your first name followed by the initial of your last
name (benoitm) are typical choices, but you can use whatever you
like. After the Wizard has uploaded your page, it gives you the URL of your new page. Write it down carefully. Tip! If you forget your URL, simply uploads your page again! Your page is immediately available for you and the rest of the Internet but it usually takes a few days before it appears in the index of Our World. You can use the HTML editor of your choice with the Publishing Wizard, it has an icon in the CompuServe group (or menu in Windows 95). If you launch it through its icon, it will prompt for a list of file to uploads. This is covered in the Life Beyond Wizard section. Once your page is ready and running, advertise it. A page nobody visits is useless. Here are some techniques:
Don't be shy and let the world knows you have a home page! The CompuServe Home Page Wizard is very easy to use and it helps create your first pages. Yet it supports a limited subset of HTML. Also the Publishing Wizard is limited to DOS filenames which prohibits Java™. As you gain experience with home page publishing, you will want to use the more powerful features of HTML and the Web. Most of the things you learned in the traditional publishing arena (writing reports, memos, newsletters, etc.) are still valid in the context of Web pages but there are a few fundamental differences below the surface. For one thing, Web pages are much more dynamic. On paper, text flows. The author guides the reader from one idea to the next. On a Web page, the reader jumps from one idea to the next. It's almost impossible, and in most cases uninteresting, to coerce it to follow one particular order. The secret is to organize your text in small to medium units and heavily link those units with each other. It's challenging to find innovative ways to use links. Just remember that the visitor may lose himself after too many links. It's a good practice to link every page to your starting page. Also you can include animated pictures, sounds, videos, 3D worlds and even software on a Web page! Obviously these techniques are outside the scope of this document. Another major difference is that HTML gives you limited control over the layout of your document. You can think of HTML as hints for the browser that can follow or ignore your hints. This is something you must remember when you write Web pages. Unfortunately, it is also one of the least understood feature of HTML. By the way, there is no reason to limit yourself to basic formatting just keep in mind that whatever you do, your page will be different for many visitors. Here is some advise to avoid nasty problems:
So you want to tell the world about your favorite forum? You can link to the CompuServe Information Service GO WORDs from your page. Create an external link in the Home Page Wizard. The URL is http://www.compuserve.com/cgi-bin/exp?CIS:GOWORD where you replace GOWORD with the actual GO WORD for the area. For example the URL for the ActiveX/OLE forum (GO OLESOLNS) is http://www.compuserve.com/cgi-bin/exp?CIS:OLESOLNS. Please note that most forums have a Web page at http://directory.compuserve.com/forums/GOWORD/Abstract.htm where you replace GOWORD with the actual GO WORD for the forum. You are not limited to HTML documents and images. It is possible to publish any file (including ZIP, word processor or Acrobat documents, sound, etc.) on your Web site. This is helpful to distribute software or legacy documents. I will refer to these as binary files. You should compress binary files with WinZIP (GO WINZIP) or compatible software to speed up downloads. Say you want to distribute a file named c:\data\miscellaneous\foo.zip through your Web site.
If you use the Home Page Wizard you will have to go through this tedious process (hit Publish, cancel the Publishing Wizard and start it separately) each time you modify your pages. If you prefer another editor, you will prepare your site with links (using only the filename, do not include a path) to your files. Next you will upload your site (including the binary files) with the publishing wizard. When a visitor follows the file link, he has the option to cancel the download or save it to a file. There are many alternatives to the Home Page Wizard. You can use the editor of your choice to create your Web pages. Once your site it ready, fire the Publishing Wizard, not the Homepage Wizard. Its icon is next to the Homepage Wizard in the CompuServe group/menu. After the usual questions, the wizard gives you a chance to modify the list of files it will upload. Make sure all of your HTML files and images are in the list. My favorite HTML editor is HoTMetaL 3.0 from SoftQuad. A free version of HoTMetaL is available to download from the SoftQuad site (http://www.sq.com/) or from the France Forum (GO FRFORUM). HoTMetaL 3.0 is very easy to use because it works almost like a word processor. Its main advantage is that it is a validating editor. HTML files written with HoTMetaL are guaranteed to conform with the HTML standard. I have no links with SoftQuad other than being an happy customer. Another option is to use the HTML add-ons that comes with popular software suites. It is probably one of the most convenient solution to quickly convert existing documents to HTML. CompuServe Publishing Wizard is a 16 bits application which means it runs on Windows 3.1 but is limited to DOS filenames. Also uploads are painfully slow. Long filenames support is a pre-requesite for Java applets. If you run Windows 95 or Windows NT 4, I suggest you check Microsoft Web Publishing Wizard, a 32 bits application that supports long filenames. Yes it is compatible with Ourworld. Best of all, it is much faster to upload. You can download the Web Publishing Wizard from the Internet library of the Win Benelux forum (GO WINBEN). No paper on the Internet is complete without a section on Java and ActiveX. These are advanced topics, you do not have to read or understand this section to be successful on the Web. Indeed most great sites were built well before Java™. In a nutshell the idea is to include programs in your pages. What for? With Java™ or ActiveX, your Web page can react to input from the user. For example, you can include a computer game in your page. Yes, the game will execute on your page alongside with graphics and text! Of course there are more serious applications like advanced forms, data visualization (e.g. a 3D view of a molecule that change with mouse moves), or even a spreadsheet and a word processor. The only limit is your programming skills! Of course I can't include a crash course to Java™ or ActiveX in this paper. Join the ActiveX/OLE forum (GO OLESOLNS) or visit JavaSoft Web site (http://java.sun.com/) for more information. Please note that you don't need Java™ or ActiveX to create multimedia pages.
Most animations are in fact animated GIFs that require no
programming. Also you can include MIDI and other sound files to
include music on a page. By the way if you want Java™ with no programming, have a look at my Java™ is Cool page (http://www.psol.com/old/1/buttons/) . There are free applets for you. HTML is not that difficult and, if you are serious about Web publishing, you will spend some time studying it. You can write HTML files with any word processor that saves as ASCII or you can use special editors, like the Home Page Wizard, but more powerful. For a comprehensive introduction to HTML refer to A Beginner's Guide to HTML (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html). A guide of good practice is also available as Composing Good HTML (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tilt/cgh/). You should have a good understanding of graphics file formats like GIF and JPEG. You will find more information in the Graphics area on CompuServe (GO GRAPHICS). You should also become familiar with URLs. You can check A Beginner's Guide to URLs (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demoweb/url-primer.html) for more information on URLs. Also check How to put information on the Web (http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Provider/Overview.html) for general information on Web documents. Experiment and have fun! This document is officially archived on the World Wide Web at http://www.psol.be/old/1/hp4cs/. This document is copyright © 1995-1996, Benoît Marchal. All Rights Reserved. You may freely redistribute this document anywhere on CompuServe and ZDNet for educational and non-profit purposes provided it is left unchanged and this copyright remains. If you have any questions about these terms, please contact me by e-mail. As usual I welcome comments and suggestions on this paper. Acknowledgments Many have contributed to this site and I would like to thank them all for their support. Special thanks to Vincent D'Haeyere who taught me the basics of the Internet. Last update: December 1996. |