Morning Thoughts

I seem to have had little problems creating my portfolio site.  It's the final step that has caused difficulty.  I'm not sure how to connect my xhtml and css to a FTP server.  I don't know too much about how the system works since I haven't had to study beyond the basic web browsing.  This has been an entertaining learning process.  Web design seems to be both more complex and simple than I originally thought.  The codings and setting everything up so that the website looks good from a variety of computers and web browsers.  On the other hand, I've seen some pretty elaborate websites, and to think that it's made from a set of common codings that we're learning right now is astonishing.

Comments

[Becky Erbelding]

Okay, if you have Dreamweaver and are planning to upload your site onto the Mason server space, it's actually crazy easy to do. Don't bother trying to follow the directions on the IT website, they're impossible. Instead, do this:

1. Go to the Mason IT site and follow the SSH link to download the SSH software. http://itusupport.gmu.edu/STG/webpage.asp

2. Follow all those steps until the software is downloaded.

3. Click on the SSH Client icon. It will open an archaic looking window. Press "enter" or "space" to connect. The host is mason.gmu.edu and then you need to give your GMU name (mine is rerbeldi, for instance, so yours should be like serickso or something). After that has gone through, it will ask for the password. This is your email password (the numeric series). That should log you in.

4. At the top of the window you will see a file folder with little blue bubbles coming out of it. Click that. It will open a new window with a menu on one side and a folder called "index" on the other side. Open the "index folder" and drop in your index.html, your index.css, and any of your images into this folder. "Select" all of the folders you just put in there and right-click. Hit properties, and at the bottom of that there is a small text window. Put in "755" into that window and hit return. This should upload all of your files onto the internet, and your website would then be http://mason.gmu.edu/~serickso (or whatever your GMU name is.

I hope that's helpful for someone. If it doesn't work, just call the GMU IT help desk. They are actually quite helpful for a help desk.