Difficulties Seeing Your Files.

Having Problems Seeing Your Files on Your Web Pages?

Try This: Check your public_html Folder

Remember that all files must be inside the public_html folder or Internet Explorer cannot find them. Go back to your ftp connection and make sure that you double-click on the public_html folder before you transfer your files.

Still Not Showing?

Check your file names and file types. e.g. There's a huge difference between: page 1 and page1 because one of the space between the "e" and the "1".

Check for problems like these:

A space appears in a filename, or filetype. - There shouldn't be spaces in either.
Your html file referred to a file called page1.html but you actually called the file Page1.html
It's best to stick to all lower case letters to avoid confusion.
Your html file referred to a file called mypicture.gif but you actually called the file mypicture.jpg

Another Possibility: Check the File Permissions.

File permissions may not be set properly by the FTP program. The reason is that the version of WS_FTP that you used did not set the permissions of your uploaded files to be world readable. In other words, Joe Internetsurfer will not be able to see your web pages when you upload them to Hyperion. FTP in labs other than CL115, and the FTP that comes with the URPP Dial Up service, will not set the permissions as you need them for web display. However, if you use the version of WS_FTP that is available on the CS Dept's FTP Server, your files will automatically be set to "world readable".

The next section of this document explains again how you can obtain WS_FTP from CS Dept's FTP Server.

In the meantime, here is how you can change the permissions on files that you have already placed in your Hyperion public_html folder: The version of the FTP program will determine if your files are placed on Hyerion with the correct permissions. Some FTP programs follow the philosophy that the files should be protected from the world unless you explicitly state otherwise. However this is not good for HTML files - you definitely want the world to have at least read access to these files.

To set the permission properly on a file, first LEFT click on the file to select it.

Next, RIGHT click on that file, and you should see a menu appear. You want to go to the chmod(UNIX) menu choice.

Set the permissions as shown here. You, the owner should have permission to do everything, whereas you only want your group and others (the world) to be able to read your files.

Note that the permissions for directories are slightly different. A directory must be readable AND executable in order for others to use it. This example shows how public_html is given correct permissions. Of course if your home page displays properly, then the permissions have already been set properly.

Set the permissions as shown here. Note that the permissions in this window don't necessarily show you what the actual permisssions are on the file. You simply use this window to make the settings. There is a way in Unix (an operating system that is often running on many servers) to find out what the settings are, but let's not go there just now.

If you ever have trouble getting a page or a picture to display in a browser, go back and check the permissions to make sure they are set as they should be.

Files Still Not Showing?

Sometimes a Browser program holds onto older copies of some of your web files. Try holding the SHIFT key down on your keyboard when you try to Reload your web files. If that doesn't work, shut your Browser down altogether and start again. If that doesn't work, retrace your steps. Maybe you forgot to save your work in Notepad before you transferred the file. There are several steps involved in getting your files to a Server. Sometimes you need to repeat the steps if you can't see where you went wrong.