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Select a question or scroll down to learn more about
website management and how to get started with your
new website:
The Files In Your Account:
When you initially log into your account
you will see a directory listing similar
to the following:
yourdomain-logs
yourdomain-mail
yourdomain-secure
yourdomain-www
www
Do not delete or rename any of these
directories. These directories are
automatically setup by the system and
required in order for your account to
function. Deleting or renaming any of them
may cause fatal errors that can only be
repaired by deleting and resetting your
account. Deleting and resetting your
account will inadvertently cause you to
experience DNS problems. DNS problems are
not something that can be manually fixed,
as they can only work themselves out in an
unpredictable amount of time.
Of these directories, the only one that is
important to you is the www directory.
This is the directory where you will
upload your web pages and create other
subdirectories that will pertain to your
web site. Your pages will not be viewable
on a web browser unless they are uploaded
to this directory.
When you initially enter your www
directory, you will see a directory/file
listing similar to the following:
cgi-bin
stats
uploads
index.html
Again, do not delete or rename any of the
directories within this folder. These are
directories created by the system and are
required in order for your account to
function.
Of these directories, the only ones that
are important to you is the cgi-bin (this
is where you will upload your cgi scripts)
and any directories that you may create
for your web pages.
As you add options from your Control
Panel, such as FrontPage Extensions, Shopping
Cart software, Search
Engine, install the Mail List software, or
any other options you utilize from the
Control Panel, the system will
automatically create other directories
within this area. Any and all sub-directories and/or files created by
the system are required by the system to
make a particular function to operate and
should not be deleted or altered in any way. The
index.html page is the default
entry page for your account and this file should
be replaced by one of your own
design, but it must be named index.html.
This directory (www) is where you upload
your other pages as well as create any
subdirectories that you may need.
Below is a brief description of the
different directories you may or may not
see when you log into your account at any
given time depending on what options you
have utilized from your Control Panel.
These are only descriptions and these
directories should not be altered in any
way unless we have instructed you to
above.
File/Directory Name - Description:
- anonftp - this folder is used for
your anonymous users to download public
files.
- web-logs - this folder contains all
access logs of visitors to your site.
- mail - this folder holds all
mail accounts for your domain.
- www - this folder stores all html
files for your domain.
- secure - this folder stores all
secure html files (same folder as www
folder) this is an
aliases folder that is secure when the
right URL path is called correctly.
Refer to the Control
Panel info pages for
more information regarding the directories
and files in your account.
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Which program should I use to create my
website myself?
One of the easiest ways is to use the Site Creation Tool
located in your Control
Panel.
You can also use any HTML editor that creates standard HTML code, as long as
it does not require server extensions to be installed (with the
exception of Microsoft FrontPage). Keep in mind, with the number of
editor programs that are available to you growing each day, we are
limited in the support that we can provide for applications we are not
familiar with. The best source of support for your editor program is the
manual, the help files, or the technical support provided by the
product's company.
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Where and how to
upload your files.
All files must be uploaded to your
www
directory in your account. Please read
above section.
If you are using scripts, they should
generally be placed in the cgi-bin
directory. However, you can save scripts
with a .cgi extension and they should work
fine outside of the cgi-bin. You can also
use PHP scripts outside of the cgi-bin,
but they should have a .phtml extension on
them.
You can use the File Manager in your Control
Panel to get files to the webserver. You can also use either an FTP program, MS FrontPage, or a
utility built into your HTML editor to upload
content to your website. If you are constructing
your site in an application that we do not support, please refer to its
built in help, online documentation or manual for help in publishing.
If you do not own an FTP program, go to
a site like www.download.com and type in
"FTP" in the search field at the
top of the screen. It will display a list
of FTP programs—many of them
free—which you can use to upload to the
server with.
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What is FTP or File Transfer Protocol and how do I
use it?
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the simplest way to transfer files
between computers on the Internet. Each web hosting account
can be reached via FTP 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
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How to view your
pages on the WWW.
You can view your pages in any web
browser by typing the following in the URL.
- http://www.yourdomain.com
- http://yourdomain.com
- www.yourdomain.com
If you are getting an error when typing
the above, it could be caused by one of a
few things:
1) Your initial page is not named
properly (please see the following section).
2) The code in your initial page is
incorrect
3) Your domain name registration/transfer
has not yet been completed.
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How do I get my home page to load automatically?
You simply need to name
the home page of your site one of the following (in preferred order):
default.htm, default.html, index.html, index.htm, index.shtml, index.cgi,
index.php, home.html, home.htm, home.shtml, home.cgi,
home.php.
Notes:
- Both case and spelling are
important in naming your home page. Name it one of the above names,
exactly as it appears (with upper and/or lowercase intact).
- In order to get a particular page to load for the home page of a
directory on your site, you simply need to follow the same naming
scheme above.
- If you have multiple index or default files in your home
directory (or any other directory for that matter) only one can load
for your home page. The server will serve the page that is listed
first in the list above. (i.e., index.html and index.htm are in the
same directory, but only index.html will load for the home page).
- If the wrong page is loading for the home page on your site, it is
likely due to having multiple home page files. Either rename the one
that you don't want to be the home page or remove the file (your
preference). You may see such a problem occur most often with MS
FrontPage, which likes to add an index or default file into your
home directory, if it doesn't see one already.
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I just made a change on my site, but I do not see the
change in my browser right away. What can I do?
Here are a couple of things to try, preferably in the following
order, until you find a solution:
- While you have the file open in your web browser, click on the
"refresh" or "reload" button on the toolbar in
your web browser.
- While you have the file open in your web browser, click on the
"shift" key on your keyboard, and at the same time click
on the "refresh" or "reload" button on the
toolbar in your web browser.
- Close your web browser and reopen it. You may even want to
go as far as disconnecting from the Internet or restarting your
computer.
- Last but not least, if all of these other attempts fail, contact
your Internet Service Provider to see if they perhaps are using any
type of web caching on their servers (or proxy servers). Some
Internet Service Providers use web caching on the servers you
connect to the Internet through to make your connection to the
Internet appear faster than it really is. These servers cache
frequently accessed documents, so that the next time someone wishes
to view that file, and they are connected to the Internet through
that server, they will load an old cached copy of a file on the
Internet Service Provider's server and not the newer copy on the
hosting company's server. If your Internet Service Provider does use
web caching, ask them how often they clear it
(that will be the
amount of time you will have to wait each time you wish to view a
changed file in your web browser through that Internet Service
Provider). Or, you may want to consider switching to an Internet
Service Provider that does not use web caching.
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I accidentally deleted a file off of my site. What
can I do to restore it?
Never under any circumstance should you not have a local back-up of your
site saved. This means every time you make a change to your website,
you back up your files to your own computer, or you work on the files on your
computer and then publish them to the website (so that you have identical copies in
both locations). The reason we say this is because if you ever
accidentally remove a file off of your site and do not have a back-up on
your computer to upload in its place, you will need to contact us, ask for the file to be restored and pay
a restoration fee (you will be charged for the amount of
time is takes to find the files on the backup system as well as for the
time it takes to restore the files).
We perform regular back-ups of all websites. However, the primary purpose for these
back-ups is in case if there is ever a problem with the server or
something that we have done so that we can restore your site free of
charge (we can tell based on the server's log file who is at
fault).
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How do I create directories within my web site?
You can use the File Manager in your Control Panel.
If you connect to your web site via FTP, use the 'create a directory'
button while in the directory that you want the new directory placed in.
In WS_FTP, this button is known as MkDir. After clicking this button,
you will be prompted for the new directory's name.
If you connect to your web site through a Telnet connection, go into the
directory you want the new directory to be placed in, and type the
command mkdir [new directory name]
If you connect to your web site via MS FrontPage,
right-click with your mouse on the directory you want the new directory
placed in, and choose "New Folder." You will then be prompted
for the new directory's name.
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How do I set permissions on files and directories?
You can use the File Manager in your Control Panel.
You can also change permissions
on a file or directory by using either FTP or Telnet to get
to your account.
If you connect with FTP, upload the files and/or directories that you'll
be changing the permissions on to your account. Click on the file,
files, directory, or directories that you want to change the permissions
on, and once they are highlighted, right-click on any one of them.
You'll be presented with a drop down menu and you want to click the
option to chmod (Unix). You'll then need to check the appropriate boxes
to assign the proper permissions.
If you connect with Telnet, first upload the files and/or directories
with FTP that you'll be changing the permissions on to your account.
Change directory (cd) until you are in the directory that contains the
files or other directories that you wish to change the permissions on.
Then enter:
chmod 755 filename
chmod 755 directoryname
Replace "755" with the appropriate number and filename or
directoryname with the name of
the file.
If you wish to change all the files of a particular directory, you would
change directory (cd) one level above the directory that contains all
the files (so that the directory is in view). Then enter:
chmod 755 -R directoryname
If you wish to change the ownership on a file or directory, do so as
follows:
chown username:username filename
chown username:username
directoryname
Replace username with your actual username and
filename or
directoryname with the name of the directory. Adding the
-R will
change the ownership of all the files contained in the directory also.
chown username:username -R
directoryname
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How do I password protect certain directories?
The easiest way is to use the Password Protect tool
located in the Control
Panel.
If you are building your web through MS FrontPage, you can create a
subweb, and then once that subweb is created, go
to Tools, Permissions to set Unique Permissions on the web for a new
User that you would specify.
Additionally, if you are on a Unix hosting account
and are not using FrontPage, you can Telnet and
either vi or pico to create a .htaccess file within the directory that
you'd like to password protect. You would then run the
.htpasswd command
to set the username and password for the directory. Although
.htaccess
is more secure, you could also resort to a text file that resides on
your site and CGI scripts that would call to it. This is the equivalent
to using a database and ASPs on an NT server.
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How do I install or uninstall FrontPage server
extensions?
Click on the MS FrontPage icon in your Control Panel. It takes
about 10
minutes.
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How do I get started with FrontPage?
We have developed a guide to help you get started with
FrontPage here.
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How can I add a sub web in FrontPage?
- Go to File, New > Web...
- Select Empty Web (or another web according to your preferences).
- Specify the location of the new subweb. (i.e.,
http://www.[insertyourdomain.com]/subweb).
- No need to check any additional boxes.
- Click Ok.
- You will then be put into the subweb.
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Why use FrontPage subwebs?
Subwebs allow you to get all the functionality of a Root Web (the main
web site) but contained to an individual directory on the site. (i.e.,
You can have a new theme applied to a subweb, but it will appear in that
entire subweb). Subwebs are for advanced users of FrontPage and are
usually for those that wish to section off their web site for multiple
people to publish to it, but to their own section of the site. You can
limit one's access to a particular subweb on your web site.
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