lecture 1: URLs

If you are not a Leeds University student this page is not relevant to you: click here to move to the conclusion of this lecture.

If you've followed the instructions so far you should have a copy of the practice web page saved as index.html in your "WWW" folder. If you've saved it somewhere else, you should move it to this folder. If you've used another name, try renaming it. If you are unsure about how to do these things, seek the help of a demonstrator.

I would like you now to go to the browser window in which that sample page is open. The location bar at the top of the screen should have something like this within it:

    M:\WWW\index.html

Click on the location bar and delete what is there. Then type the following, replacing "dep2abc" with your own university username:

    http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~dep2abc

If you've done everything correctly you should still be looking at the same page. However, now you are viewing it remotely - in other words, you are seeing the web page as anyone else on the WWW could see it. Saving the page in your "WWW" folder means it is instantly published on the "real" WWW under the URL as given above. (If you are seeing a "Page Not Found" message, check that the name of your "WWW" folder is in CAPITAL (UPPER CASE) LETTERS and not lower case. If you're still not seeing it, check with a demonstrator.)

When you have completed this lecture it is worth reading the page of teaching materials on URLs as this will give you more information on how these "web addresses" are put together. Usually the act of publishing your page is more involved, but we will come to that when we need to.