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A special gateway machine -- vole.cs -- provides
write access to the education course web area for undergraduate
and non-major TAs.
You should edit course webs in one of three ways:
- "directly," using a text editor,
- using a WYSIWYG page editor such as FrontPage 2000 (but please
do not use any earlier version of FP; they cause problems)
or Netscape Composer,
or
- using the "CSE Content Tool"
There is one way in which you should never edit the course webs:
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Using any method that involves FTP, either directly or
indirectly (using Netscape Composer's "Publish" button, for
example). FTP causes your password to be transmitted in clear
text, which is a security hazard. (An exception is "kerberized
FTP," but Netscape Composer doesn't support it.) |
Course webs can be found in the /cse/www/education/courses/
tree. Find out more about course
webs.
To edit web files "directly:"
- From Unix:
- Log into vole (using telnet or rlogin or
xrsh), then connect to the course directory in the
course web tree.
E.g., /cse/www/education/courses/cse142/CurrentQtr/.
- Navigate to the appropriate subdirectory, and edit the
html file using your favorite text editor.
- Be sure to read about course
webs to be sure file permissions are correct.
- From NT:
-
Map a network drive to the web directory (which is actually
on the Unix filesystem).
It is convenient to begin by adding a soft link your home
directory that will point to the part of the web directory
that you are interested in. A CSE142 TA, for example, might
do this from the Unix prompt on vole:
%ln -s /cse/www/education/courses/cse142/CurrentQtr 142web
Now, map a drive letter (pick any unused one-- let's say
J:):
- Right-click My Computer.
- Select Map Network Drive...
- Choose your drive letter (J: or whatever)
- For the path, fill in \\vole\<your login name>
- Enter your CSE login name in Connect As
- Check the Reconnect at Logon box
- Click OK
- Enter your regular password, if asked
- Navigate to the appropriate folder of your course directory,
then edit the xxx.html file using your favorite text
editor.
- Be sure to read about course webs,
to make sure the file permissions are correct, and to find
out about the structure of course webs, and more..
To use FrontPage 2000 or Netscape Composer...
- If using an NT WYSIWYG editor, be sure you have
mapped a drive letter as explained
above. If you are using a Unix WYSIWYG editor (such as
Netscape Composer), the course web area is automounted, so no
special action is necessary at this point.
- Be sure to read about course webs
to make sure the file permissions are correct, and to find
out about the structure of course webs, and more..
- Navigate to the appropriate folder of your course directory,
which for NT will be something like
J:\142web\xxx.html, and for Unix is
/cse/www/education/courses/142/xxx.html. Then edit
the xxx.html file using your favorite WYSIWYG editor.
- Start your WYSIWYG editor and open your file by navigating to
the appropriate folder of your course directory
(J:\142web\xxx.html or whatever).
- Be sure that you save your file using the ordinary File ->:
Save commands, and not using any sort of publish or FTP
methods.
- Go back to your regular browser window and RELOAD the
page, to make sure your revisions have been correctly published.
To use the CSE Content Tool
Many pages--including this one--have an "orthodox" CSE design that
is hard to replicate using either a text editor or a WYSIWYG
editor. Almost all of orthodox pages were created using a CGI script
that we refer to as the
CSE Content Tool.
Those that weren't created with The Tool were almost certainly
created by copying a page what was created that way.
You can use the Content Tool to both create and maintain web pages,
or you can use it to create a page and then maintain it with one of
the other techniques. Once a page is created, the tool is mostly
useful for adding what we call "lefthand navigation"- the links to the
left of the vertical orange line. Those are hard to do with other
methods because they use "image rollovers" to manage the little green
arrows that follow your mouse around. Not all pages have any lefthand
navigation at all, while others consist of nothing but.
If you use another technique to maintain a page that was created
with the Content Tool, avoid any changes to the content that is outside
the "content pane"- that's the area of the page that falls under the
horizontal green navigation bar and above the horizontal rule that sits
over the standard "footer" section. It may be prudent to make a backup
copy of your file first, particularly until you find out what works and
what doesn't. The fear is that changes to other areas of the page
will render the Content Tool unable to successfully edit the page in
future, requiring repairs by hand.
The tool provides instructions when you run it. It doesn't write
directly to the course web tree- instead, it creates a file with a name
that you specify in /cse/www/tmp/. You must copy that file
to the course web after your session is complete.
Run the tool by clicking here
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