IU Webmaster FAQ
This list of Frequently Asked Questions reflects the current central web environments
of www.indiana.edu, www.iun.edu,
www.iuk.edu, and www.iupui.edu. It is designed to help you find quick answers to some common questions about
IU web accounts and publishing web pages at IU central web server.
Table of Contents
Account Creation
Return to Top
What's the difference between Veritas/Champion and Steel?
Veritas/Champion (www.indiana.edu/www.iun.edu/www.iuk.edu/www.iupui.edu) are
the official central web servers for Indiana University
and host departmental, faculty, course, and official student organization pages.
Read the General Account Information
to determine whether you are eligible for an account on Veritas/Champion. The
Veritas server hosts accounts in Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana
University Northwest, and Indiana University Kokomo. The Champion server hosts
accounts in Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.
Steel (mypage.iu.edu) is the web server where personal web sites of faculties, staffs,
and students may be published. Some student organizations and faculty members
may also choose to publish their web pages on Steel since it is easy to create
an account using an existing Network ID.
The web pages for Veritas accounts can be viewed at www.indiana.edu/~"account_name",
www.iun.edu/~"account_name", or www.iuk.edu/~"account_name"
(For Champion at www.iupui.edu/~"account_name").
The web pages for Steel accounts can be viewed at mypage.iu.edu/~"account_name".
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Storage and Disk Space
|
|
Accounts on Veritas/Champion are allocated 1 GB of disk
storage space with additional space available for purchase.
For
details see Web
Account Service Charges.
|
Accounts on Steel are allocated 10 MB of space. You cannot
exceed the 10 MB quota, although this
KB document has information on how you can request an increase. |
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Tools and Utilities
|
|
Accounts on Veritas/Champion have access to a number of useful tools
and utilities. A partial list includes
- Transform (a forms-processing utility)
- Page Counters
- Web Bulletin Boards
- Security and .htaccess files (Pre-defined or build-your-own access
controls to determine who can see your Web pages)
- a Secure Server
- Electronic Commerce for IU merchant internet sales
- Website logs and statistics reports
- Virtual Host service
- Digital media streaming capabilities
See the complete list of Tools and Guides
for IU Information Providers on the Webmaster homepage.
|
Accounts on Steel have a more limited number of tools and utilities:
- The spinweb utility helps you to create and maintain personal Web
pages on Steel. It prepares your account to serve Web pages as well
as creates a basic HTML home page.
- You can use CGI scripts on Steel with limited functions; see "Can
I set up CGI programs on a UITS shared system?" for more information.
- Security and .htaccess files (build-your-own access controls to
determine who can see your Web pages)
|
Return to Questions
How do I apply for an account?
On Veritas:
You can apply for a web account on-line.
- You should first read the
documents found on the IUB Accounts
page, which explains who may own an account and restrictions for
central web server accounts.
- After reading those documents, the person
who is to be listed as the owner/sponsor of the account must create the
group username using the Account
Management Service. For information on how to create group username, please see
Applying for a Web Account.
- Once the username has been approved, the owner
must login to the Account Management
Service again and set the Network ID password for the username and
either
create an email account or set mail forwarding preferences for it.
- Once that has been done, you may apply for a Veritas account by filling out Web
account application form
Your account should be created within 2-3 business
days. If you receive e-mail from the Webmaster concerning your application,
please respond promptly to facilitate processing of your application.
On Champion:
- You should first read the
documents found on the Web Accounts on Champion - www.iupui.edu,
which explains who may own an account and restrictions for central web server accounts.
- After reading this document, the person
who is to be listed as the owner/sponsor of the account must create the
group username using the Account
Management Service. For information on how to create group username, please see
Applying for a Web Account.
- Once the username has been approved, the owner
must login to the Account Management
Service again and set the Network ID password for the username and
either create an email account or set mail forwarding preferences for it.
- Once that has been done, send an email to actadmin@iupui.edu to request
a Champion account.
On mypage.iu.edu:
See the KB article, "At
IUB or IUPUI, how can I put personal pages on the World Wide Web?
Return to Questions
How much does a Web site on Veritas/Champion
cost?
Academic departments, faculty, approved professional organizations, and
active student groups who are registered with the Student Activities
Office or the Student Life and Diversity Programs may
have accounts on Webserve with no charge for the first gigabyte (1
GB) of use. Additional 1 GB blocks are available
for $4.00 per year, per extra block.
Auxiliary Services are charged $250.00 for a 1 GB account each
year.
Additional 1 GB blocks are available at the $4.00 yearly rate.
Disk usage is based upon a rolling average. For more
information, see:
Web
Account
Service Charges.
Return to Questions
I'm a graduate student or associate instructor. How do
I get an account on the central servers for an instructional website?
If you are an associate instructor or a graduate student with teaching responsibilities,
you can have a web site on the university's central web servers if you find
a full-time faculty or staff member to act as the sponsor.
Graduate students usually ask their advisor or the faculty member who is in
charge of Associate Instructors to act as the web account sponsor. Keep in mind
that the sponsor's professional responsibilities must be related to the purpose
of the web account.
The faculty member or staff member will act as account owner/sponsor, and the
graduate student will be an authorized contact for the account. Contacts can
request password resets and the unlocking of accounts and will have full access
to the web account in order to publish files.
See the related entry on applying for accounts on the
central web servers for more information on getting an account.
Return to Questions
What are the requirements for an account username?
Account names must be 3-8 characters in length, only lowercase,
and may only contain the characters a-z and 0-9. The first character cannot
be a number. The account name should reflect the purpose of the account.
For security reasons, we cannot create web account names
on the central servers that are the same as your personal Network ID (or
your last name), so please come up with a different suggestion for your
web account name. We have also found that in most cases that it is better
not to create year-specific account names (i.e., fall2000) since you may
wish to use the account in the future.
Return to Questions
What is a Network ID and what can I do with it? What do I
need it for?
An entry in the
IU Knowledge Base about the Network ID defines it as "your electronic identity
at Indiana University." A Network ID consists of two things: a username and a password
(often referred to as your network password or network ID password).
Most people at IU have a personal Network ID that
is some combination of their first initial(s) and part or all of their last name. Your personal Network ID and network ID password
is probably what you use
to login to your e-mail account.
It can get confusing when you start acquiring additional network IDs and network
passwords. When you apply for a group username using the Account
Management Service, you are in effect creating a new "electronic identity" for your organization,
class, or professional presence. A new network ID (username and
password) is created for this purpose.
When your request for a group username is approved, you must set the
Network ID password by using the Account Management
Service.
The Network ID password is used to create additional accounts, or to check email for the account.
Return to Questions
How do I retrieve my new Veritas account password?
Once the account setup process is complete, the owner/sponsor will
receive an e-mail message which contains a web page address. By visiting this page, they can obtain
the password information. The page may only be accessed once, after which the information
is deleted from the system. Users retrieving password information
must be prepared to record the information. If you need assistance, please contact IU Webmaster.
Return to Questions
What files and subdirectories are automatically generated
with a new account?
Each new account automatically comes with the files and subdirectories listed
below. To view a listing of these files, while in the root directory of your
account, type the following at the Unix prompt:
ls -a
Note: File permissions are preset and should remain as is. Altering
or deleting these files may cause some programs not to work properly. Clicking
on the file names below will bring up a copy of the file in its original state.
If you ever need to restore these, just copy and paste them back into the root
directory of your account, giving the files the same names as listed here (including
the preceding ".").
| Files |
Purpose |
| .cshrc |
Initialization for csh and tcsh shell |
| .jedrc |
Settings for the jed editor |
| .login |
Start-up commands for login shell |
| .profile |
Initialization file for ksh, bash, and sh shells |
For more information about the above files, see "In Unix, what are some common "dot" files?"
| Subdirectories |
Contents |
| bin |
Storage of binary files |
| www |
Place to store your web pages |
| wwws |
Place to store secure web pages (see: Secure WWW Server
for more info) |
If you ever need to recreate any of the above directories, see "In Unix, how do I create a new directory?"
Return to Questions
Connecting to server/Login
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How do I connect to Veritas or Champion?
You can use an SSH Secure Shell Client or an SSH Secure File Transfer Client
to open a connection to Veritas or Champion. To make a connection, provide the
following information:
Host Name: veritas.ucs.indiana.edu or champion.iupui.edu
User Name: {Your account name}
Password: {Your veritas/champion account password}
If you are not on campus or using the IU modem pool, you will need to make
a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection. For more information, see the
related item on this page.
Return to Questions
Why does my account say that it is "disabled" when I try
to login?
Your web account has been "locked", probably due to too many failed
login attempts.
After this, even attempts to login with the correct password will be refused.
Please contact the IU Webmaster by calling 855-8050,
or sending an e-mail to IU Webmaster to have the account
unlocked. If you do not know the correct password, you can also request that
the password be changed. Please note that password reset and account unlock
requests must come from one of the account's authorized contacts or sponsor.
Return to Questions
Why can't I login to my web account from
outside IU?
The security features in place on the central web servers (Veritas
and Champion) are designed to keep unauthorized individuals from logging into
the server. This is done by granting access only to computers with specific
IP numbers (an IP number is your computer's specific numeric internet address).
Therefore, if you attempt to login (via ssh/scp/sftp/ftp) from a non-IU Internet
service provider (ISP), such as AOL, Kiva, or Blue Marble, you will be denied
access. To connect to Veritas/Champion using a non-IU Internet Service Provider,
you will need to make a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection.
More information is available at Accessing
Veritas/Champion from Outside the Indiana University Network.
Return to Questions
Account Maintenance/Management/Password
Return to Top
I've forgotten my password. What do I do?
If you don't know your Veritas web account password, you must
fill out the
Web Account Password Reset Request Form. We cannot look up your old password,
but we can reset your web account password and unlock your
account if necessary. Please note that we cannot send passwords via e-mail. This is due
to the fact that e-mail is not a very secure method to distribute password
information. Webmaster will only reset web account passwords for
individuals who are listed in our account records as the account owner or
authorized contacts.
Please remember that webmaster can help with web account passwords
only. If you've forgotten your e-mail or network ID password, the owner/sponsor of the account should go
to the support center in the Union (IMU 084). Or you can print out and mail
in the Password Change
Form.
For Champion account passwords or the networkID passwords at
IUPUI, contact or visit the
IUPUI Support Center.
Return to Questions
How do I change my password?
Log in to Veritas or Champion using your web account username
and password. At the Unix prompt type:
passwd
You'll be prompted to enter your old password, then the new password, and
then the new password again for verification.
Please note that the Passphrase Maintenance utility at
https://passphrase.iu.edu/
cannot change your Veritas account password, although it can change
the password on Champion. You can use this Password Maintenance utility to
change the password for e-mail and any other accounts associated with your
web account's Network ID.
Return to Questions
How can I change my web account name?
Beginning July 1, 2004 there will be a $100 fee for web account
renames. Please take special care in selecting an account name if you
wish to avoid the cost associated with a rename.
If you wish to rename your web account, the sponsor of the
account should send e-mail messages to both
IU Webmaster and valid@indiana.edu
requesting that the name be changed (please provide the existing account name
as well as the suggested new name). Your account can be renamed if the new
name is available and meets the usual account username requirements.
If you rename your account the contents of the account (files)
will remain the same. You may need to edit your web document URLs if you have
used complete URLs in links; relative URLs should still work correctly.
No redirect is provided. You should inform anyone who may want
to use your site of its new address and ask them to replace their bookmarks
with the new URL.
Return to Questions
How do I update my account information?
Please visit our Account Maintenance page or send an e-mail to IU Webmaster (be sure to include the account name and details
of the change that you want to make.)
To access the Account Maintenance page, account sponsors may
enter either their personal username and network ID password or the web account name
and its network ID password when prompted. Contact persons will only be able
to access the Account Maintenance page by entering the web account username
and its network ID password. Please note that the network password may
be different
from the password used to login to the web account. Contacts should
see the sponsor of the account for the Network ID password.
Return to Questions
How do I get lost or damaged files restored?
Veritas
file restores are done by UITS operations. There is
a $20.00 charge for the service. Account holders needing files restored should
contact the Support Center at 855-6789 with the last known correct date
for the files or disk and the name of the Veritas account. There are
daily
incremental backups of the web servers and full backups are done once a week.
Please be aware that the backups are only stored for four weeks.
If your account is on Champion at IUPUI, contact the Support
Center (ithelp@iu.edu or 274-HELP) to request that files be restored from
backup. Please include the file name(s) and the date of the last known correct
version (see the KB entry At
IUPUI, can I get backups of files I accidentally deleted from my Unix account?
for more information.)
Return to Questions
How can I tell the amount of disk space my account
is currently using?
You can tell how much space the files on your Veritas/Champion
account are occupying by using the disk usage command. From the login
directory of your account on Veritas/Champion, enter the following at the
command prompt:
du -sk
to get a Disk Usage Summary in Kilobytes
for all files in the account. Please note that there are 1000 kilobytes in a megabyte.
If you are the owner/sponsor of your account, you can use
Self-Service Storage Usage Report Tool.
Please authenticate yourself using your personal IU network ID and its password.
Return to Questions
Can I have an access to web server logs?
On recommendation of the ITSO/ITPO, we do not grant access
to the raw www server logs on Veritas or Champion to any account holder. The
raw log data contains the originating IP address and/or number, which is subject
to IU's personal data privacy policy.
Return to Questions
Publishing Web Pages
Return to Top
How do I put my files on the Web?
You must first have an account on one of the IU web servers
(Veritas or Champion).
When your webpage is ready to be published on the
Web, it's time to use your FTP software to upload (copy) your files to your
account on the Web server.
First, make sure your computer is connected to the network via
an Ethernet or a PPP modem connection. Then, within the FTP software open
a connection to your web account.
When you connect to the Web server, you'll see all of the files and directories
in your account. Open the www directory (click on the folder icon) and place
your webpage files there.
When you have a file named first.html in the www
directory, you can view the file at
Veritas: http://www.indiana.edu/~account_name/first.html
http://www.iun.edu/~account_name/first.html
http://www.iuk.edu/~account_name/first.html
Champion: http://www.iupui.edu/~account_name/first.html
For details on using FTP software to connect to a remote host
(like the Web server), see the UITS Knowledge Base's "File
Transfer" document.
Return to Questions
What should I call my opening Web page, index.html
or home.html?
Either is fine. Browsers look for a file named
index.html or home.html located within
the www subdirectory. So, when only your account name is
entered at the end of the URL, the browser will show your homepage if it
is named index.html or home.html. For the order of the default files on
Veritas and Champion, please see the related entry
on this FAQ.
Return to Questions
What is the order of the default
files on Veritas and Champion?
On Veritas, the order of the default files is:
index.html home.html index.htm home.htm index.shtml index.cgi index.php3 index.php4 index.phtml index.php
On Champion, the order of the default files is:
home.html home.htm index.html index.htm index.shtml index.cgi index.php3 index.php4 index.phtml index.php
Return to Questions
Is it possible to control which file is
the default for a site?
Yes. In the .htaccess file, just add a line like the following below the <Limit> tag.
DirectoryIndex index.shtml index.html
This will ensure index.shtml to be the default page. So, for example,
if this was in the .htaccess file of my_account, with the url
http://www.indiana.edu/~my_account/, the index.shtml would
be displayed.
Return to Questions
Why do I get "403 - Forbidden" errors when I try to view my Web page?
If you receive "403 - Forbidden" errors when you try to view
your Veritas or Champion web page after uploading files to your web account,
check (A) whether the url is correct, and (B) whether the permissions of
the directories and files are correct.
A. Since the directory indexing is turned off on Veritas, if you do not have
a default file in the directory and if you
provide only the directory name without specifying the file name,
you will get 403 error. For more information, please see our document on
Direcoty Indexing.
B. If you provide the correct url and get 403 - Forbidden error,
then check the permission of directories and files. The permission of the
directories (folders) should be 755 or 711. The permission of the files
should be 644. For instructions on how to change the permission, please
see How do I change file permissions?
Return to Questions
Why do I get "404 - Not Found" errors when I try to view my Web page?
If you receive "404 - Not Found" errors when you try to view
your Veritas or Champion web page after uploading files to your web account,
make sure your pages are in your www directory or a subdirectory of www.
Then, check whether the url is correct.
- URLs are case sensitive: index.html is different from index.HTML or
INDEX.HTML.
- Names of files must match exactly: index.html is not the same as index.htm.
One way to assist visitors to your site is to provide customized
error messages for your pages, giving contact information and possibly even
redirecting the user to another location within your site in the event of
such errors. Check the online document "Customizing Error Messages on Your Web
Site" at the Webmaster website for instructions.
Return to Questions
Why do I get "500 - Internal Server" errors when I try to view my Web page?
In most cases, this error is a result of a problem with the
code or program you are calling rather than with the web server itself.
Please see http://webmaster.indiana.edu/PHPlanguage/index.shtml
for troubleshooting tips.
Return to Questions
How do I change file permissions?
1. Use the Unix chmod command to set file or directory
permissions.
For web files, login to your web account and change into the
directory where your files reside. For example, to make a web page file
called "filename.html" viewable on the web, type chmod 755 filename.html
to set the file permissions so that you can read, write, and execute the
file, and everyone else can read and execute it.
For full details on file
permissions and using the chmod command, read the Knowledge Base entry about file protection.
2. You can also change file permissions using File Transfer programs.
Step-by-step instructions are available:
SSH Secure File Transfer Client instructions for PC,
MacSFTP instructions for Mac
Return to Questions
Should I change the file permissions
whenever I move files to the Web server?
If you are using the SSH Secure File Transfer Program,
you can change the default file permission
settings. This way, you don't need to change the permissions after each
upload (Other software you may use also has a setting to correct the default
file permissions). The step-by-step instructions are given
below:
- Open a connection to Veritas/Champion.
- Pull down the Edit menu and select Settings. Settings
window will pop up.
- From the menu on the left, select Advanced under File Transfer.
The screen on the right will change to the Advanced screen.
- In the section Upload in the Advanced screen, unclick the
checked box Preserve Original Destination Permissions. Then change
the number in the Default File Permission Mask to 644
and click OK. Settings window will be closed.
- When you close the SSH session, you will be notified that Current
settings have been modified and asked Do you want to save them?
Select Yes and your session will close.
- Now when you can transfer files, they will be world-readable.
Return to Questions
Should I run spinweb on my Veritas or Champion
account?
Spinweb is not available on Veritas or Champion. It is only
installed on Steel. Functions performed by spinweb (creating a www/ directory
and setting appropriate "world readable" file permissions) are already built-in
to your web account. That is, your account was created with a www
subdirectory set with world read privileges. Check the Webmaster's "Getting
Started" page for help with creating a webpage without using spinweb.
Return to Questions
Tools/Services/Support
Return to Top
I have an account on Veritas/Champion.
What tools are available?
There is a list of the Tools for IU Information Providers
on the IU Webmaster's site.
Return to Questions
Do the IU central webservers support
Java Server Pages (JSP), PHP, or Active Server Pages (ASP)?
The IU webservers do not currently support Java Server
Pages. Support for JSP is very complex in the multiuser environment
that we have at IU. ASP is not supported, either.
The IU central Web servers (Veritas/Champion) support
the programming language PHP; see http://www.php.net
for details about the PHP language. See also the IU Webmaster's documentation
about PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) Server-Side Scripting
Language on the IU central Web servers.
Return to Questions
Can I use server-side includes on pages
hosted by Veritas or Champion?
Yes, you can use server-side includes on Veritas or Champion
sites. Please see the webmaster's documentation on Server Side Includes for instructions and a tutorial.
Return to Questions
What is a Virtual Host? And how do
I get one?
A Virtual Host is a way to substitute a shorter or more
easily-remembered URL for your web site address, which would typically
be something like http://www.indiana.edu/~your_username/ . A
virtual host address such as http://mydepartment.indiana.edu
can make it easier for people to find your site and remember your URL.
You must first have an account on Veritas or Champion in order
to have a Virtual Host. You can request a Virtual Host either when applying
for a new account or at any time after your web account is created.
Once you have a web account, use the Webmaster's Virtual Host Request Form to ask
for a virtual host name.
The Virtual Host service costs $125.00 per year. Please
read the Webmaster's information about the Virtual Host
Service before requesting this for your website.
Return to Questions
How can I provide a secure connection
on my web site?
You can offer greater security to your users with the
secure WWW server. A secure WWW server ("secure
sockets layer" or "SSL" server) allows a more secure connection than
the normal web server, because the browser can trust that it is communicating
with the server that was specified in the URL, and all communications
between the browser and the server are encrypted.
To use the secure WWW server with your account on the
central web servers, put the files in the wwws secure server
directory.
More information and instructions can be found in the
Webmaster's Secure WWW Server documentation.
Return to Questions
Can I use a secure WWW server if I
have a virtual host?
Yes, you can use the secure
server and wwws secure directory.
In a basic, but less versatile approach, you can use the secure server, but you will not be able
to use your virtual host name in the URL. If your virtual host name
is http://mydepartment.indiana.edu and you want to offer a
secure directory, your URL will take the form of your actual account
name (plus the secure-http "https" designation at the beginning of
the URL), and will look something like https://www.indiana.edu/~accountname/.
In an alternative, but more versatile approach, you can use the secure server,
and you will be able to use your virtual host name in the URL.
In order to do this, you must obtain what is called a 'Digital Identification Certificate'
(or just 'digital id' for short) for your virtual host name. For more information, please see
IU Webmaster's Secure WWW Server Document.
Return to Questions
Why do I get a "Certificate Name"
error message when I attempt to view my secure website?
Web accounts on Veritas that make use of the virtual
host service actually exist on www.indiana.edu, even though they
can be accessed through their virtual host name (for example, http://www.iun.edu/
and http://broadcast.iu.edu/ are valid virtual hosts). However,
the secure web server configuration
does not support the virtual host name service. So references to the
secure web server can only be done with the literal www.indiana.edu
URL address.
Links to all secure websites hosted on Veritas must
be in the form of
https://www.indiana.edu/~accountname/
where accountname is the name of the web account on
Veritas. If anything other than the www.indiana.edu URL is used, a
"Certificate Name" error message will be displayed instead of the
secure website.
Likewise, IUPUI web accounts on Champion that make use
of the virtual host name service must use the URL address https://www.iupui.edu/~accountname/
to access the secure web server.
Return to Questions
How can I use digital media streaming
in my account?
Streaming media capabilities for your Veritas/Champion
account is a service being provided by Digital Media Network Services,
in conjunction with the IU Webmaster.
Digital Media Network Services operates streaming servers to support the
growing demand for audio/video distribution. The servers are capable of
streaming QuickTime, Real, and Windows Media formats.
If you do not already have a Veritas/Champion account,
you will need to request one to be able to access the streaming
server. Only the sponsor or contact of record may make this request.
You will use your Veritas/Champion account for access to the streaming
server. To request streaming media capabilities be enabled for your
account, use Webmaster's
Access to Digital Media Streaming Form.
For more information about this service, see Webmaster's
Digital Media Streaming Information.
For more information about streaming media, including
hardware and software recommendations and how to create and place
content onto the server, see the Streaming - How To Guide.
Return to Questions
How can I count the number of
visitors to my website?
If you have an account on Veritas/Champion, you can
use the webmaster's counter service.
The webmaster also provides Analog access statistics
for accounts on Veritas and Champion. You can view
these stats at the URL http://www-reports.iu.edu/account_name/.
Note that there is no tilde (~) before your account name in this
URL.
Return to Questions
Can I sell items over the Internet?
What is E-Store@IU?
IU now offers authorized IU merchants the ability
to set up electronic stores that can accept secure internet charge
card payments over the Web, as part of the E-Store@IU service. Please
read the complete e-commerce documentation
to find out what you need to do to establish an internet storefront.
Return to Questions
Web Development/Design
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Can I use a Web publishing program
such as Microsoft FrontPage, Netscape Composer, Dreamweaver, or Adobe
PageMill?
Yes, you can. But keep in mind that there are certain
restrictions on how these web publishing programs will work with the
central IU web servers. Some of the special features of programs like
FrontPage will not work with the IU web servers.
Return to Questions
How can I check my site's HTML
coding for errors?
Use the IU-WebLint HTML Checker, available
at Webmaster website.
IU-Weblint is a utility that checks syntax ("picks fluff
off") HTML pages which are located on the Indiana University WWW server
or on other machines. IU-WebLint will check the HTML of a particular
URL and generate a list of any errors found. You can choose to allow
Netscape and Internet Explorer browser-specific extensions.
Return to Questions
How can I check for broken
links on my Web site?
The Webxref link checking utility is a Perl program
that you can run from within your web account. Webxref makes cross
references from a HTML document and the HTML documents linked from
that HTML document -- the links found in that document are checked
for missing links or files, then the links in that document are checked
and so on. Running webxref periodically will enable you to find links
that are broken or outdated without having to follow each link in
your site manually.
Please note that webxref is only available on Veritas and Champion.
Return to Questions
I want people to send me e-mail about my
webpage. How do I do that?
If your web account was created prior to
January 1, 2006, in most cases an e-mail account was created with the
same name as your web account. You should use this account to handle
e-mail related to your webpages. If you don't have an
email account, you may create one using the Accounts Management Service.
Please note that your cannot receive email on
Veritas or Champion.
Return to Questions
How do I create a form?
For the basics of writing the HTML to create a form,
please consult a good HTML reference book or check out one of the
many HTML tutorials on the web. IT Training & Education
at
Indiana University also offers
several Web Development Series classes that include instruction on
writing forms. You can also try using an HTML Editing program like
FrontPage to create forms, but not all of the features of these programs
are supported on the IU central webservers.
Once you've created the HTML page containing your form,
there are several ways to have the web server process it. If you have
an account on veritas (www.indiana.edu) or champion (www.iupui.edu),
you can use our forms-handling software, Transform. This software
tool makes it unnecessary to write your own perl or cgi script, and
offers a number of features to enable you to customize your output
and handle the data collected by the form. "A Quick Guide for Writing Forms Using
Transform 3.0" will help you get started. More complete instructions
are found in the Transform User's Guide.
If you do not want to use Transform, you can write your
own cgi or perl script to handle your form's action. If you're writing
your own forms, read our Instructions for Using CGI on the central
servers.
You may be able to create a form and use a "mailto:"
form action statement, although this may not work well with all browsers.
Refer to the Knowledge Base about using forms on mypage.iu.edu, On my personal Web page, can I use
forms to generate mail messages?.
Return to Questions
Can I put a search form on my
site?
Yes, you can. The site search form will use the IU Search
engine, but the search it performs will be restricted to the contents
of your site only.
Consult the documentation on "Building a search
form for your site" for information on how to create a search
form and generate the HTML needed to place a search form on your site.
You can specify the form style and other attributes by filling out
the form fields in this document. Then cut and paste the HTML code
into your web page to create a search form.
Return to Questions
Where can I
obtain IU logos to use on my web site?
Visit the Marks and
Signature Downloads in the New Media section of the Visual Identity
web
site.
Return to Questions
How can I automatically redirect
visitors to a different URL?
You can redirect visitors to a different URL either using the Meta Tag "Refresh"
or through .htaccess.
Please note
that we do not permit the use of a redirect to simply redirect people
from one account to another account or web site. This should be used
solely to redirect
visitors to a different document within your own account.
Return to Questions
How do I make sure that
my page is accessible?
Webmaster maintains a list of guidelines and tools
on our website (at Policies and Guidelines) that
will help you to design and check your page's accessibility for people
with disabilities. You should also check for compatibility with various
browser applications. Return to Questions
Publicizing Web Pages/Access Control/Security/Policies
Return to Top
How do I request that my link
be placed in the IU/IUB/IUPUI website?
Indiana University organizations, faculty, and departments
may request to have their Web pages linked from the appropriate location
within the IU web site.
- Create your IU-related web site on www.indiana.edu, www.iupui.edu,
or mypage.iu.edu
- Make sure that your site contains only appropriate content.
Web pages should be clearly university-related. If the affiliation
with the university is not obvious, please include a brief statement
on your main page describing how the organization is affiliated
with and benefits the Indiana University community. Web pages
should contain departmental or organizational information and
should not consist primarily of personal information. In addition,
web pages may not contain commercial advertisements for any product
or service for which Indiana University does not collect and process
payment.
- For IUB sites, use the IUB Homepage's Request
A Link form. At IUPUI, send an e-mail message
to IUPUI Home
to request a link. Please include the URL of your site and suggestions
of where you think your site should be listed (such as the IUB
Big List or the IUPUI
Alphabetic Site Index).
- When a link is requested, your site will be reviewed to make
sure that it meets the above criteria for inclusion in the official
university website.
Return to Questions
How do I find out what other
IU sites are linked to mine?
To find out what other IU sites are linked to yours,
(i) go to the IU's official home page at http://www.indiana.edu,
or the home pages of each campus such as http://www.iub.edu,
http://www.iun.edu, http://www.iupui.edu, or http://www.iuk.edu,
and (ii) type link:www.indiana.edu/~your_account_name (if
your account is on Champion, type link:www.iupui.edu/~your_account_name).
You can also do so using Web search engines like
Google, AltaVista, Excite, or Yahoo.
Return to Questions
How do I include my
webpages in Internet search databases?
If your webpage is linked from a central IU webpage,
your site will automatically be included in any Internet search
databases that reference the IU sites.
The Knowledge Base document How can I submit the URL of my Web
page to search engines? contains links to several free and
pay services for getting your Web site listed with Internet
search engines like Google or Yahoo!.
Return to Questions
How can I control who can
see my web pages?
You can use .htaccess files to control who can see
your web pages. These files control who can view files within
a particular directory by requiring the user to meet certain criteria
before the pages are displayed. The Webmaster
website has full instructions on how to use .htaccess files
to Control Web Page Access
for IU websites.
If your account is on Veritas or Champion,
you can use some pre-defined .htaccess files created by
the Webmaster. You can also create your own customized .htaccess
files for more specific needs, such as allowing only members of
a particular group to have access to a portion of your web site.
If you are using the personal homepage web server
(mypage.iu.edu), you will have to write your own customized .htaccess
files. Follow the instructions for Building Your Own Access Control found
in the Webmaster's Controlling Web Page Access document.
Return to Questions
How can I protect my web pages
from e-mail address harvesting?
When you publish your email addresses on your web
pages, these email addresses are vulnerable to being added to
unsolicited e-mail spam lists. As a result, these addresses may
start receiving unwanted e-mails. There are several ways to protect
your web pages from this email address harvesting. If you
need more information on this subject, please see the KB article,
"How can I protect
my web pages from e-mail address harvesting?".
Please be sure that if you are collecting email
addresses, you do not display them to the web as text. There are
web robot programs that probe websites looking for ways to harvest
email addresses for spamming.
Return to Questions
What are the IU policies regarding
the appropriate uses of information (privacy) and technology?
The University
Information Technology Policy Office has several policy statements
on their site. You might want to read their Appropriate
Technology and Information Use Policies document.
Return to Questions
Training
Return to Top
I'm new to all of this. Where can
I learn about making a webpage?
If you're new to developing Web pages, see Getting Started for an overview of the process.
Return to Question
What resources are available
to me at IU to help me create or maintain a Web site?
UITS Education Programs courses are an excellent
way to learn more about HTML and Web Design.
Information about these courses are available through IT Training & Education at Indiana
University
and include instruction in basic and advanced
HTML (hypertext markup language), creating graphics for the web,
and using HTML editor software.
IU also offers self-study online IT courses. These
are available on the Web at http://ittraining.iu.edu
Always remember to check the Knowledge
Base for help. For example, the KB contains complete instructions for creating
a personal home page at IUB or IUPUI and the answers to many
other specific questions.
Check out the Webmaster's Getting Started documentation
for more on how to publish your web page on the IU Web server.
This document also includes links to some on-line design resources
and HTML tutorials. In addition, the Webmaster's Tools and Guides
page contains many links to various web topics such as programming
languages, accessibility and design issues, forms, e-commerce,
security, DHTML, and CGI and Perl.
The Teaching and Learning Technologies
Lab offers
one-on-one help with instructional Web sites. They have several
templates on their
pages.
Return to Question
Other questions?
Please contact the webmaster if you have other
questions or concerns.
Phone: 855-8050
Website: http://webmaster.iu.edu/
E-mail: Use this Contact IU Webmaster Form
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