Other good places for HTML info include the WWW & HTML Developer's JumpStation, which contains pointers to all sorts of good W3 information, as well as Composing Good HTML, which discusses many points about document style. Specific guidelines are also provided in the NIU HTML Coding Standards document as well.
Q: Are there any newsgroups that I can read with information about
the W3?
A: There are now four groups dedicated to discussions about the W3--
comp.infosystems.www.announce,
comp.infosystems.www.users,
comp.infosystems.www.providers, and
comp.infosystems.www.misc.
c.i.w.p. is aimed mostly at web administrators,
but the other three groups are a good source of ideas and information for
the typical web surfer. c.i.w.a. is where new web sites announce
their presence to the world, so check there to find out which sites are hot.
Q: How do I know if what I've coded in HTML is correct?
A: Well, it's not always possible to check and see if you've coded
everything correct as HTML is interpreted by W3 browsers "on the fly" and
most will, if they encounter some sort of error, simply ignore that
portion of your document. The hardest part in creating good HTML
documents is making sure that all of the links to other resources are
coded correctly, and the only real way to do that (currently) is to test
the links yourself.
What you CAN (and should) do is run your documents through some sort of HTML-lint program. These can help to point out any glaring errors or omissions in your documents. There are two available on our system. The first is "weblint," a perl script that will detect many errors and write lint-like messages to stdout. It can be invoked by using a command similar to:
~www/www_root/webutils/weblint/weblint
document.html
The second is "htmlchek," an awk script which checks HTML syntax as well as offers suggestions on HTML style. It can be invoked by using a command similar to:
~www/www_root/webutils/htmlchek
document.html
Of the two, htmlchek seems to do a better job, but on occasion it produces extraneous error and warning messages. You will probably want to add a pair of aliases to your .login file to avoid having to type the full pathname each time you want to use them, such as:
alias wl ~www/www_root/webutils/weblint/weblint
alias hc ~www/www_root/webutils/htmlchek
Q: I don't have an account on mp.cs.niu.edu but I would like to
place some information on the W3. What can I do?
Dr. Neil Rickert
nwradmin@mp.cs.niu.edu is responsible for administering accounts on
this machine. His office is PC 455 and his phone is 753-6940. Contact
him to discuss obtaining an account.
Q: When I try to access any off-campus resources from home, my client is
unable to connect to them. Why?
A: Currently, if you are dialing into campus (753-6600) and are trying to
use Mosaic or another W3 browser from home via SLIP or PPP, you will not be
able to connect to any off-campus servers. This is called a "firewall", and
it prevents you from sending TCP/IP packets off-campus. This is done to
prevent non-NIU students from tying up our phone lines (as well as our
network bandwidth) in order to surf the 'net. Unfortunately, it also
prevents us from doing the same 8-). However, the firewall periodically goes
up and down, so you may be able to access off-campus resources one day but
not the next.
Q: When I try to access the NIU CS Newsgroup from the "Other On-Campus
Links" page, I get an "unable to access" message. Why?
A: In order to follow a newsgroup link (a link with a URL beginning with
"news:") your W3 browser must be able to read news, or be able to call a
newsreader program to do it for it. For instance, Lynx does not have this
ability, but Mosaic does. (however, see below)
Q: I am unable to send e-mail via a "mailto:" link. Why?
A. Similar to the previous question, some browsers support sending SMTP
e-mail, others do not. Lynx does, Mosaic (as it is distributed) does not.
This just shows to go you that each browser has its own set of advantages
and drawbacks.
Q: What is the best web browser available?
A: That depends on taste (and resources). If you have OS/2, then IBM's
WebExplorer would be
my vote, since it has proxy abilities and comes essentially free (as
part of the Warp Bonus Pack). If you are using Windows, then Netscape
is the standout product. It includes an integrated mailer and newsreader,
supports proxies, and is completely free to academic users.
Mosaic (also for Windows) is also free, but does not have as many features as Netscape, (now) requires Win32s, and is more buggy than Netscape.
Q: I have written a CGI-compliant program and would like to have the
alibity to have it executed when a link to it is selected. Is this
possible?
A: Right now, no. CGI programs are executed by the server with all of the
permissions and privledges that the server itself has--in effect, it's as
though the person who started the server (i.e., me) typed a command at the
shell prompt. This presents a major hole in security, and is therefore is
not allowed. There are some CGI programs on our server (such as sysstat),
but these were written by myself and do not represent security risks.
If there is something you feel you or the server ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY cannot live without, let me know about it and we can talk about it.
Q: I would like to set up a form for use on my homepage. Can I?
A: Nope. A form needs to execute a CGI script to process its information
(see above).
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