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AOL users apparently face their own unique set of problems with web page creation. Because of this situation, a special AOL Support Team, coordinated by classmate Debbie, was formed for the Winter 1998 Virtual University HTML and Web Page Design class. We feel that her guidance and resources will be beneficial to all of us and very helpful to other students that may be having similar problems with AOL.
A lot of this information can be found at the
AOL main web site --
http://www.aol.com/
Go to Keyword: MY PLACE
Uploading to My Place is fairly easy. Go to my place and click on the Upload button. You will be prompted for a file name and the format of the file. The file name is what the file name will be on the My Place area, but it does not necessarily have to be the same name as the file on the Mac/PC that you are using.
Normally, it is, but should you wish to use another name it can be named something else. If you want your page to appear automatically when someone browses your webspace, name your first file index.html or default.html. It is critical that you get the file suffixes right. HTML file should have the .htm or .html; BinHex should have .hqz; GIFS should have .gif; JPEG's are .jpg and so on. You must match the case of your filename with your html tags.
NOTE: If you refer to a file as "picture.gif" in your tag you must upload the file as "picture.gif" not "PICTURE.GIF" or your graphic will not show.
The URL of your page is http://members.aol.com/screenname/file.html
I suggest using index.html as your first page and then your pages can be browsed just by using http://members.aol.com/screenname
For those using the browser on AOL, here is the way to turn off the "compression" so that you can save graphics in a "better" format to use on web pages.
- In AOL 4.0, go to MY AOL, then PREFERENCES and Choose WWW.
- Go to WEB GRAPHICS and uncheck "Use Compressed Graphics".
NOTE: AOL's browser is setup by default to save any images in the .art format. This format will show as a broken image in other browsers if you use it on your web pages. - When trying to save a gif file, right click on the picture you want to save and click on "save picture as" and the dropdown menu will give you the choice of saving as a gif file. Select the choice for jpeg if you know the graphic should be in that format.
- Downloading .gif Images With AOL
The .art graphics will not be viewable in most browsers. This resource might also be helpful. Creating Effective Web Sites for AOL Users
http://www.ossweb.com/article-3.html
- RESOURCE:
- AOL's FTP Instruction Page.
- http://www.aol.com/nethelp/ftp/ftp.html
- Putting Your Pages on the Web
- http://members.aol.com/websupport/upload/
Instructions using keyword FTPSPACE or FTP software like WS_FTP and Fetch as well as using commercial and shareware programs. Information for publishing to non-AOL webspace too.
- Publishing Web Pages at AOL
- http://www.aol.com/nethelp/publish/creatingwebpagebasics.html
- A Guide to FTP to AOL
- http://www.oocities.org/Area51/Vault/1325/aolftp.html
- View your graphics offline -- open the files from your hard drive into AOL or a graphics viewer to make sure they display properly.
- Check to see that you've uploaded your graphics at Keyword: My Place. Make sure your graphics have the correct extension and name to match your html document.
- Use "only" the .gif or .jpg format for your graphics.
- Make sure your browser is set to display graphics. This can be done by going to Members from the top menu then Preferences then WWW.
- Be sure you have named your page with the .html extension. Check your file name and upload it with the .html extension.
- Be sure you have named your first page as index.html
- Undernet - irc01.irc.aol.com
- EFnet - irc02.irc.aol.com
- DALnet - irc03.irc.aol.com
- IrcNet - irc04.irc.aol.com
- Undernet - irc05.irc.aol.com
- Undernet - irc06.irc.aol.com
- Undernet - irc07.irc.aol.com
-
AOL.COM Help
http://www.aol.com/nethelp/home.html
- Netscape Technical Support
http://help.netscape.com/
- Browse for different program support
http://help.netscape.com/browse/
- Links to FAQ sites re: Netscape
- http://help.netscape.com/links.html
- Putting Your Pages on the Web
- http://members.aol.com/websupport/upload/
- Creating Effective Web Sites for AOL Users
http://www.ossweb.com/article-3.html
- An AOL Guide For Webmasters
- http://webmaster.info.aol.com/
- ZDTV | SG Aol addresses many areas
- http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/superguides/aol/
- Netscape Technical Support
- Creating Effective Web Sites for AOL Users
http://www.ossweb.com/article-3.html
You can make modifications by editing the page on your hard drive and then using the upload utility in My Place to copy the new version over the existing page. When viewing with your browser be sure to hit the "Reload" button so you don't simply call up an old page from your web cache.
To clear your cache files in AOL 4.0 and 5.0, click on the My AOL button and then preferences. Click on the WWW icon and then Delete Files and then Clear History. This will clear your browser cache.
You can view any files you create in your AOL browser. You must be on-line to do this. On your toolbar go to "file-open" and select the file you wish to view. You will then be able to see it in your AOL Browser.
There are also other utilities on AOL that you can download for offline browsing. Go to keyword: File Search and look for offline browsers.
To delete files from My Place pick the Utilities icon. Highlight the file you wish to delete and then pick Delete.
AOL has its own instructions for getting pages to the web and offers several ways to get pages to the web.
Make sure you are connected to AOL with the same username or screenname that you want to use for your web page. You may then use an FTP client like WS_FTP which you will start once you have connected to AOL.
Past AOL students recommend that you have more flexibility when you use an FTP client to upload your files. Pay special attention to the information you should enter for User ID and Password for your new Session Properties. This is the information that you should add in the boxes when you login to WS_FTP:
Profile Name: Whatever you want it to be
Host Name/Address: members.aol.com
Host Type: Automatic Detect
User ID: anonymous
Password: whoever@aol.com (your aol email address)
Substitute "yourscreenname" with your own aol email address using the name of your specific screenname. When you connect, you will also be asked to type in the password you use to sign on to AOL. Then WS_FTP will bring you to your directory on the remote side; this is where you will upload all your web page files.
My Graphics Don't Show Up!
My Page Looks Like A Directory Listing or Text File
You can reliably connect to IRC with AOL. Be sure to use the 16 bit IRC client with AOL3.0 and 32 bit with AOL for 95. After downloading the IRC software you must double click on the .exe file and follow the prompts on the screen.
Enter your identifying information. You must enter a valid e-mail address. Do not enter any passwords as it is not necessary.
Add the irc.webmaster.webchat.org, port #7000 on AOL, you can try #6667 but I have been unsuccessful in the past using this port with AOL. To attend VU on-line chats, type: /join #chatcafe
IF you have trouble with webmaster try irc.vrml.com or irc.wiregrass.com with the same port (#7000).
Sign on to IRC by signing on to AOL as usual, now start up your IRC program. You will run AOL and IRC at the same time. Look at the server list and highlight the one you have chosen to use, push the connect button and you should be in.
Remember, even if you have Windows 95 but are using AOL 3.0 you cannot use the 32 bit IRC program. You can download an IRC program from VU Free Software http://www.vu.org/free/software.html -- or on AOL from keyword: ON THE NET.
You can also reliably use these servers on AOL:
Additionally, some students have found the following web sites useful and they may be helpful in answering questions regarding problems with creating web pages using AOL:
The AOL Hometown Web Administrator provides information on using counters, guestbooks and other CGI Programs with the members.aol.com server --
http://members.aol.com/wwwadmin/
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