Your NYUHome Web Page

• Creating Your NYUHome Web Page
• Editing Your NYUHome Web Page
• Using CGI Scripts
• Creating a Web Form
• Adding a Hit Counter
• Customizing a Hit Counter
• Access Denied Messages
• Web Page Rights and Responsibilities

How do I create my personal web page?

Creating your personal web page is easy. Just follow these steps:

1. At the NYUHome screen, go to the Files tab and select the Web Page channel.
2. From the drop-down menu, select Create.
3. Click on the "go" button.
4. Your web page has been created!

NOTE: The address of your web page is:

• http://homepages.nyu.edu/~NetID/

[* NOT http://home.nyu.edu/~NetID/]

If you're using absolute (full) links in your web pages, you MUST use the correct web server address in these links.

For information on developing web pages, take a look at Webmonkey, a great resource for web site design questions.

Can I run a business or advertise on my NYUHome web page?

No. Your NYUHome account is for educational and research purposes only, as indicated by the .edu in the address. Your account can be suspended and disciplinary action will be taken if you use your personal home page for commercial purposes.

If you need a web page for your business, you should get an account with a commercial Internet service provider (ISP). There are many in the New York area with rates as low as $20 per month. In most cases, the rate covers a block of file space for the subscriber's web page; more space can be rented if needed. This will give your business an appropriate commercial address in the .com domain.

How do I edit my personal web page?

After you create your web page, you will see a web template page. This is the default page called index.html. This page will stay in place until you add your own content to your web page.

To edit your site:

1. At the NYUHome screen, go to the Files tab and select the Web Page channel.
2. From the drop-down menu, select Edit.
3. Click on the "go" button.
4. The NYUHome File Manager window will open and you will see your web page files listed. The file called index.html is the main page for your web site.
5. To edit this file manually, you can highlight the file name and select the Edit button. The file will open in text format and you can make additions or deletions right in the window. Once you're finished, click on the Save+Exit button to return to the main File Manager window.

You can also create and edit your web page using a desktop publishing program. Then you can upload these files to your website. Remember that your web page files must go into the directory called public_html.

NOTE: The address of your web page is:

• http://homepages.nyu.edu/~NetID/

[*NOT http://home.nyu.edu/~NetID/]

If you're using absolute (full) links in your web pages, you MUST use the correct web server address in these links.

NOTE: Dreamweaver users will have issues with their built-in file upload utility. Adobe is in the process of re-engineering their Dreamweaver product which they acquired from Macromedia. ITS is working with them to make their Dreamweaver SFTP add-on more compliant with standards.

Therefore, we recommend, instead of using any built-in file transfer utilities within your desktop publishing program, that you download and use a stand-alone Secure File Transfer Program (SFTP) to upload your files to your web space.

ITS provides free SFTP programs (Fugu and Fetch for Macintosh, WinSCP for Windows) and other software at http://software.nyu.edu, also accessible via the Software channel in the new "Ask ITS" area of NYUHome. (Please note that some SFTP clients offer both FTP and SFTP--be sure to select SFTP if you are given a choice.)

Can I load a cgi script that I wrote onto my NYUHome web page?

No, at this time, you cannot create your own cgi scripts for NYUHome web pages. We have made two popular scripts available for use within your pages: a counter script and a formmail script.

A counter is a way for you to keep track of how many people have looked at your web page. The counter image is added just like any other; with an <img src> tag. The formmail program is a way for you to get feedback from visitors to your web page.

Click here for information on how to use the counter program.

Click here for information on how to use the formmail program.

How do I put a form up on my web page?

Forms are a great way to collect information from folks who visit your web site. For example, you might wish to collect email addresses for a mailing list, or use the form as a way to get feedback about your web site. When a visitor enters information in your form and then clicks on a submit button, the information is mailed to you at an email address that you specify.

As the form is a way to have information mailed to you, it is most important to use a valid email address within your form, otherwise the mail sent to you will bounce.

The formmail script that makes the form work resides in the main cgi-bin of the homepages.nyu.edu web server. You cannot make changes to the script, but you can configure your form to produce your desired results.

You can create your form in the same way you create your other web (html) files. The difference is, in this file, you must include a line of code that tells the web server that it is, indeed, a form, and that it will be sending information to a specific email address. The file you create will also include specific information about the type of data you wish to collect. For example, you might want your visitors to select information from a list of choices you provide, or you might want them to type in their own information.

Most forms ask for basic information; name, email address, comments. Once you've determined the type of information you wish to collect, you will need to assign logical names (or, variables) to identify this information when it is sent back to you by email. Some of the basic variables are already identified for you, for example:

• realname (used to identify someone's name)
• email (for someone's email address)

You will see examples of how these variables are used in the sample form.

To make your form more visually appealing, you can use options like drop-down menus, radio buttons, check boxes or text windows.

To ensure that your form actually sends you the information, there are two required pieces of information that you MUST include in your html file:

1. The line of code that refers to (or, calls) the formmail script.
2. Your NetID. This will ensure that all form results are sent to your NYUHome email address. You MUST use your NetID@nyu.edu NYUHome email address.

This information is considered hidden; it cannot be seen by the person filling out your form. You can also specify that other information be "hidden." For example, when you receive the results of your form via email message, you can specify what the email's Subject: line will be by including a line of code in your form. That way, you'll know the piece of email contains information from your form. Another hidden customization you can include is the web page address (URL) of the web page to which you send (or, redirect) your visitor after they submit their form. You will see how to specify this information within the form's html code.

NOTE: The address of your web page is:

• http://homepages.nyu.edu/~NetID/

[*NOT http://home.nyu.edu/~NetID/]

If you're using absolute (full) links in your web pages, you MUST use the correct web server address in these links.

Another recommended "hidden" option is to make certain information "required." For example, if you are trying to create a mailing list, you would need address (email or snail mail) information. You might also want the individual's real name, phone number or birthday. By making these pieces of information (or fields) required, your visitor will not be able to submit their form without filling out these fields. You will see how to make fields required within the sample form.

• Here is an example of a simple web form which uses many of the visual options described above. By using your web browser's View source option, you can see how to properly configure your form.

  You can copy and paste the source file into your own html file. Make sure to replace the sample email address with the email address to which you wish your form results mailed, as well as to change the name of the "subject" for the Subject line on the email that is sent to you to something of your own choosing.

• Here is an example of a Thank You page that you can create to redirect your visitor back to your home page after they submit their form. Make sure to replace the reference to "thanks.html" in the sample form template to the name of the file you create.

How do I add a hit counter to my web page?

A counter is a way for you to keep track of how many people have looked at your web page. The counter image is added just like any other; with an <img src> tag.

We have prepared a counter program that you can add to your web page on the homepages.nyu.edu web server.

Use the following tag to add a counter to your site:

<img src="http://homepages.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?df=NetID.dat" align=absmiddle>

Be sure to replace NetID with YOUR NetID.

Important: If you want to use more than one counter in your web pages, be sure to give each of your .dat files a unique name, such as NetID.1.dat, and NetID.2.dat, etc.

Remember to replace NetID with YOUR NetID.

You'll never see the .dat file; it resides in the central /bin directory on the homepages.nyu.edu web server, and the counter program updates it each time someone views the web page on which you have the counter.

The counter image can be customized to suit your personal tastes. For instructions on how to do so, please see the Customizing a Hit Counter section below.

Note: Customization is not necessary. Your counter will work fine without any changes.

How do I customize a hit counter on my web page?

The web counter installed on homepages.nyu.edu is a powerful program, and can be customized by each user to suit his or her personal preferences. While a default style is provided, you may find that you want to personalize the look of your counter, and this page will serve as an introduction for doing so.

The default counter style looks like this:

It is created by adding the tag:

<img src="http://homepages.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?df=NetID.dat" align=absmiddle>

* Remember to REPLACE NetID with YOUR NetID!

Adding options to your counter is easy. All it involves is adding some extra information to the <IMG SRC> tag you use to call your counter. A customized counter tag will generally take the form:

<img src="http://homepages.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?Option#1&Option#2&Option#3|df=NetID.dat" align=absmiddle>

Note that all the options come after the full URL to the Counter program, and are separated by &. After all the options are finished, a | is placed before the name of the data file to be used.

Available Options

• Digit Styles
• Frame Color
• Frame Thickness
• Display Types
• Timezone and Time/Date Format
• Examples

Digit Styles

Five different styles of digits are provided for your use. They are:

Style A
Style B
Style C
Style D
Style E

In order to use one of the other digit styles, insert the option string dd=X, where X is A, B, C, D, or E, depending on which digit style you want to use.

Changing Frame Color

You can change the color of the frame that surrounds your counter the same way that you change the color of your background: using Hexadecimal codes to represent RGB colors. The option used is frgb=R;G;B, where R, G, and B are the RGB values for the color you want. Note that they are all separated by semicolons. Hexadecimal codes for some of the most common colors follow:

Click here for a full list of all possible colors >>

Changing Frame Thickness

You can also change the thickness of the frame that surrounds your counter. To do so, use the option ft=X, where X is the number of pixels thick you want your frame to be. Values over 5 make a nice, 3-D effect (5 is the default setting). If you want no frame around your counter, use a value of 0 for frame thickness.

Display Types

In addition to displaying the number of times your web page has been accessed, the counter program can also show the current date or the current time in a separate window. To display the time or the date, use the option display=X, where X is either clock, or date, depending on what you want to display. For example, to display the date, you would use the option display=date, and to display the time you would use the option display=clock. You do not need to include a display=X option if you want to display a counter; that is the default. Note:A counter set to date or time will not also show the number of hits. You need to have a separate <IMG SRC> tag calling the counter for each function that you want to use.

Changing the Timezone and Time Format

If you choose of use the counter as a clock (see Display Types, above), you can specify the timezone to be used, as well as the format of the time. To change the timezone, use the option timezone=X, where X is the time + or - from Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). For example, to display the time in New York City, you would use the option timezone=GMT-0500.

To change the time format of you clock between 12 and 24-hour, use the option tformat=X, where X is either 12 or 24.

If you use the counter to display the date, you can change the format that it displays the date in with the option dformat=X. Values for X should be any combination of the strings MM, DD, YY.

dformat=MMDDYY, dformat=ddmmyy, and dformat=YYDDMM would all be valid values.

Examples

Here are some examples of the different options. The <IMG SRC> tags used to create them are listed beneath the examples. If you choose to use any of these options, make sure that you replace the NetID reference with YOUR NetID.

Digit Style B with no Frame

<IMG SRC="http://homepages.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?dd=B&ft=0|df=NetID.2.dat">

Digit Style C with a gold frame

<IMG SRC="http://homepages.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?dd=C&frgb=255;215;0|df=NetID.3.dat">

A Clock using Digit Style D

<IMG SRC="http://homepages.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?display=clock&dd=D|df=NetID.4.dat">

The Date using Digit Style B in MMDDYY format

<IMG SRC="http://homepages.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?display=date&dformat=MMDDYY&dd=B|df=NetID.5.dat">

The Date in DDMMYY format using Digit Style A and a Violet frame

<IMG SRC="http://homepages.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?display=date&frgb=238;130;238&dformat=ddmmyy|df=NetID.6.dat">

Why am I getting an error message that says "Access Denied" when I go to my web page?

If your account was migrated from one of the is*.nyu.edu machines and you had an existing web page before your account was migrated, you now need to republish your page. Select Publish from the Web Page channel on your NYUHome screen.

If you are just creating your page, make sure to select Publish from the Web Page channel on your NYUHome screen to set the correct permissions for the page. You should then be able to see your web site.

Web Page Rights & Responsibilities

Domain Name Registration

NYU Network Policy does not permit the registration of external hostnames against NYU assets (in this case, the homepages.nyu.edu server). This is documented in:

• www.nyu.edu/its/policies/netopolicy.html

If you want to register a domain name, we suggest that you do so with an outside service provider and redirect your new site's index.html page to your existing site on the homepages.nyu.edu web server.

Commercial Use of Your NYUHome Web Page

You may not run a business or advertise on your web page. Your NYUHome account is for educational and research purposes only, as indicated by the .edu in the address. Your account can be suspended and disciplinary action will be taken if you use your personal home page for commercial purposes.

If you need a web page for your business, you should get an account with a commercial Internet service provider (ISP). There are many in the New York area with rates as low as $10 per month. In most cases, the rate covers a block of file space for the subscriber's web page; more space can be rented if needed. This will give your business an appropriate commercial address in the .com domain.

Page last reviewed: September 4, 2009