W3C

Putting Information onto the Web

WARNING: For Archival/Historical Interest-- This document dates from 1995 and has not been updated

If you would like to create information and place it on the World Wide Web, you can approach this in several different ways. Choose whichever topics are most appropriate for you from the following general categories:


Author

As an author, you have information you would like to publish onto the web. You will need to know how to create and edit hypertext, and you will need to learn the conventions and etiquette of the web. You can begin with the which will explain much of what you need to know about how hypertext is used on the web. Next, the will give more specific advice about etiquette for using the web. When you are ready to start working with hypertext, you can look at any of a number of good resources on HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. The World Wide Web Consortium maintains references on HTML as it evolves. Please see our:

Webmaster

As a webmaster, you are responsible for the information base of a particular site or organization. You will probably want to learn how to organize large amounts of hypertext, and perhaps how to create and maintain a "house style". You will need to be more familiar with the server in order to set up a configuration that works for your data, and you will probably want to learn about various tools that can be useful.

I suggest that you begin with the information organized for authors (above) in order to learn about web style, etiquette, and the use of HTML.

If you have a base of information which you would like to put onto the web, don't rush into changing the way you manage it. A "gateway" W3 server can run on top of your existing system, making the information in it available to the world. You can write your information in hypertext, and you can also allow readers to browse through the directory structure. On the browser, directories will look like hypertext documents which readers can click on to explore. You can set README files to be automatically included at the top of bottom of the directory listings. This is the simplest way to make your information available. You can learn more about configuring your W3 server to do this by reading about the

If you don't have a W3 server, please see information under the "System Administrator" category below or contact your system administrator.

If you want to generate a full-text index, you could use the public domain

Your data will then be accessible (as plain text, not hypertext) through the More details on configuring your system with the server and with scripts can be found in the following: If you would like advice on methods for designing information systems, and for setting up clients and customized servers, there are professional services who will be pleased to discuss your situation. Please see our list of

System Administrator

As a system administrator, you will need to know the actual installation and configuration of a W3 server, and the use of things like CGI, forms, databases, and applications which will work together on your system. You should also learn about some of the main topics of technical interest relating to the world wide web: Once you have a server up and running, check out information on A telnet service allows people to telnet to your machine and get information from the web. You can set things up so that the moment they telnet to your server, they are in a www browser. See our:
W3C
webmaster@w3.org
Created 07 Apr 1995
Last updated 15 May 1995