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.
- Servers: You will need to choose a server suitable for the platform on which you wish to run.
- HTTP server: This gives details on how to configure the server.
- When you introduce any new server, please register it so that others can find it.
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:
webmaster@w3.org
Created 07 Apr 1995
Last updated 15 May 1995