Here is a short introduction to some of the rules that govern the naming of files on the Internet in general and on PWP in particular.

Why is it so important to know my e-mail ID?
The Web-server space on PWP is allocated on the basis of e-mail IDs. This means that all the files that make up your Web pages are grouped under the e-mail ID you've chosen, preceded by a "/~"(a slash and a tilde): home.mchsi.com/~johndoe, for example. On PWP, the computer that hosts your page (known as a server) is "home.mchsi.com," and your space on it, referred to as your "home directory," is labelled with your e-mail ID.

How do slashes ("/") function in Web addresses?
Slashes separate the major parts of a Web address, including the name of the server, the name of the directory on the server, any subdirectories, and finally the name of the individual file in the directory or subdirectory. Read on to find out more and see some examples.

What is my e-mail ID?
Your e-mail ID is everything that appears to the left of the "@" sign in your e-mail address. If your address is "johndoe@home.com," then "johndoe" is your e-mail ID. And "home.mchsi.com/~johndoe" is the full address (or URL, for "Uniform Resource Locator") of your home directory on PWP.

What is a "Vanity URL"?
We've created a second, simpler way for people to view the pages in your home directory on PWP: entering the e-mail ID before the server name. This capability, called "Vanity URLs," eliminates the need to enter the slash-tilde combination. In other words you can reach the directory named "johndoe" by entering either "johndoe.home.mchsi.com" or "home.mchsi.com/~johndoe" in your browser's location field.

Important notes:

• To be fully functional with a Vanity URL, your web site's index.html file must include a "base href" tag in its code. Pages created with PWP templates already carry this tag. But in pages you code by hand or with a third-party tool like Microsoft FrontPage or Web Studio, this tag must be added:

<BASE HREF="http://home.mchsi.com/~johndoe/">,

replacing "johndoe" with your e-mail ID. This tag should be placed after the <title>Page title</title> tags.

• An e-mail ID/home directory will work with the vanity URL system if all these conditions are met:



• It consists of letters, digits, hyphens, and dots;
• Its length is 63 characters or less OR it contains a dot;
• It doesn't start or end with a dot or hyphen;
• There are no consecutive dots;
• Dot and hyphen are never adjacent

An e-mail ID/home directory that fails to meet all these conditions might work with the vanity URL system, or might work from some locations but not others.

What goes into my home directory?
All the files that make up your Web pages--graphics, sound, text--are stored in your home directory. If you have a Web page named "vacation.html" its full location is "home.mchsi.com/~johndoe/vacation.html" (or "johndoe.home.mchsi.com/vacation.html" using the vanity URL).

I've just created a page with the Quick Template. What is its address?
Remember that "servername/directoryname/filename.html" is the form of the address. And the name of the page, or file, is whatever you entered as you began working with the template, followed by the extension ".html" (for "hypertext markup language", the computer code for Web pages). So the full address, or URL, of a file you called "mypage" will be "home.mchsi.com/~johndoe/mypage.html" (or "johndoe.home.mchsi.com/mypage.html" using the vanity URL).

How can I find out what files are in my home directory?
Simple: PWP members can go to our page of Site Management Tools at https://publish.mchsi.com/cgi-bin/pp_diskutilgen, and look in the Disk Usage area. You'll find a complete list of all files and subdirectories in your home directory.

What's so special about pages named "index.html"?
In general on the Internet, if a Web surfer enters the name of a server or server-and-directory into the location field of a browser without including a specific file name, the computer that hosts the pages sought for will automatically look for a file called "index.html, " a so-called default file name. In the case of PWP, this means that if someone enters "home.mchsi.com/~johndoe" (or "johndoe.home.mchsi.com"), the server will look for a file named "home.mchsi.com/~johndoe/index.html" (or "johndoe.home.mchsi.com/index.html, " using the vanity URL).

Are there other default file names on PWP?
Yes, there's a default name associated with each of our page-building templates. If someone enters "home.mchsi.com/~johndoe" (or "johndoe.home.mchsi.com" using the vanity URL), our server will look for the following files in the following order within that directory in the following order:

index.html
index.htm
home.html
home.htm
personal.html
resume.html
my_business.html
my_assoc.html
wsb.html
store.html

I get a "User Not Yet Moved In" message when I try to go to my Web page. How come?
Chances are you entered "home.mchsi.com/~johndoe" (or "johndoe.home.mchsi.com", using the vanity URL) in your browser's location field, but you haven't yet created a page using one of the default names mentioned above. There are three easy things to do in this case: change the name of the page you created to one of the default names, create a new page making use of one of the default names, or enter the complete URL with the file name to gain access to the page you just created.

To change the name of a file on PWP...

1. Go to the Rename a File area of our Site Tools page and select the file you wish to rename from the picklist labelled Rename file from:.
2. Enter the new name in the To: field. (In this case, enter one of the following: index, home, resume, personal, my_business)
3. Click Rename File and you're done!

To create a new page...
Please see our Publish a Quick Page--Now! instructions.

To access any page in your home directory...

1. Go to the Disk Usage section of our Site Tools page and make a note of all files ending with the ".html" extension.
2. Enter in the location field of your browser the full URL for each of these files. For example, if the Disk Usage section shows a file named "vacation.html", enter "home.mchsi.com/~johndoe/vacation.html" (or "johndoe.home.mchsi.com/vacation.html" using the vanity URL).
3. If you wish to change any elements of the page, return to the template you used to create it (Quick Template, Resume Template, etc.), enter new data into the template, and click Publish. Or if you understand HTML coding, use our HTML Text Editor to revise the page. PWP members can easily get to these resources through our Templates and Editors Page.

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