Personal Webspace FAQ

Where do I apply for my free personal web space?
How much space do I get?
How do I make a web site?
Can you design my pages for me?
Can you help me/teach me to design web pages?
Can I use this space to host my EBAY pictures?
What is allowed and what is not allowed? Do you censor?
Why aren't my images showing up on my page?
All I see is a listing of the files I have uploaded! What's wrong?
How do I upload my files with WS_FTP LE?
How do I upload my files with Microsoft FrontPage?
Bonus: The FTP Alternative!

Where do I apply for my free personal web space? [back to top]
Click Here to apply.

How much space do I get? [back to top]
Voyager subscribers receive 25 Mb of web space for non-commercial use.
DSL subscribers receive 50 Mb of web space that may be used for non-commercial use.

Can you design my pages for me? [back to top]
Yes. Click Here!

How do I make a web site? [back to top]
First of all, you'll probably want a program designed to create web pages. For beginners that want to take the easy route, Microsoft FrontPage is a good WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) web design program. You will still need a basic understanding of HTML including how to link from one page to another. For the more adventurous, you can learn HTML and write your HTML the old fashioned way... in Microsoft Notepad. There are also good web design programs called Homesite and Dreamweaver, but these are targeted more towards the professional editor.

Designing a very basic website is pretty easy. Designing a professional looking site takes years of practice, unless you're unusually gifted. There are thousands of free Internet resources that will teach you the basics of web design, and plenty of books as well. We recommend the following resources to get you started:

Webmonkey HTML Basics
Webmonkey Graphics Overview
FrontPage Tutorial

Can you help me/teach me to design web pages? [back to top]
We offer phone consultations for $35/hr for people needing help with web design. Teaching could be difficult over the phone though. We would suggest you read some of the tutorials above.

Can I use this space to host my EBAY pictures? [back to top]
Yes you can. You'll probably want to size your images so that they are not more than 50kb or so in file size. The URL you would enter when posting an EBAY item for the location of your picture would be something like:

http://users.mikrotec.com/myusername/mypicture1.jpg

Please note that the members server runs on Linux, and everything is case sensitive. If you name your picture MyPicture.jpg and you tell EBAY that your picture is http://users.mikrotec.com/myusername/mypicture.jpg, you will get a broken image (it won't appear, or appears as a red X in a box). To upload your pictures to the webserver, please see this section.


What is allowed and what is not allowed? [back to top]
Mikrotec is a privately held, family owned company and we reserve the right to refuse pages including, but not limited to:

• sites that depict nude and/or pornographic images

• hate sites

• sites that infringe on the rights of others, including slander and copyright violations

• sites that have been ordered closed via court order

• sites of an offensive nature

• sites that are illegal in nature, promote or facilitate illegal activities

• any site that constitutes a violation of the Mikrotec AUP

• sites of a commercial nature (DSL accounts are exempt)

All I see is a listing of the files I have uploaded! What's wrong? [back to top]
You have not uploaded and index.html page. This webserver does not recognize index.htm files as being the home page. You must name your home page "index.html" (without the quotation marks).

Why aren't my images showing up on my page? [back to top]
Most likely, the path to the image is incorrect. It would take chapters to explain this, but to simplify everything, especially for beginners that do not understand paths, here's what to do:

• Put all the website files into one directory (graphics and html)

• View the HTML for your picture tags and edit the "src" value of the <img> tags. If you see an <img> tag that looks like this: <img src="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Bob/Desktop/Bobs%20Website/mypicture.jpg" height="175" width="100">  change it to:  <img src=" mypicture.jpg" height="175" width="100">    That should fix the problem.
   

How do I upload my files with WS_FTP LE? [back to top]
First of all, you need to read the tutorial about how to use WS_FTP LE.  Here is the information you will need to upload a file to your personal web space, once it has been created:

Profile Name: My Mikrotec Web Space (you could name this anything)
Host Name/Address: users.mikrotec.com
User ID: your_user_name (If your email address is user444@mikrotec.com then your username is user444
Password: (use the password associated with your username)

How do I upload my files with Microsoft FrontPage? [back to top]
Different versions of FrontPage work differently, but the more recent versions make is easier to publish your files to the webserver. If you want to use FrontPage, you have to create a "WEB". This is nothing more than a folder on your computer. If you already have some web pages you would like to start using Front Page with, create a new web first and copy your files into that web's directory. You can probably find the web in "MY DOCUMENTS > MY WEBS". Once you're ready to publish your opus to your personal web space, click "FILE > Publish Web". FrontPage will ask you for a publish destination and here is what you type in:

ftp://users.mikrotec.com

You do not need to add your username to the end of the address above. Next, FrontPage will ask you for your username and password and then it will start uploading all the files.

If someone else is working on your website and edits or uploads files, the next time you "Publish", FrontPage will complain. You will get messages like "Another person has modified index.html, are you sure you want to replace the current version? If you say yes, the version from YOUR computer will overwrite the file your friend was working on, and their changes will be lost.

Keeping your files in "sync" with what others are doing with them can be a daunting task. That's why we recommend just using an FTP program to actually transfer the files. However, you can avoid some of this by opening the files REMOTELY. When you start Front Page, choose "Open Web" and put in ftp://users.mikrotec.com as the address. Then it will ask you if you want to log in as "anonymous", which you cannot do. You must enter your username and password.

If none of the above makes much sense, or doesn't work for you, try WS_FTP LE. A little learning (5 minutes worth) will go a long way.

Bonus: The FTP Alternative! [back to top]
If your version of windows supports it, you may be able to upload your files to the web server just by clicking the link below. If clicking the link opens a new window and you see a folder called wwwpages, you're connected through the the internal FTP built into Windows/Internet Explorer. From there, you can simply drag files to this new window (send files to the server) and drag files from this window to a folder on your computer, or even your desktop (downloading files FROM the web server). Please note: if you are behind a firewall, this may not work!

ftp://users.mikrotec.com