itouch.net users with shells can create their own WWW documents and make them available via their personal home page.

WWW documents are written in a special format known as HTML (HyperText Markup Language). Information on creating HTML documents is available from many web sites, including a large site at Netscape. One of the easiest ways to learn about HTML is to look at some examples. If your WWW browser supports a view source option, as Netscape Navigator does, you can use it to look at the HTML source for documents.

To create a personal home page you need to author an HTML document named "index.html" and place it in a directory named "public_html" in your home directory. The index.html file is the beginning of your personal home page.

An outline of the steps required is given below. These steps should be executed from a UNIX shell prompt. (Comments after "#", don't type.)

 cd                      # go to your home directory
 mkdir public_html       # create a directory for HTML documents
 chmod go+rx public_html # make sure directory is readable by everyone
 chmod go+x $HOME        # allow other users to locate public_html ("HOME" should be in all capitol letters)
 cd public_html          # change directories to public_html

 [create "index.html" using your favorite editor]

 chmod go+r index.html   # make sure everyone can read it

For testing, you can reference your document as

http://www.itouch.net/~userid/

Replace "userid" with your account name. For example, the path for the home page belonging to user "jeff" would be "http://www.itouch.net/~jeff/".

Once you are happy with your home page, contact webmaster@itouch.net to have your document added to the user home page index.

You can change your personal home page at any time simply by editing the index.html file. As you become more familiar with HTML, you will learn how to reference other documents and services from your home page.

NOTE: The 'chmod go+x $HOME' command sets the permissions on your home directory so that other users can read unprotected files if they already know their name. Other users still won't be able to list the contents of your directory to see what files are there unless the "r" permission bit is also set. A more detailed discussion of file and directory permissions can be found in almost any introductory UNIX documentation.

NOTE: For security reasons, some advanced features such as CGI scripts (e.g., special forms) are disabled for the personal home pages.

DISCLAIMER: The WWW is a public publishing medium. Each user is individually responsible and liable for ensuring that the content of their documents does not violate copyright laws and is appropriate for a public forum. itouch.net or Eagle Nest Intelligence assumes no responsibility for the content of the user-created documents.

itouch.net reserves the right to withdraw the homepage service from any or all users at any time when the generated server load becomes unreasonable.

Personal home pages are for non-commercial use only. Contact hosts@itouch.net for information about commercial WWW services.