Web Server Administration - the Easy Way
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Chapter 1: What’s In Your Web Site? Get to Know Your Web Server Administrator Web server computer platforms UNIX Macintosh Windows NT Web server software NCSA, W3C/CERN, and Apache Windows NT WebSTAR and MacHTTPD How your Web site fits into the whole Administrator’s jargon and management tools Round Up the Usual Suspects! Inventory Web server resources Take stock of your Web site Lotsa docs (it’s not an M.D.’s convention) Graphics galore The supporting cast of applications… Marvelous miscellany “Organized Web site” is not an oxymoron Where does your site live? Picture your directory/file structure as a tree You can’t tell the territory without a map Understanding all the pieces and parts Using remote hyperlinks What’s the code situation like? Any imagemaps in the picture? Strategic Planning for Your Web Site Juggling large document collections Tooling Up for Web Site Management What tools do you really need? Tool search adventures Judge what you find How to get ’em when you find ’em Wheeling and dealing: what’s your budget? Chapter 2: Web Server Administration - the Easy Way Web Server Hosting Options Web server hosting services Local Web server hosts Web server space renters Web malls Your friendly neighborhood ISP Your organization’s LAN You!? How the Web Server Fits into the Whole The hardware: computer and telephone equipment Web server software and (briefly) how it works The basics Passing information into and out of the HTTP server Web Server Platforms UNIX and the Web Windows (NT and 95) are coming on strong The Macintosh alternative Web Server Software Web server software lists UNIX: Windows NT: Windows 95: Windows 3.1: Macintosh OS: Novell NetWare: MS-DOS: Most popular servers Free Web servers: W3C/CERN, NCSA, and Apache W3C/CERN HTTPd NCSA HTTPd Apache HTTPd A plethora of emerging commercial options Netscape's Communications and Commerce Web servers Purveyor WebSite WebSTAR and MacHTTPD All-in-one Web site hosting packages The Savvy WebMaster’s Management Techniques Laying out your Web space Designing and handling the file system Working with log files Administration and monitoring tools For More about Your Web Options . Weighing Costs against Other Considerations What’s your bottom line? Home-grown versus store-bought Web sites Chapter 3: Managing the Web Publication Process What’s It All About? What should be hanging in your Web? Planning for now and the future Planning for regular updates Designing documents for multiple uses Working with creation and production staff Integrating the Web into the overall process The Conversion Process Is a Real Time Saver Doing it by hand The power (and limitations) of automated conversion Seeking tools Cyberleaf HTML Transit Web Publisher WebWorks Installing and using a conversion tool What should you remember about HTML converters? Déjà Vu - Elements of Page and Site Design Give all your pages a title Text and hypertext links Use graphics for maximum effect Think in 3-D Stringing pages together, the book way Hierarchies are natural Multiple tracks for multiple audiences Extending your Web, a comment at a time Chapter 4: Web Site Management Tools and Techniques Managing Multitudes of Documents How big is your Web? Organize to untangle your Web Document management systems Examining the Alternatives Web Site Managers SITEMAN LivePAGE WebMaster SiteMill FrontPage Let someone else manage your Web Cool Management Tools Doctor HTML Weblint WebTechs’ HTML Validation Service Acquiring the perfect tool set Web site usage tools and services Log file analysis tools Your Web Management Routine The principles of Web site maintenance Creating your Web management plan The virtues of regular attention It’s a (part/full-time) job: here’s the description! Chapter 5: Denizens of the Web Of Spiders, Robots, Worms, and Other Agents The past and future of “Web agents” Agents in search engines and other WWW environments Building search boundaries Need Accountability Test first Conserve resources Ask and ye shall receive Check discovered URLs for validity Check results Don't revisit the same site too quickly Search only at appropriate times Run your robot as infrequently as possible Don't try queries Monitor its progress Give something back What works globally also sometimes works locally The Best of Bots MOMspider WebWalker Checkbot Harvest Surfbot 2.0 CyberPilot Pro with WebMap Engine Benefiting from Robot Labor Introducing a spider into your Web Scheduling regular robot activities Dealing with the aftermath: refreshing stale links Robot exclusion They’re baaaack!! Chapter 6: Management Means Looking Forward, Too! Emerging Web Site Trends Turnkey systems and environments NaviService ClubWeb Fully integrated publishing systems FrontPage Adobe PageMill and Adobe SiteMill SGML-Based Publishing Systems Generalized markup covers many sins DTDs describe formal documents abstractly Output DTDs can drive print, Web, CD-ROM, and other delivery forms Off the Edge Applets bear fruit Text will always be around Commercialization of the Web Your future Web site Chapter 7: Understanding How HTML Happens The “official” channels, organizations, and approaches How a proposal becomes a standard Proposed standard Draft standard Standard A brief review of HTML standards to the present HTML 0.0 HTML 1.0 HTML 2.0 HTML+ HTML 3.0 Pressure from the marketplace Proprietary extensions versus standards of many kinds Netscape 2.0 extensions The Font of All (Netscape) Wisdom… Netscape and standard HTML incompatibilities Internet Explorer 2.0 extensions Extending HTML’s Representational Abilities Style sheets Finding, Understanding, and Using HTML DTDs The nature of an SGML document SGML declaration Prologue References About DTDs . What does a DTD contain? Where the DTDs live Deciding which flavor of HTML to use Who will be viewing the document that you create? How long will your content be around? Are you concerned about automatic Web document construction? How much work could creating content in a new or unstable DTD create in the long run? The advantages of using valid HTML The disadvantages of using valid HTML Some New HTML Worth Watching Tables Frames Style sheets Mathematics notation Miscellaneous standard goodies FIG LINK NOTE BANNER Promising proprietary phenomena Chapter 8: HTML Tables Can Hold Up the World! HTML <TABLE> Overview HTML Table Markup The parts of a <TABLE> <TABLE> . </TABLE> <TR>. </TR> <TD> . </TD> <TH...></TH> <CAPTION> . </CAPTION> The basic table attributes BORDER ALIGN VALIGN NOWRAP COLSPAN ROWSPAN Proprietary <TABLE> Extensions Netscape 2.0 BORDER="<value>" VALIGN CELLSPACING=<value> CELLPADDING=<value> WIDTH="<value_or_percent>" HEIGHT="<value_or_percent>" MS Internet Explorer 2.0 Building Your Own Tables Laying out tabular data for easy display A slick trick for the upper-left problem Mixing graphics and tables makes for interesting pages Some Stunning Table Examples Chapter 9: HTML Frames Enhance Page Controls! HTML Frames Overview HTML Frame Markup The Frame Document structure Frame syntax <FRAMESET> <FRAME> <NOFRAMES> . </NOFRAMES> Targeting frames Allowed and special TARGET names Framing Your Own Web The basic, two-frame Web page A basic, three-frame Web page Fancy that: a three-frame page with logo, text, and navigation bar What’s next? A four-frame basic page Wow! Four frames with icons, graphics, logos, and scrolling text Stunningly Framed Web Sites Chapter 10: HTML Gets Fully Mathematical! A Math Made in Heaven? A Quick <MATH> Review Meet the <MATH> markup team The ultimate <MATH> authority Complex Equations, Anyone? Ramming Math Down Their Throats Chapter 11: For HTML, Style Is Its Own Reward! Of Styles and Style Sheets Deep Background Investigation Reveals . What is DSSSL and DSSSL-Lite? Wait, Didn’t HTML 3.0 Handle Styles? So, What's New? Cascading Style Sheets Anatomy of a style sheet Style’s Got Pros and Cons A Bit of Speculation Chapter 12: Jumping Outside HTML’s Boundaries What <EMBED> does Advantages of <EMBED> <EMBED> changes from Netscape 1.1 to Netscape 2.0 HTML <EMBED> Markup <EMBED> ’s attributes SRC WIDTH HEIGHT <EMBED> ’s other attributes <NOEMBED> Mapping <APPLET> to <EMBED> General examples of <EMBED> tag markup Specific examples of <EMBED> tag markup Shockwave for Director RealAudio ViewMovie Getting underneath <EMBED> Chapter 13: Marvelous HTML Miscellany Making Decisions about Your <BODY> Backgrounds Watermarks Text color Margins The Fabulous Figure and Related Tags Exploiting Undocumented Tricks Animation for the rest of us Double vision Internal Images Scrollin’, scrollin’, scrollin’ . Forcing a new browser Advanced Font Controls <FONT> ification Four inches is how many points? The big, the small, and the others Getting Vertigo? Chapter 14: Adding Animation, 3-D Worlds, and Dynamic Behavior If Your Browser Can’t See It, Is It Really There? Beyond HTML . Assisting the browser: Helper applications Hooking up with plugins What’s in Store for Your Web Pages? The Hottest Plugins… The Perils of Incompatibility Designing for Extended Capability Serving the Audience Trends in Web Extension Technology Chapter 15: A Shockwave in Full Motion! A Shockwave Overview A few words from Macromedia Director Doing the Lingo Limbo Shockwave’s Bright Future What you need to use Shockwave Installing and using Afterburner Running Afterburner on a Macintosh Installing Afterburner on a Macintosh Running Afterburner for Windows How to install Afterburner on Windows Implementing Afterburner Configuring Your Web Server for Shockwave Shockwave configuration for specific Web servers Shockwave and