Sun 28/6/1998/9:17am
As a self-taught computer user,
I of course lack the access to "tricks of the trade"
which better computer courses would have provided as the core
teaching material. Also, I can't spare the little time I dare
allow myself to use on computer learning. As a result, I have
to experiment while doing it. In the process, mistakes therefore
would be unavoidable. Here, I post the fatal errors I made and
some of the "tricks" or "tips" I discovered
while using the various applications.
I) My recent problem
Subject: Your Policy?
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 11:09:59 -0400
From: K C Cheng
Reply-To: postoffice.idirect.com
Organization: kccheng.org
To: wolfmstr@idirect.com ------my
ISP, LookCommunication
Dear President:
I just e-mailed the following to your technical support. However,
I
suspect that this may be your policy; for free homepages not to
have
the full links and features or conveniences that would be provided
by
your "DO it yourself" accounts. If so, please let me
know. Otherwise,
it's very frustrating to see pages not linked or not showing at
all.--
kccheng:*¨òòòòòï†þ
To the above, ( 27/6/98) Andy S. of the Internet Direct
Support replied ". . .I noticed that there are %20
characters after each link. This means you have put spaces in
after the file names and their links. . . . Remove the extra spaces
. . .And rename the files that have the extra space characters
by removing the space."
What does not mean and involve?
1) Simply removing the spaces
after the files is insufficient. Because: all webfiles having links to these
files already had spaces in these file names. When clicking on,
these hypertext links embodying the old file names would once
more show up spaces and therefore %20 on the pathnames shown in
the location/go to box and status line of the internet
navigator (e.g. Netscape) window. Once more, these files cannot
be accessed on the web. Instead, usually a page of html source
codes would be called out. That's the end of the link. Dead end.
Therefore, to solve the problem, the hyperlink text has to be activated and changed. In such a web authoring application program as Pagemill, for instance, that hypertext is highlighted first when the program is in the "edit" mode when webpages can be changed, words, sentences added or deleted, etc. When highlighted, usually the "link" provided by that hypertext is shown in the "link location bar." That's when the spaces for that pathname can be removed. Clicking in this gray link bar would automatically place the blinking cursor at where the end of the file names is. If the filenames contain 2 spaces after the filenames proper, the cursor would blink at the END OF THOSE 2 SPACES. Just press the "delete" key twice to remove those spaces,I.e.until the blinking cursor rests at the space next to the last letter of the filename. At that point, no space exists after the filename any more and further "deleting" would delete letters of the filename. Now, press "enter" to enter the new pathname.
Correct URL(universal resource locator) addresses or pathnames can also be pasted into the link location bar and entered in the same manner. (1)Highlight the hyperlink text or button. (2)Click the location bar. (3) Paste the pathname. (4) Press "enter."
No spaces either in front of or anywhere in the filenames is allowed. Any space would be converted by this type of webservers into a %20.
This is not so the case with home computers which allow spaces like that. On my Macintosh, using Pagemill webpage authoring and viewing, no problems at all. These spaces are recognized and the links worked fine before being uploaded onto the internet service provides(ISP)'s unix webservers. The latter instantly converted these spaces into %20. Hence, I was unaware of these links being dead until recently when I once again went to check on them on live internet from within an internet web navigator.
If these hyperlink texts or buttons have been renamed, their spaces removed, and yet the files themselves have not been corrected, there would be a mismatch between(1) and (2): (1)these hyperlinks' file names and pathnames, and (2)these files themselves being placed on the server to serve the webpages. This results in "files not found" when these links are clicked from a web navigator. Also, while .(dots) are allowed, slashes ("/") would be treated like spaces and therefore not allowed in filenames.(2/7/98)
The above is in principle identical to "why putting
a period or anything other than a slash, i.e. a " / "
behind a URL address such as 'http://www.kccheng.org' would never
get you to that site at all. However, the moment you type in only
http://www.kccheng.org
you'll get there! "
II) Other tips
1) When and DURING THE PROCESS of uploading the files to a server, ensure all files and folders(subdirectories) are placed in the right places and in the right orders as you want them to appear on the internet. Never place a file at a location other than where it has to be on a web page. For instance, if a file is supposed to be accessed from subdirectory A, it has to be in A when uploaded. If placed in folder B when uploaded, its pathname would have B in place of A, resulting in this file being inaccessible from hyperlinks referring to it as having the pathname " ...A...." Again, the message would be "file not found...." Do not upload the outermost folder used on your computer disks to hold all the folders and files for that site. Leave it out. Just open this outermost folder and upload the rest. Because, if you upload that outermost folder, you would have added an unnecessary "subdirectory" name in the pathnames.
2) Never name any file or folder as "www..." or "http://. . ." That's because any program concerning the internet, such as Pagemill used to author webpages would mistake such a folder or file as being from the web itself, I.e. outside of one's own computer files, and therefore would be unable to locate it while still being in the same folders on one's own computer disks, e.g.,hard drive.
to create Chinese webpages
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