I've said this elsewhere: there are many different ways to share information (on the Web and otherwise). Each affords different advantages and has different constraints. For this particular purpose we're using a Web site.

First, a short explanation: you have a section of the STU server which is only accessible by you (and the IT staff). It's your f: drive -- when you're working in the lab it functions almost exactly like the hard drive (c:) on a standalone computer. You can save files to it, you can create subfolders on it, etc.

One existing subfolder on your f: drive is called public_html. That one section of your space on the server is open to the public; anybody, anywhere in the world, who has its address can see whatever is in it. Its Web address (the URL that appears in the Location: window of your browser) will be in this form: http://people.stu.ca/~gwxyz/ where gwxyz is your logon id.

So, if you save a file there, someone else can see it.  The problem is that if you save it as a Word or WordPerfect file, or a PDF (portable document format) there's an extra step in seeing it; the form that most Web sites are saved in is called HTML (an abbreviation for "HyperText Markup Language"). That's the form that almost everything on our course Web site is saved in (and you may have noticed that my course Web site is on just the same system: its address is in exactly the same form, ending in /~hunt/22230708, where the 22230708 is the name of a folder I've created, for this course, inside my public_html folder.

If you're working in the lab -- that is, with a direct connection to the STU server -- you can view this folder, and move files into and out of it, with My Computer.  Click "My Computer," locate your F: drive -- it'll be called "gwxyz on Stunovc\Homefs\User\ (F:)". Double-click on that. One of the items listed will be public_html. Double-click on that. That's your Web site. If you've used the STU Web site before, you'll know what's there; if you haven't, it will probably be empty.

Creating your Web space for this course

The first thing to do is to create a subfolder to hold your work for this course.  It needs to be named, exactly, engl2223 (that's a lowercase L after the eng, not a one; and it matters). You create it in the usual way: right-click in the empty space, select New, then Folder, then type the name in the space and press <enter>.

How you save your file in your Web space

You have a file you want to save and make readable. Let's assume it's either a Word or a WordPerfect file.  Open it. You need to do three things: make sure it's in the right format, make sure it has the right filename, and make sure it's saved in the right place. [Note, by the way, that the instructions below may vary from one version of each program to another -- but the basic procedure is the same.]

If it's a Word File, click on File, and then Save As. Down at the bottom of the window that'll open there's a dropdown menu which will say "Word Document (*.doc)." Clicking the arrow next to that will show you a number of possibilities for saving your file: the one you want is "Web page, filtered (*.htm; *.html)." Click that one. Now go up the the File name: box. In that box, you need to type exactly the filename you want: if this is your learning journal you're saving, the filename needs to be report1.htm (not html).

If It's a WordPerfect file, you click on File, and then Publish To, then "HTML."  To the right of the window below "HTML File Name" is an icon that looks a little like a folder. Click it. After a couple of seconds a window will open which will let you navigate to your f:\public_html\engl2223 folder. When you're there, click "Open" (that's not what you want to do, but that's what WordPerfect wants), and you'll get to a "Publish to HTML" window where you can check the location -- it should be f:\public_html\engl2223\report1.htm -- and click "Publish."

There are easier ways to do this, if you have access to an HTML editor; one comes as part of Mozilla (though not Mozilla Firefox, the more popular browser), and there are others you can download.  But for now this is the most straightforward way.

There are a number of ways to do this from off campus, which we'll get to in a while: right now, if you don't already know how to do that, it's best to assume you're going to have to do this do this in the lab. Keep your learning log on a memory stick or diskette, or email it to yourself in order to work with it there.

That's it. Congratulations. Now let's use this.

You can check to see that your file was saved in the right place, and with the right file name, and in the right format, by going to the course Web site, looking at Prompt #7, and following the link to your name.