I have downloaded WS_FTP, now how do I use it ?
I have put my webpage in my public_html directory, but it won't show when I type the address.
I can see my webpage, but some (or all) of the pictures aren't working.
My webpage comes up, but I only get the background, some (or all) of the text is missing.
I have a lot of Images, how do I put them in a separate directory ?
My Page loads slowly, what can I do about it ?
How do I put a counter on my page ?

Useful Websites
Useful Programs

I have downloaded WS_FTP, now how do I use it ?

Start up WS_FTP.  If you do not get a "Session Properties" box, then click the "connect" button in the bottom left.

Next, you have to start a new profile in WS_FTP. A profile is simply a name given to the settings you put in, so they can be recalled later.

Click the "New" button, next to "Profile Name".  All the boxes in the windows will be blank except for the "Host Name"
Next, Fill out the following details in the form.

Profile Name : This can be whatever name you wish to give the profile.
Host Name / Address : ftp.riverland.net.au
Host type : Automatic Detect
User ID : Your username for Riverland Internet
Password : Your password for Riverland Internet
Account and Comment boxes can be left blank.

Make sure there is no tick in the "Anonymous" box, then click the "Apply", then "OK" buttons.  You should now be connected to our server. To connect again, click in the profile box. You should be able to find your profile somewhere in the list.

You should see two large boxes. The one of the left is the files on your computer, the right is the files on Our server.  To change directories, double click the required directory.  To change back, double click the green arrow at the top of the listing.  The small box above the main windows shows the current directory path.

Change into the " public_html" directory on our server.  To transfer your webpage, find the files in the left window, select them, then press the -> arrow between the windows.  This will transfer all selected files to our server.

I Have put my webpage into my public_html directory, but it won't show when I type the address.

The address for your homepage is "http://www.riverland.net.au/~username", where "username" is your username. This should work for all our users. Make sure you have this correct first.

Next, you must have a file in your public_html directory called "index.htm" or "index.html".  These are the pages that come up when the above address is typed in. If they do not exist, the page will not show unless you type the full URL. i.e.: http://www.riverland.net.au/~username/filename.htm

Last thing to check is the case.  "index.htm" and "Index.htm" are two different things. "index" will work, "Index" won't.  As a general rule, try to keep all your filenames lower case, it saves confusion.

I can see my webpage, but some (or all) of the pictures aren't working.

There are a number of causes for this, these are some of the most common.
First, Check that you have actually transferred the pictures to your public_html directory along with the html files.  If the pictures aren't there, the page cannot display them !

Secondly, make sure none of the picture names have spaces in them. This is a common problem. Spaces will not work, unless you use special instructions, so it is easier to leave them out.

Third, check the case. Once again, "picture.jpg", "Picture.jpg" or "picture.JPG" are three different files.  You MUST use the correct case, so again, use the KISS principle and use all lower case where possible.

Also, Check the path to the image.  Some page designers actually leave the image path as C:\path\here\image.jpg.  If this is the case, then the person viewing the page must have the picture on their Hard drive, which is very rare to say the least.  If the picture is in the same directory as the page, then the image path should be just "image.jpg".

My webpage comes up, but I only get the background, some (or all) of the text is missing.

Firstly, check the obvious, is the text the same colour as the background ?  If so, then you won't see it.  Another not so common problem is if you are using tables.  Check that you have properly closed the table by putting </table> when it is finished.  This should only happen if you are creating the webpage in a text based HTML editor, Netscape, Frontpage and similar programs should close the table for you.

I have a lot of Images, how do I put them in a separate directory ?

For small homepages, it is easier to put everything straight into your "public_html" directory.  For larger pages, you may wish to create an "images" directory, or some other directory, to keep track of files more easily.

This is easy enough to do. Simply create the directory on your hard drive, put the files in it and transfer the directory using WS_FTP.  To get the webpage to see the images in the new directory, the image name should be "imagepath/imagename.abc"  Some webpage programs have the option to "Leave image at the original location". This should be ticked.

A tip to those using Netscape Composer to create their pages, I have had problems with image paths not saving correctly. I would recommend learning some basic HTML and after saving the page in Netscape, use an HTML editor to check the paths are correct.

My Page loads slowly, what can I do about it ?

Again, there are a number of reasons for this.  The most common is to do with Images.
When you view a webpage, the web browser loads the html page, and then the page tells it to go off and get the pictures.  If there are lots of pictures or they are large, then it is going to take some time to download. This means the ways to avoid this are not to have too many images, and keep them small.

When I say keep the images small, I don't mean make them the kind of size on screen that needs a magnifying glass. What I am talking about is the file size.  In windows, you can use Windows Explorer to find the picture files and click on them. The size is displayed on the grey bar at the bottom of the program.  If the size is over 100Kb, then it is probably not wise to use the image. Preferably, keep images to less than 50Kb.

Next is how to make the images smaller....  Doing this requires special image editing software. I use Paint Shop Pro (PSP), Available from http://tucows.netconnect.com.au/imgedit95.html. Unfortunately, the latest version expires after about 60 days.  If you can find version 4 out there anywhere, it will not expire (Well, Mine hasn't yet anyway), but being 2 versions old, it is harder to come by.

Once you have software, make sure you save all images you intend to use as JPEG format for photos, or GIF for icons.  Please note that every time you save a jpeg image, the quality is decreased, so try to save only once or twice. It is a good idea to keep the original scan saved as a TIF file on your hard drive as a backup, so you can always go back to original quaility if the .jpg becomes poor.

When you save a .jpg image, depending on the software, you may be asked about compression ratios.  Basically, the more compression, the smaller the file, and the poorer the image quality.  To keep things simple, leave it as default for now, but if you want to experiment, increase the compression, save the file and then load the .jpg to check the quality. Play like this, always starting from the .tif file, until you reach a balance between good compression and acceptable image quality.

Another thing to look at is resolution. Resolution is the number of dots in each inch (dpi) of the picture.  Monitors only display at a resolution of about 75dpi, so having an image resolution of 200 is a waste of space.  Resolution will make a big difference in image size.  The ways of changing resolution will vary from program to program. In PSP, click "Image" then "resize".  You should find the option to change resolution under here.  It is best to change resolution before saving as a .jpg.

Some Useful Websites.

www.siteowner.com : A great website for checking your page once it is on the web. Siteowner can check spelling, broken links, loading time and can even submit your site to search engines.... All for free !

"The Alertbox" : May be jumping in the deep end if you are just starting your webpage, but has some useful information, such as "the top 10 mistakes in Webdesign".

TUCOWS : some of the software links below actually jump to specific parts of TUCOWS. This site has LOTS of useful software (Not only for web design).

"The Web tools review" : Actually based on a photographic homepage, the publisher has also put tips on how to make pages better.  Worth a look, but not all of it is relevant to a normal homepage.

The "Bare bones guide to HTML" : For those wishing to try HTML editing, this site has EVERY HTML tag available listed in 21 languages and multiple formats....  The word "Wow" comes to mind

Some Useful Software  Some of these links will only take you to the website where the software can be found.  Scroll down the page to find the name mentioned.

GIMP : The GNU Image Manipulation Program. Very good image editing software. Completely free.

Core FTP : An FTP program for putting your webpage onto the server. It's easy to use and a small download. The free "Lite" or LE version is plenty for us.

Filezilla : Another FTP program. This has more features and some people prefer it.

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