mkdir ~/public_html
(The ~ character is usually obtained by pressing SHIFT and the key to the
left of the enter key on the third row of the keyboard).
The above command will make the directory called public_html, the ~/ denoting that it is within your home directory. To change to this directory, type:
cd ~/public_html
or just cd public_html if you are in your home directory already.
It's wise to call your main page index.html. This is because, unless a web browser is told which page within your directory to look at, it usually shows your index.html page. Also, you must have an index.html page for your name to show up in the list of SUCS members with web pages.
You should create your file in a text editor (which operate on a similar principle to Notepad in Windows). Many different editors are available on our system, the most popular ones, in increasing order of friendliness, being vi, joe and pico. Pico is probably the best editor for beginners to use, as all the commands are listed at the bottom of the screen at all times. It is also the editor used in the pine mail system, so you may have already used it without even realising.
To edit a file called index.html in Pico, just type
pico index.html
The convention ^C at the bottom of the screen in Pico indicates that you should hold the Control (Ctrl) key down and press the character noted. For example, Control-X will exit Pico, and Control-O (the letter 'oh') will save your current file (Pico calls this 'WriteOut').
You are now ready to begin writing your web page.
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