Getting Started

Students who know their UT EID now have 150 mb of free secure server space available to them on UT's server, Xythos. Students can now convey their papers to class without using discs or FTP programs or email attachments--they can upload their files to the server using the web interface, and download them again when they get to class.

1. Go to http://webspace.utexas.edu/.
2. Log in on the lefthand side of the page using your UT EID and password

You are now logged in to your webspace account. You can create folders in which to store documents, webpages, photos, etc.

These folders can be "Shared" with all webspace users or with the public by checking the box next to the folder, and then clicking "Share." If you check "Users with accounts", you will be granting access to all users of webspace, while "Public" grants access to any member of the general public with an internet connection. If you grant "write" privileges to your files, these files can be altered by anyone to whom you grant access, while "Read" will only allow people to view your files.

To Add Files to your Webspace Account

1. First you should create a folder for your pages or site that you can designate to be shared. Only folders or files with this designation will be public--everything else in your account is secure and private unless you actively designate it for sharing. You could just put everything in your root directory (your main folder), but that will get messy if you use Webspace for other purposes.
2. For the sake of consistency, you probably want to create a folder in Webspace with the same name (no spaces, capital letters or punctuation except underscores) as the folder which you are using to store your pages and images on your own computer. That way all your links and images will still work when you upload to the server (that is, if you have made sure you have only used relative links with just the file name and the file extension, separated by a period). You can create a new folder in Webspace by clicking on New Folder, and giving your folder a name in the box that comes up next.
3. Now click on the box next to that new folder to select it and click on Upload. A browse box will open. Use that dialog box to find and select the pages and images on your computer you wish to upload and put them one by one in the folder up on Webspace.
4. When you have them uploaded to the server, click on the Share icon to the right of that folder.
5. On the next screen select "change," then change the permission for Read to "public." Don't change the others--you just want people to be able to view these files on the web, not make changes to them or delete them.
6. Under "Choose a scope for this change," select "Apply changed settings to sub-folders and files."
7. Now you need to figure out your address or URL. Your address will be as follows: https://webspace.utexas.edu/+ your UT EID log-in/ + name-of-the-folder/ + filename-of-page + .html (or .htm). Note that there should be a forward slash after every section of this address except the last part, which will be the file name and file extension of your webpage separated by a period (for example, index.html)
8. If you put your page directly in your main folder (the one named with your UT EID, your address will simply be https://webspace.utexas.edu/ + your UT EID log-in/ + name-of-page + .html or .htm.)
9. Of course if you create a sub-folder within this web folder, you will have to insert the name of that folder in the address as well, after the name of outermost folder and between forward-slashes. That way you can organize multiple sites within a folder.
10. You can link to other kinds of files on your pages (such as movie clips, mp3s, or Word documents) by putting them in that same folder, and linking to them on your HTML page--NOT with an address, but simply with a relative link, that is, with only their file name and file extension, separated by a period. When someone visiting your site clicks on it, it will open in the appropriate program on their PC. (On Macs, a copy will start to download.)