Mac OS Personal Web Sharing is software you can use to create your own Web server and to share files with everyone on an intranet. Once you set up your server, add content to it, and turn on Web Sharing, others who know the address of your server can visit your personal site and view its content. As long as your computer is connected to a TCP/IP network (intranet or Internet) and your server is running, the server's content is available to all users of the network, regardless of the browser or the computer they have.
The first step in using Personal Web Server is to install the software on your system. After installation, you'll see two components: the Web Sharing control panel (in the Control Panels folder) and the Web Pages folder (at root level on your hard disk). You use the control panel to turn Web Sharing on or off and to designate the folder and home page you want to use as your server. The Web Pages folder contains the content you want to share.
System: You need a Macintosh or Mac OS computer with System 7.5.3 or a later version, and either Open Transport 1.1.1 (recommended) or MacTCP 2.0.6, with a functioning network connection.
Before you install Mac OS Personal Web Sharing, review the "read me" file in the folder with the software. This document contains the latest information about the software and alerts you to any last-minute changes or precautions you should know about when setting up and using your Web server. (The Read Me file is provided as an HTML document to read in your browser and as a SimpleText document. The two files have identical content.)
Important: You must have a functioning network connection before you turn on Personal Web Sharing.
About your IP address: Your Web server is identified on the network by its IP address. Once Web Sharing is turned on, the IP address appears in the Web Identity section of the control panel. Make a note of this address; if you have a domain name, it is displayed in addition to the IP address.
Should you forget your server's address, you can check it by opening the Web Sharing control panel. The address is displayed in the control panel whenever the server is turned on.
On your computer, you can specify a folder other than Web Pages (automatically selected when you install Personal Web Sharing) as your server, change to a different home page (or select no home page, which is the software's initial setting), and add or delete items in the server.
When you change the Web server folder, you need to select a new home page. (See "Using Personal NetFinder" below for more information about the list view of a server.)
When you install Mac OS Personal Web Sharing, no home page is selected. Instead, anyone who connects to your server will see the server's content displayed in a list view. (See "Using Personal NetFinder" below for more information about the list view of a server.)
If you want to use a home page instead of the list view, you can select "Default.html" (already in the Web Pages folder) as your home page.
You can also create your own or locate an HTML document and drag it to the Web Pages folder. Then repeat the selection procedure. (You can adapt the pages in the Sample Files & Templates folder, included with the server software, to start building your own library of Web content. If you can't locate the sample pages folder, open the WebScript document to start the Installer program, use the Custom Install option in the pop-up menu, select "Documentation Package", and click the "Install" button to install the sample files.)
The folder you specify as your Web server is like any other folder. You can add items, remove items, and edit any of the folder's contents. You can control access to the folder and to other folders inside it by using the standard file sharing privileges (see the next section of these instructions). To allow users who connect to your server to see all its content in a list, you can select "None" at the time you select a home page. If no home page is designated, the Personal NetFinder component of the software lists the server's content (see "Using Personal NetFinder" below for details).
Once you specify a folder as your server and turn on Web Sharing, all the items in that folder are available to anyone who connects to your server in "read only" format. You can add security to some or all of the server's contents by using the access privileges provided with Mac OS file sharing.
For complete instructions on using file sharing and assigning access privileges, see the topics listed under "Sharing Files" in Macintosh Guide or Mac OS Guide. The list below summarizes these procedures.
Important: Once you use file sharing's access privileges for any items in your server folder, you must leave file sharing turned on. If you turn off file sharing, everyone who tries to connect to your server will be denied access. (As soon as you turn file sharing on, others will again be able to connect and the security you established through access privileges will be in effect.)
You can set up your server so that visitors always see the Personal NetFinder (PNF) list view. If you want to keep your server primarily in PNF view, select None (rather than the name of a home page) in the Web Sharing control panel.
If you want to switch between list view and a home page frequently, you can display Personal NetFinder's view at any time by typing your server's complete address followed by "/PNF:" (not including the quotation marks) in your browser's URL location window. The form of this comment is "http://your.server.name/PNF:" (note the colon as the last character). When you want to return to the home page, simply use your browser's Back button.
If you want to present a list view of server items and a message/banner like that on many home pages, you can add a header and/or footer to Personal NetFinder. When you add files named "folder_header.html" and "folder_footer.html" to a server folder, Personal NetFinder will read the contents of those files and put the text before and/or after the folder listing. When you add "text_header.html" and "text_footer.html" to a server folder, Personal NetFinder will read the contents and add them to the beginning and end of any SimpleText document that it translates into HTML.
Note: When you create a header or footer file, that file must not have the standard HTML tags at the beginning ("<HTML>") or the end ("</HTML>").
You can use this header and footer capability to display graphics, provide your own tool bar, include a link to your top-level web page, or whatever you choose to make your site better.
Important: Remember that using the list view for your server allows everyone to see everything in the Web Pages folder. You can use file sharing privileges to allow or deny access to folders inside your server, however.
If many people are visiting your Web server, you may want to increase the amount of memory the software can use. This will allow for efficient "traffic" as people connect to your Web server and sample its contents. Turn the Web server off by using the "Web Sharing" Control Panel and select the "Stop" button. Use "Get Info" from the File Menu after selecting the "Web Sharing Extension" in the System's Extension Folder. Increase the Preferred size of the Memory Requirements box. Close the Get Info box and turn the server on via the "Web Sharing" Control Panel.
MIME types configuration will be read from the Mac OS Personal Web Sharing MIME types file in your Preferences folder. You can edit this file and add your own MIME types with any text editor. The instructions for this are located in the file.
Many Web servers use Common Gateway Interfaces (CGIs) to gather and distribute information. CGIs are used for the forms you fill out when you join a membership Web site or complete a questionnaire before you download software. Mac OS Personal Web Sharing can operate with CGIs. CGIs are available from many independent suppliers.
You can use the sample Web pages and templates provided with this software to fashion your own Web content. These files are in the Sample Files & Templates folder, which is inside the Web Sharing folder. (If you can't locate the sample files, use the Installer program's Custom Install option to install the "Documentation Package".) The folder also contains instructions and tips for using the sample files in the document "Using Sample FilesTemplates.htm"
In addition, you'll probably want to visit some of the many Web sites that offer great advice and examples for creating Web pages. Some of these useful sites are listed below; visit them to learn more about providing content for Mac OS Personal Web Sharing.
Web design guidelines from Apple's Human Interface group: Excellent advice for planning Web content of any size or scope.
HTML tutorials: A set of documents on various aspects of the hypertext markup language (HTML).
The Web Developer's Virtual Library: Depth and breadth about Web topics, standards, scripting languages and technologies, and much more.
Yahoo Web design topic list: A rich set of resources for all aspects of Web design and related topics.
Yale style guide for Web design: Comprehensive design information and resources.