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FAQ - Personal Web Pages @att.net

This page contains answers to common questions about personal Web pages (PWP) on AT&T Worldnet Service. Thanks to Scott Chen for gathering them all in one place. We've also included some tips and tricks that we have found useful and have presented here as questions. If you're new to Web page design, please check out our Web Designer's Handbook. Note: Some of the links referenced below will require authentication to the publishing area of the personal Web page server.

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OK, I read all the information, and I still didn't get my questions answered concerning Personal Web Pages @att.net. What do I do now?

If you have problems or questions, be sure to check the help file for the application you are using. If your questions remain unanswered, check the PWP FAQ and the PWP Newsgroup FAQ.

Note: If you're looking for AT&T DSL Service support, see http://dslhelp.att.net

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Why do I get the This user hasn't moved in yet page when I've already created my pages?

You need to make sure you have at least one HTML page called index.html, index.htm, home.html, or home.htm in your user directory. If you do not have one of the above files, the system will display the not moved in message.

If your publishing tool creates pages that do not meet the common index file naming conventions (with examples like default.htm), you should rename them to index.htm first, before you upload them.

If you have created a page through the JavaScript based templates, please note that they are currently being generated with default names of personal.html (personal page), resume.html (resume page), my_business.html (my business card page), and my_assoc.html (association page). They will be served up as your default pages, if you do not have one of the previously listed files given above.

Also, check to make sure your pages are named in lower case. If your page is named Index.html, the system will not recognize it, because file names on PWP are case sensitive.

If you realize that you have sent files through FTP in mixed cases, use the Case Conversion Utility to convert it to all lowercase.

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How do I sign up for my Web storage space, and how much do I get?

First, all PWP members now have 25 Megabytes of storage (1024 bytes x 1024 Kbytes/1MB x 25MB) for each e-mail account. Since each main account can have an additional 5 e-mail addresses, you get a total of 150 megs of Web space. You can not combine them into a single 150 meg Web site however.

For additional information:

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Where can I find what features have been added (will be added) by AT&T to the PWP?

Keep checking the announcement page at the following location. They announce all new features there.

You can find Site Feature Instructions in the members only area.

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Can I use Microsoft Publishing Wizard or FrontPage to publish my page?

Yes, you can use the publishing wizard or FrontPage to publish to upload.att.net in addition to the third party stand-alone FTP clients (like WS_FTP, CuteFTP) or, use Browser FTP to transfer your Web pages in bulk. For more information, go to these pages:

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Why do I get the message "Site not Found" or "The Server does not have a DNS Entry" when I use my browser to go to publish.att.net

Check the DNS entries in your Network Settings. If you have Windows 95/98, click on your Start button, select Settings, and then choose Control Panel. Open the Network window, select TCP/IP, then Dial Up Adapter, and then click on the Properties button. Select the DNS Configuration tab.

Name Server Addresses (DNS):

If DNS is enabled and you find one or more of these entries in your DNS settings, but are still having trouble, you will need to re-order the AT&T Worldnet Service DNS entry in your Network TCP/IP DNS settings and move the order of the AT&T Worldnet Service DNS to be the first queried.

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Why don't I see my pages? I have uploaded them to upload.att.net, but they don't show up.

You can verify the success/failure of your last FTP session by going to this page:

Near the top of the page, you should see two lines like:

------- Horizontal Break ---------
Last Upload time: Apr 18, 1998 01:45:15 GMT
Last Upload status: SUCCESS
------- Horizontal Break ---------

DISK USAGE
... Table follows...

If your Last Upload status was a success, you might be seeing a page that is still in your browser cache. Additional information.

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Where can I find information about my e-mail password?

If you use FTP, then you will need your e-mail password as your password. You'll find information about locating your account information in our Most Frequently Asked Questions.

Remember that your e-mail password is case sensitive. Be careful typing it when you use it for FTP authentication on PWP. If you fail authentication three times in a row, you'll be locked out of the authentication process for 24 hours, and there is NO WAY around it at this time.

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How do I use Netscape 3.0 Gold/4.0 Composer to publish my page?

You can now use Netscape 3.0 Gold/4.0 Composer to edit and publish your personal Web pages! We have Netscape Composer information avaialble.

In additional to using NS3.0 Composer to edit and publish, you also have the choice of using one of many third party stand-alone FTP clients to transfer your Web pages in bulk.

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Where can I find what MIME types you support on the personal Web page Web server?

You can find a list of mime types on the Mime Types and PWP@att.net page.

For example, if you want to publish a shockwave file, then you should use .dcr as the extension of your file.

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Why don't I see my new page? I'm still seeing the old one before I made my changes using one of the templates.

Your browser is probably fetching the page from your disk cache instead of reloading the one with the latest changes.

To see your revised page, make sure you hit Refresh in Microsoft Internet Explorer, or Reload in Netscape. If that does not work, clearing out your cache may help. In addition, you may want to modify your preferences for cache setting, so your computer compares it's internal cache with the network document every time and determine if it should fetch a newer version of the same document.

You can manually clear the cache as follows:

Internet Explorer:

  1. From the View menu, choose Internet Options.
  2. Select the General tab.
  3. Click on the Delete Files button under Temporary Internet Files.

Netscape 4.x

  1. From the Edit menu, choose Preferences.
  2. Highlight Cache under Advanced.
  3. Click the Clear Memory and Disk Cache buttons.

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I'm offered a cookie right after I authenticate -- if I refuse the cookie, I am not allowed in and get sent back.

The cookie given to you allows you to publish. Don't refuse your ticket.

In addition, the PWP authentication cookie given to you is not written to your hard drive and is good for the duration of your publish session. In some ways, it is similar to little ink spot stamped on you when you have to leave the park for a short interval; It's not permanent, and it washes off...

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How do I delete a sub-directory?

A new tool is now available for deleting user sub directory and all the files within the sub-directory. You can access this tool by clicking on this URL:

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How do I reset my counters? Why doesn't my counter value go to zero after I deleted my page?

You can go and reset your counters value on the Count Manager page.

You will see a table displaying your URL(s) and counter value(s). Make your changes and click on the Update the Counter(s) button to update.

Remember that the counter value (for any particular page) remains even if you deleted a page from your directory. This is useful if you want to make major modifications to your page (and keep the counter value associated with that page). You always have the options to reset the values to zero with the counter manager.

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How do I customize my counters?

You can customize your counter by giving it attributes: describing background color, foreground color, and style. In addition, you can now use your own counter images. See the WURD on Counters for details.

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How do I find another AT&T Worldnet User's Home page?

You can find another User's Home page by going to the search function.

You will be able to search on the e-mail ID, the Personal Web Publishing Description, and the available community information that a member has chosen to disclose. The system will return the first 20 matching entries from those members who have chosen in their profiles to be listed.

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How do I utilize password protection for my site?

Password Protection for sub directory content is now available. At a high level, here are the steps you need to take:

  1. Make a sub-directory to hold content
    https://publish.att.net/cgi-bin/pp_diskutilgen#mkdir
    For example, create a subdirectory called photo
  2. Protect your sub directory with a password
    https://publish.att.net/cgi-bin/pp_diskutilgen#pswddir
    Use the drag down box to select a subdirectory name, type in your password twice, and click the PROTECT button.
  3. Move your files to the sub-directory
    https://publish.att.net/cgi-bin/pp_diskutilgen#rename

For example, I want to move my_family_photo.jpg into a created sub-directory called photo. I would use this utility to select my_family_photo.jpg with the drop-down box, and type in photo/my_family_photo.jpg in the box immediately below it. Then, hit the RENAME FILE button and wait for confirmation.

Distribute the password you have chosen. You can either phone the party or send them an e-mail from AT&T Worldnet Service (perhaps with encryption).

When a user requests to browse your content that is protected, an ID and password prompt will be displayed. In order to successfully pass this point, the user will need to enter the name of the sub-directory as the ID (in this example, photo), and he will need the password that you have selected to protect that sub-directory in order to continue.

You can also use JavaScript to password protect certain pages. The JavaScript code to do this can be found at ebGATE

ALSO:
An AT&T Worldnet Service user has a page Protecting Web Pages FAQ.

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Can my page be found by people using a search engine?

Yes, but you need to request an external search engine (like HotBot) to index your home pages first. Bear in mind that this process may take some time. In addition, your page may also be searchable and found through the PWP search engine if you have your PWP profile selected as LISTED, and the user enters a query that either partially or fully matches your e-mail ID or your profile description.

For information on getting your page listed with the external search engines, check the section in the WURD Web Designer's Handbook on promoting your site.

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Does AT&T Worldnet Service provide user guest books?

Yes. The Guest Book is now available. If you elect to make use of the guest book, a storage space of 100 Kilobytes will be required to store the contents of the guest book (up to 100 entries). To subscribe to the guest book, you need to first go to the profile section at this URL and make the appropriate changes.

Guest Book Tip:

Remember to change the owner=emailid to your own e-mail ID .The e-mail ID is the portion of your e-mail address before the @. In Scott Chen's case, he would exchange emailid to skchen.

See the example below:

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Does AT&T Worldnet Service provide FrontPage Server Extensions?

No, they don't. You can use FrontPage to create your Web pages on your PC and then upload them, but you will not be able to utilize FrontPage extensions like bots and such. The PWP Web server does not currently support proprietary server extensions like FrontPage Extensions. If you create pages that require FrontPage server extensions, they will not work. In the same vein, active server pages (.asp) will not work on PWP, either.

FrontPage Features Requiring Extensions:

FrontPage Features Not Requiring Extensions:

For additional information on using FrontPage without the server extensions, see the following page:

If you would like to use FrontPage, and have it hosted on AT&T servers, you can sign up with AT&T Web Site Services at the following URL:

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What is the limit on the size of the graphic file that I can upload to my personal Web page?

There is no file size limit on any file that you wish to upload/create, whether it is an html file or a graphic file -- within the limits of the allocated user storage space (currently 25 megabytes). There is one caveat; that the file (upload) operation that exceeds your storage limit will fail.

Some AT&T Worldnet Service users using Windows 3.x(tm) have reported difficulty uploading large files to PWP (using Netscape 3.0/CuteFTP). The reported symptoms are that the data transfer rate slows progressively and then stops. If this is the case, the following information may help you resolve the situation.

Open your system.ini file, and add and save the following (if it doesn't exist):

[VNTSPSD]
MaxFrameSize=1000

Restart Windows and try to send the file.

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Does AT&T Worldnet Service provide business Web hosting?

AT&T Worldnet Service doesn't offer business Web hosting, but AT&T IP Services does. For more information see http://www.ipservices.att.com/

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How do I post an image for use with online (eBay and other) auctions?

Posting an image for use on Web auction sites is relatively simple and does not even require the creation of a Web page. You need only upload your pictures as standard graphics files to your PWP space. These files should be either JPEG or GIF format, which you can create using image editing software. The steps are:

Please remember that the AT&T Worldnet personal Web page servers are case sensitive. A file named Plate.jpg is not the same as a file named plate.jpg.

You'll find more information on the eBay Web site.

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How do I create a signature file to put on my posts?

We would be ever so happy if everyone could take a few moments out to create a signature file containing your PWP url if you do not already have one. This way your url will be added automatically to all your postings and when you have a question they can just click and go there.

Currently they need to show your headers, copy and paste your ID into the PWP url. This takes a lot of time when you have to do it for everyone. Any help you folks can give them for speedier access benefits us all.

If you do not wish to do this then at least please type the URL as follows on every posting when asking for assistance:

http://home.att.net/~emailid/
Note: The emailid is your e-mail id

If you need help making a signature file, look in the help section of your news program.

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Can I have a domain name for my page on AT&T Worldnet Service?

Domain names are not supported for your personal Web pages hosted by AT&T Worldnet Service and we do not offer web hosting.

Alternatives that may meet your needs include:

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What are the settings I use to upload my files to the personal Web page server?

The following settings should work in most cases. However, we have detailed information for some web editors and ftp applications. Information about accessing to the PWP servers from another ISP is available.

Note: Your e-mail ID is the part of your e-mail address to the left of the @ sign.

Problems uploading with these settings.

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How do I add a pwp feature when I'm using a WYSIWYG editor? It keeps messing up my code.

WYSIWYG editors like to make the code look the way that they think it should look. However, it isn't always in the Webmaster's best interest. Most editors have allowed for this by giving you a way to enter code that is untouchable. We've outlined the method for a few of them on WYSIWYG Editors page.

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How do I add a Web Ring to my page?

If you want to use the Web Ring provided by AT&T Worldnet Service, check out the AT&T Worldnet Web Ring page.

You'll also find information on Web rings at WebRing.

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What is the URL for my personal Web page?

You have a choice of URLs for your personal Web page. You can either present it in the normal format:

http://home.att.net/~emailid

or, you can use a vanity URL:

http://emailid.home.att.net

Replace emailid in those URLs with your e-mail ID.

Example: If your e-mail address is johndoe@worldnet.att.net, then your e-mail ID would be johndoe, the part to the left of the @ sign.

Using this example your URL is:

http://home.att.net/~johndoe or
http://johndoe.home.att.net

Go here for additional information on using vanity URLs.

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How do I put my e-mail address on my page and still keep the spammers from harvesting it?

There are several ways that you can fool the spambots. We've outlined a couple of them below:

<script language="JavaScript"><!--
document.write ('<a href="mailto:')
document.write ('emailid')
document.write ('@')
document.write ('worldnet.att.net')
document.write ('">')
document.write ('Mail Me')
document.write ('</a>')
// --></script>

<a href="mailto:%20%20emailid@worldnet.att.net%20%20">Mail Me</a>

The browsers will parse out the %20's, but SPAMbots won't, and will send mail to %20%20emailid@worldnet.att.net%20%20, which is almost guaranteed to bounce.

Replace emailid with your e-mail ID (the part before the @worldnet.att.net), and Mail Me with the text that you want shown on the page.

If you're trying to paste the code shown above into a page with a WYSIWYG editor like FrontPage or Netscape Composer, see WYSIWYG Editors.

For additional information on fighting spam, check out the Spam - An Internet Tutorial.

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How do I put an image on my page that is already on my hard drive?

There are three things you should do to put a graphic that you already have on your hard drive onto your Web page:

  1. Upload the graphic to your personal Web space. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use one of the PWP Site Tools. Complete instructions are available.
  2. Add code to your HTML page pointing to the image. For this example, we're going to assume the following:
    • The name of the graphic file is puppy.gif
    • The graphic is 100 pixels wide and 100 pixels high
    • Type this in the position where you want the graphic to show on your page. Place it somewhere between the <body> and </body> tags.

    <img src="puppy.gif" width=100 height=100 border=0 alt="My puppy">
  3. The img src= tells the name and location of the file. In this case, we're assuming that the graphic is in the same directory as the HTML file. Remember, if you call it any other name or put it in a different sub-directory or forget to upload the image, then you will get that icon that replaces a missing graphic.
  4. The width= and height= reflect the size of the graphic. These can be omitted, but they let a browser set aside the space needed for the graphic while the rest of the page is being downloaded.
  5. The border=0 says that you don't want a border around the graphic. If you DO want a border, put the number of pixels you wish for the size of the border. For example, border=2 would put a border of 2 pixels around the graphic.
  6. The alt= tags should be used so someone that has images turned off will know what should be there.
  7. Upload the page to your personal Web space. You can use the same tools that you used to upload the graphic in step 1, or, see other options that we discuss in our Web Designer's Handbook.

To read more about images, see the Multimedia, AT&T Worldnet Help page. The NCSA (at UIUC) Beginner's Guide to HTML also has some very good information on adding graphics to your Web page.

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I've been told that I've been bitten by the case-sensitivity bug. What does it mean, and how do I fix it?

First some computing history. Ms-DOS 6.x and below only store filenames as all upper case. Your software may show you something different, but the fact is, it's name is all upper case when stored under this operating system. Since win3.x runs on top of Dos, this is how the files are actually stored on your Hard drive.

The advent of Windows 95, for the first time gave the average computer user the ability to specify case on their home machines. This has long been a capability in the Unix world, of which the PWP servers are.

What this means to you as a Web publisher is that, on a DOSx/WIN3.x/WIN9x machine, some applications will save files using upper case. The UNIX server recognizing case forces you have to make sure they match.

As opposed to renaming your image or sound file to lower case, you could alter your html source code to refer to it in all upper case as opposed to all lower, the choice is yours; what is important is that your source code match the case exactly on the Web server.

So, knowing all this, you now know that when you upload your home.html from your computer to the server, it's name might be HOME.HTML when it gets there, because this is what your machine is sending. Hence, even if you adjust your source code when you call other files to reflect them as all upper case, you will always have to rename this one to get it to show up as default. We have information on default file names earlier in this FAQ.

A simple solution, is to use an ftp application with the ability to force all lower case on the upload. But then, you still need to verify your source code as calling for lower case.

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I'm trying to use one of the Vanity URLs, but the graphics for my PWP features aren't showing up when I do. I can see them when I use the normal URL, but not the Vanity URL.

If you wish to use the Vanity URL, and you're using the AT&T Worldnet-supplied graphics for some of the PWP features, such as a Message Board or Chat Room, see the instructions on vanity URLs.

If you would rather not use the BASE HREF tag, you could use a full url for every graphic that you're using from the PWP Clip Art Gallery instead. Put the following in the front of each PWP Clip Art Gallery file name:
http://home.att.net

For example, if your source looks like this:

<a href="/cgi-bin/GBView?owner=emailid">
<img src="/global-images/guestbook/view_gb.jpg" border=0></a>

Change it so it looks like this:

<a href="/cgi-bin/GBView?owner=emailid">
<img src="http://home.att.net/global-images/guestbook/view_gb.jpg" border=0></a>

It isn't necessary to put the full url for all links, just the ones that refer to the PWP Clip Art Gallery graphics.

If you're using FrontPage 2000, see the FrontPage 2000 tips.

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I've added the Search My Site feature to my home page, but all of my pages don't show up when I do a search. Why?

Go to the A&T Worldnet Search My Site page and make sure that you have completed all of the steps, and have set up your profile to allow Web searches.

The search will only include pages that are indexed by the PWP search spider. Please see the PWP@att.net Search Spider page for a detailed explanation of how it works.

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Can I publish my Web site through another ISP?

Access from another ISP is now available. See the Access AT&T Worldnet Service from Anywhere site for additional information.

In order to FTP to the AT&T Worldnet PWP servers from another ISP, you must use an FTP application that supports SSL. So far, we've found the following applications that offer the SSL Explicit (Auth SSL) connections that work with the AT&T Worldnet PWP servers from another ISP. Read the application's Help file to learn how to use SSL for those applications without WURD instructions.

Click here to see the settings for uploading from another ISP.

We've provided instructions for using SSL with the following FTP applications, and hope to have more in the future.

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Why can't I upload my files? All of my settings seem to be correct!

There are several things that can cause you to have problems uploading your files even if your settings seem to be correct. Try each item in the following order.

  1. Make sure that you're connected to AT&T Worldnet Service, or our publish while using another ISP information if appropriate.
  2. If you're on dialup, try using upload.worldnet.att.net instead of upload.att.net as the FTP server. This will not work if you're trying to access the FTP server from another ISP.
  3. If you've been uploading successfully and just started having problems after the FTP servers were upgraded, review the settings here. There have been changes to the FTP process.
  4. Go to https://memberservices.att.net and, if you're automatically logged in, click on the Logout button in the top right corner to log out of your current e-mail ID. Then, go to http://publish.att.net and log in with the account that is giving you trouble.
  5. Make sure that there are no illegal file names in the files that you are trying to upload. A filename may not contain spaces or punctuation. A filename may contain only letters in capital (A-Z) or lower case (a-z), and the numerals 0-9. Dashes (-), underscores (_)and dots (.) may also be used, but a file name may not start with a dot or dash.
  6. Use "/" without the quotes in the Directory field. If this doesn't work, change it back to a blank field before trying the next option.
  7. If Passive mode (PASV) is turned on in your FTP application, turn it off. If it is turned off, turn it on.
  8. If you're running Windows 95, you might need to upgrade your Dial Up Networking component to DUN 1.2, or a 1.3 variant. To do this, go to Microsoft Downloads and scroll down to Networking.
  9. If you're running a firewall, make sure that you have granted permissions for the FTP software to connect to upload.att.net

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How do I backup my PWP Web site to my hard drive?

There are several ways to do it. If you already have Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 installed, follow the instructions on the Internet Explorer 6 FTP page.

You can also use an FTP application to transfer your files from the PWP servers to your hard drive. In most cases, all you have to do is drag and drop the files to a folder on your hard drive. You'll find instructions for setting up several FTP applications on the FTP and Personal Web Pages @att.net page.

Some editors have the capability to grab a Web site and place it on your hard drive, including Dreamweaver and FrontPage. Check the application help files for instructions. We've found the following help search terms will get you to the proper procedure. Note: If you have any files on your Web site that can't be reached directly or indirectly from a link on the index page, they will not be imported.

There are also applications that were created just for that type of thing. The following application is one of them. We haven't tried it yet, but we know people who have.

If you don't want to use any of the above to transfer your files, we have instructions on saving Web pages in our WURD Web FAQ

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How do I send the link to my page to people using AOL? The AOL browser doesn't seem to recognize it.

If you want to send the to your page to your friends on AOL, be aware that some AOL browsers have a problem with the ~ in the AT&T Worldnet personal Web page address. In this case, using a vanity URL is probably the best way to go. As an alternative, the AOL user could substitute %7e for the ~ in the address. This makes it recognizable for the AOL browser.

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Does AT&T Worldnet Service provide CGI hosting?

I'm afraid not. Maybe one of the AT&T Worldnet PWP Site Features will meet your needs.

If you can't find what you need using one of the PWP features, use your favorite search engine to search on cgi hosting. There are even some sites that will host CGI scripts for free.

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Can I use Word to create my Web pages?

Yes! You might be interested in reading what Leonidas Jones said about creating Web pages using Word:

Word is designed as a word processor, one of the most powerful. Its html capability was designed to allow a doc file to be viewed in html and restored to a doc file at the viewer's end, a pretty clever concept actually.

In order to accomplish this, Word adds huge amounts of code that is essentially meaningless to the Web browser, and only comes into play when the htm file is converted back to a doc file. This means the code for the page is about twice as big as it should be.

There is a filter for Word that reduces the unneeded code, though not completely. If you use Word I very much recommend the filter.

That being said, it is possible to produce functional and good looking Web pages using Word. If your need is to produce a page quickly, and you don't know html, it can work pretty well. Remember though that html doesn't support a lot of what we consider standard word processing formatting. Tab settings and columns, for example do not work, though wonderful things can be done with tables instead.

When I ventured first into the wonderful world of Web design, I used Word. I spent quite a while learning little tricks to make it work. On the down side, I have a couple of sites out there that I don't think I will ever really be able to fix.

So, if you just need to get a page up quickly, and don't want to get too fancy, Word can work. If you have a serious interest in Web design, there is no substitute for learning html.


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