I am proud to announce that we finally have a real World Wide Web
server here at UNT that we can begin to use to build a (hopefully)
elaborate system of campus information. The previous issues of
Benchmarks have several good articles about the Web and my News
from the Gopher/CWIS Hole column will also begin to carry several Web
pointers as well. To connect to the top level of our Web server enter
the following address as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that you want
to connect to: http://www.unt.edu/.
It should be noted now that the World Wide Web server will not
replace the Gopher server that we already have such success with.
Rather, it will act to supplement information wherever possible. That
is, if you need to make some documents or graphics available that do not
need to be highly integrated, or that do not need to have hypertext
links associated with them, Gopher might still be the best choice. All
supported Web clients have simple Gopher clients built in to them, and
thus can access the less-advanced features of Gopher.
The World Wide Web has some very unique capabilities. If you are
using a graphical client (essentially anything other than Lynx for UNIX
or DOS-Lynx for MS-DOS), you can view graphics images that are
integrated into a display page. Maps can take on a life of their own
with `hot spots' embedded within them (i.e. click on a building in a
campus map and go to a Web page describing that building and the
departments housed within it). Sounds, movies and large graphic images
are still downloaded and still require an external viewing application
(such as JPEG View for the Mac or LVIEW for MS-Windows), but these items
can be represented with relative ease within a page. Text itself appears
to be formatted and is not limited to the 80 column ASCII text files
that we are used to. Electronic forms handling is much more advanced
and generally is more capable than that of Gopher.
Utilizing Univel's UNIXWare product, we will be providing extremely
easy methods for people to put information into the Web environment.
Essentially, we will dedicate a PC to running UNIXWare and attaching to
various file servers across campus. If you wish to provide information,
you would simply format your document in the Web's HyperText Markup
Language (HTML) format and put it in a www directory on your file
server. The UNIXWare machine would be able to serve this to the rest of
the world. See How to Add Information to The Web in this issue of
Benchmarks for additional information.
I see the Web being used to provide information in a new light and
in new ways not previously thought of. Many of the visions I originally
had for some of the advanced features of Gopher are actually going to be
easier to do with the Web. Hopefully, the snazzy interface will get
people more excited about providing information. For example, Jason Myre
in the College of Music is already working on a self-guided graphical
`walk-through' of the Music Building. Many manuals and documents that
are used by people at the University include many graphics and
references hypertext versions of these are not too far away.
Also, as of this writing, I am supporting the following World Wide
Web clients: In the future, I anticipate also supporting DOS-Lynx
for MS-DOS and EINet WinWeb for Windows as well as other Web clients
that are applicable.
Many people ask me about how they can get Mosaic. Well, Mosaic is
simply one of many World Wide Web clients. All of the supported Web
clients are available on the TRAINING file server in the directory
F:\LOGIN\PUB\INTERNET\. Mosaic for Windows is located in the MOSAIC
directory. If you have a Macintosh, look in the UNT Computing Center
zone in the Chooser for the AppleShare device Network Install Mac for
MacWeb and Mosaic for the Macintosh. Contact your Local Area Network
Manager for help getting to these services.
In addition to the normal Internet classes offered through Academic
Computing Services, I will be offering some classes on how to write HTML
or ASCII documents and how to use the multi-media capabilities of the
Web clients to your best advantage. If you plan on providing information
to either Gopher or World Wide Web, I highly encourage you to plan on
attending one of these classes. Look for schedules in future additions
of Benchmarks as well as on the Web server itself. You might want to
look in the back of this issue for Academic Computing Short Courses
information.
If you have problems or questions about this server, please contact me as soon as possible. You can send mail to the following address:
WWW@unt.edu