Newsgroups: rec.scouting,rec.answers,news.answers From: troop24@emf.net (Alan Houser) Subject: rec.scouting FAQ #9: Scouting on the World Wide Web Followup-To: poster Keywords: scouting www home page faq Distribution: world Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Archive-name: scouting/9_scouting-on-the-www Last-Modified: 14 Mar 1995 This file contains information about how to find and access Scouting home pages on the World Wide Web and how to create a home page on the Web. It is not intended to be a tutorial on the subject, but only some thoughts from people who have created such pages to be shared with someone who is contemplating creating her/his own page. This file is maintained by Alan R. Houser (troop24@emf.net). If you have any comments or suggestions to include, please send them to Alan. This file is in digested format, like all FAQ files on this newsgroup. If you're using nn as newsreader, type 'G %" to split the digest into individual postings. In bn or rn, typing control-G should cause the reader to skip to the next posting within this file. There are ten FAQ files in the rec.scouting FAQ series. The FAQ files are posted in regular intervals (one file every three or four days) on rec.scouting, rec.answers and news.answers. They can also be retrieved through anonymous FTP from ftp.ethz.ch (path: ftp.ethz.ch:rec.scouting/). This file is, of course, also available on the web: rec.scouting FAQ #9 As the FAQ files are updated regularly, make sure that you have the latest copy in your hands. The release date of this FAQ is indicated in the line starting with "Last-Modified:" at the top of this file. Files older than three months should be considered as outdated. *** COPYRIGHT NOTICE *** This file or parts of it may be freely used, printed and re-distributed as long as you enclose this paragraph and keep the references to the respective contributors and to the maintainer (listed below) intact. -- Alan R. Houser ** troop24@emf.net TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= 1) Are there WWW pages about Scouting ? 2) What software do I need ? 3) I have only limited Internet access. Is it still possible to get on the WWW ? 4) How do I create my own site for my troop / group / council etc. ? 5) How should the pages be structured ? 6) What should I include on my pages ? 7) What shouldn't I include on my pages ? 8) OK, my page is ready. Now what ? 9) How can I tell if anyone is reading my page? 10) Security concerns ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 From: David Jansen Subject: Are there WWW pages about Scouting ? Yes; a few good starting points are : The InterNETional Scouting Page US Scouting Front Door These two sites are gateways to dozens of other Scouting Web pages around the world, and they are frequently updated to include new sites. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 From: David Jansen Subject: What software do I need ? You need a WWW browser client, such as Mosaic, Netscape or Lynx. A graphical client should be best, but as far as most Scouting pages are concerned, you get quite far with a text-only client such as Lynx. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 From: David Jansen Subject: I have only limited Internet access. Is it still possible to get on the WWW ? Yes (but limited). If you do have the ability to connect to the outside world using telnet, then there are a couple of sites you can use : - telnet.w3.org (limited, but works even without vt100 emulation) - info.funet.fi (select service : www) - journal.biology.carleton.ca (login as : www) - many of the local freenets have a telnet -> www gateway as well Once you're in, type the command 'G' and the full location (URL) of the document you want to access. If you only have e-mail, you can retrieve documents through the modified LISTSERV at info.cern.ch. Just send a message to listserv@info.cern.ch containing send http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~jansen/scout.html to retrieve the InterNETional Scouting Page. You will then get a mail message with the text and a list of pointers at the end, so you have to send a separate message for each page you want to view. A description of this system can be found by sending a message with send without a URL. This description can also be viewed here ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 From: David Jansen Subject: How do I create my own site for my troop / group / council etc. ? First, find out whether your system administrator and the people in charge will allow you to create pages for personal use. They may also be able to help you set up your pages. Then, learn about the HTML language. A good primer is A beginners guide to HTML It's also a good idea to look at other pages and view the HTML source to find out how a certain effect can be reached. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 From: David Jansen Also-From: Alan Houser Subject: How should the pages be structured ? Make a home page which acts as an index to your other pages. Don't include too much information on the home page itself, since this is the page that is going to be downloaded every time that someone acesses your site. Including too much on it will unnecessarily increase the network load and degrade everyone's performance. Also, remember that as you add more information to your pages, you don't want to keep changing the home page, so try to use a branching tree structure. It may be helpful to map things out on pieces of paper and tape them to the wall as you visualize your pages. Use subdirectories to keep your pages organized, but don't use long names-- there are limits to how long a URL can be, and it includes your site names as well as the path and file names. Visit some of the other unit pages listed in the above pages and see what works best for you. If you like a particular one, contact the person responsible (usually an e-mail address on the page somewhere) and ask if you can clone it. Usually, they will be flattered. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 From: David Jansen Also-From: Alan Houser Subject: What should I include on my pages ? This of course depends on the type of page you are preparing, but in general, you should mention whether or not your page is "official". Again, look at other pages for ideas. E-mail Address: ============== Be sure to include your name and e-mail address for feedback, or better, if possible, include a mail form or a mailto: link. But don't leave off the email address, because not everyone will have forms support. Return to Home Page: =================== Include an anchor or button that will allow a visitor to return to your home page. Some browsers reportedly don't handle back ups very well; plus, someone may come in from another path. For example, if you have a council-level page, it may get listed separately from your unit home page in some of the master lists, so some visitors to the council page may not be aware of your home page. Graphics: ======== Be judicious in your use of graphics, especially large ones. If you have a lot of graphics in your pages, some people will have trouble downloading them over dial-up lines. You may need to provide alternate pages without graphics for such users. In general, for large graphics (such as photos) you should indicate in the text how large the file is so that the visitor can decide whether or not to download it. For photo albums, use thumbnails -- smaller versions of the pictures -- that show the image in a reduced size and include a caption to suggest to the visitor whether or not she/he might want to click on it to see the full sized photograph. Also, don't use graphics as anchors for other pages unless you also provide text anchors for those who cannot or do not download your graphics. This is especially true if you use a clickable map. Use the ALT= option in IMG to specify a string to display if the user is not receiving your graphics. The preferred graphics formats are GIF, JPEG, and XBM. What's New ========== To encourage return visitors, have a What's New page so that they can see what's been added since their last visit without having to go through everything else. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 From: Alan Houser Also-From: David Jansen Subject: What shouldn't I include on my pages ? It's a good thing to remember that whatever you put on your page, will be read by everyone. Privacy should be a major concern. Do not identify anyone by full name, address (electronic or real), or phone number without his or her permission. And for youth members, probably that is not even sufficient--use only first names and/or initials. Also check whether there are any local laws or rules of your Scouting organization that apply. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 From: David Jansen Also-From: Alan Houser Subject: OK, my page is ready. Now what ? Announce it. Post in on SCOUTS-L, rec.scouting and if appropriate also on Scouting-Europe, Scout-Girls-L and any local Scouting list. You might also want to notify one of the people who maintain index pages, although they will probably read the anouncements as well. If you do not subscribe to one of the mailing lists above, you can send an email message to one of the existing pages and ask them to post it for you. You might also want to announce it to non-scouts in your local area. After all, these pages are an advertisement for your unit. Is there a page for your local community, either through the local government or the library or a public service page? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 From: Alan Houser Subject: How can I tell if anyone is reading my page? Check with your system administrator to find out where the access logs are maintained. He or she can also tell you how to read the logs and maybe even help you with a program that will read the logs for you and create instantaneous summary statistics like Troop 117 has done on their page: http://www.cor.net/scouts/t117.html The error logs are a good thing to check, too, to make sure that your links don't contain any typos that prevent your readers from seeing your pages. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 From: David Jansen Subject: Security concerns Here's something from my notes on www security : - In general : if the www server runs as 'root', there may be problems !!! The http daemons (servers) all have an option to run under a different user ID. Use that option. At my site, there is an account 'www' that is only used to run the programs; it has no write permission in the directories where the www pages are stored. This user also only has read permission for files that anyone can read, so whatever happens, no one can retrieve read-protected stuff through the web from this site (see below). - Only data stored in the specified www directories can be accessed, so no one can get sensitive information from your site. BUT : if local users want to do harm, they can provide links to this sensitive information in their personal www directory. e.g. if ~me refers to /home/me/public_html and user 'me' makes a link : ln -s /usr/sensitive/topsecret /home/me/public_html/topsecret.txt then the information may be compromised, depending on the read permissions of the original file, especially if the www server runs as root !! Therefore, use the scheme such as the one described above, with a low-privilege 'www' account. It is not possible to damage files in this way, only to read what is not intended for your eyes, and when local users are trustworthy, there shouldn't be a danger. - A different story devellops when scripts or programs are run (e.g. for handling forms and clickable maps). In general (again) don't have them run as 'root'. It's also a good suggestion to have these programs running under a different user ID as the one that ownes the WWW pages, to prevent the script from damaging the pages. In general, good, trustworthy programs don't compromise your system. Users cannot import their own programs across the web; they can only run the programs your site provides in a single directory (e.g. /cgi-bin). - There is one concern though : html-forms that return shell commands and execute those : A simple example would be : and a script that does : eval $command-to-run Now if a hacker finds out that you have such a script, he can easily make a web page at his own site, which does something nasty, by replacing "/home/me/mycommand" by the name of some general UNIX command that is able to destroy files. I saw the first warning for this type of scripts about a year ago on comp.infosystems.www (if I remember correctly), and no script I came across on the web has this dangerous syntax, so unless you program such a monster yourself, there is no problem. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 From: Alan Houser Subject: Security concerns Unless you are a professional in the computer sciences field, this subject is probably more complex than you can imagine. Discuss security arrangements with your system operator or service provide, then FOLLOW THEIR INSTRUCTIONS. ------------------------------ End of rec.scouting FAQ #9 **************************