We are going to be creating webpages that will be stored on UMASS Office
of Information Technology (OIT)'s UNIX servers. UNIX is an operating
system that has been around for a long time; it is known for being a
very stable operating system --- meaning it doesn't crash very often.

To store our webpages on the OIT system, we need to learn a small bit of
UNIX.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Why do we have to store our webpages on the OIT systems?

A: Because it puts everyone in the same environment.  Everyone has to
learn the exact same commands to edit their webpages.  When there's a
problem, we can all fix it the same way.  This greatly simplifies
things, as all the websites will be in one place, and everyone can learn
the exact same system.


Q: Why are we designing our webpages by hand?

A: You may know there are a number of software packages, both commercial
and free, that assist you in designing webpages.  Many even use an
interface where you don't have to look at the code behind the webpage at
all.  While these products are very useful, you cannot *learn* anything
from them; you cannot see *how* the pages are being built.

Another reason is that frequently you will see a webpage on the web that
you like -- maybe you like the design, or the colors, or the layout, or
maybe you just want to know how they got the page to look the way it
does.  Since webpages are just text, you can look at the HTML code for
any webpage online!  You can then examine this code to figure out how
certain things are done; how this person built the page to look a
certain way.  Then you can apply those techniques to your own pages.
This cannot be done with a tool like Dreamweaver or Frontpage, at least
not as easily.  When you write your HTML code by hand, you control
everything about your page.  When you use a tool, you sacrifice some of
that control.

Learning HTML and coding webpages by hand also allows you in the future, if 
you ever *do* use a tool like Dreamweaver or Frontpage, to edit those pages
by hand if the program won't make your pages look exactly right.