How to upload to your Xepher Account

[fesworks]

(I figured making a general topic on uploading would be a lot more helpful.. particularly for newcomers)

Here is my personal How-To guide for webcomickers anyway:

Also, this is filled with my personal opinion as well. I'm not an authority.

You need to download WinSCP

http://winscp.net/eng/download.php

Get the 4.0.5 (or latest) Installation Package. Once you load it up, click on the "New" button:

Host name: www.xepher.net
Port Number: [leave this alone]
User Name: username
Password: [self explanitory]
Private Key File: [leave this alone]
Protocol: SCP

Then click the "Save..." button and save it as:
username@xepher.net

Once you have that, Login.

One you are in, it will look like how Windows does. with icons of folders (directories) and files.

Now, the first screen that pops up, you can ignore basically everything on there. Just open public_html.

This is your main directory. if you put an index page in this folder, THAT is your home page. Inside this folder is your ROOT directory... it is where http://username.xepher.net will take people.

From "public_html", you can create more directories. such as "BASE". I have a "BASE" directory on all my projects. it is essentially where I put ALL of the images that go into the page design and are not needed by anything else... such as a title logo, Project Wonderful Ad images, menu and button images. It keeps them nice and tidy. Also, this "BASE" directory would show up as "http://username.xepher.net/BASE/".

Attached is an image I use FREQUENTLY. It is "Invisable.gif" It is basically what I just said... an invisable, or transparent GIF image. I used this for spacing things out. Instead of using a bunch of "< br>" and "< p>" breaks, I can adjust the size and space that this image takes up in order to position things where I want them. Also, unlike breaks, it will not resize depending on people's font size selection. You might find it useful.

Directories I suggest you create (of course you can make your own, and do what you want, but these are ideas):

BASE (already discussed)
COMICS or STRIPS (for your strips)
BONUS or ART (for extra arts or bonus material)
STORAGE (for non-specific files and images)
LINKS (if you have links/ad images to store)

Also, you might want to make an ARCHIVE directory as well for your individual strip pages as well (if you have them). Alternate methods would be just to put them in your ROOT directory (public_html), or even in your STRIPS or COMICS directory.

But these are just ideas.

[Xepher]

The hostname shouldn't have the "http://" bit in it... That's used to designate protocol, and http is the web browser protocol. In URL format, SCP is "scp://" but in this case (where the program knows what protocol it's doing) it should just be "xepher.net" (sans quotes.)

Now for some of my opinions:

Spacing things out with an image... novel, but doesn't scale well. If someone uses larger (or smaller) fonts due to their screen size or eyesight, the spacing isn't going to scale with it. Someone with poor eyesight is gonna end up with comparatively tiny spaces when they're using large fonts.

Grammar Nazi Moment: "Invisible" :-)

Folders: Keeping things organized is good... too many people just pile everything in "public_html" and it becomes a downright mess after a while. Personally I hate all CAPS names though, since they're a pain to type. But each to his own on that. Bottom line is just organize stuff in a way that works for you.

As for actually using WinSCP... depending on what interface you picked during install (you can change it in config somewhere) You're either going to see a split screen (Norton Commander style) or just a single window. (More like the rest of windows.) In the split screen, one is your computer, and the other is the server. You can browse in both of them separately, and then simply drag/drop files between the two to transfer things as needed. If you went the one-pane route, then it's easiest to just open a separate windows file browser, and drag/drop files from there. Once you drop files, it'll give you a little dialog asking exactly what you want to do. Unless you see reason to mess with any of the options, it's usually safe to just hit the "copy" button, and wait for it to finish. You can also manage files already on the server without having to download them. Very similar to how files on your own computer work, you can right click and get file properties, copy or rename stuff, etc... without having to download or reupload things. There's also a setting somewhere (and I'm sorry, but I forget where) which will show hidden files. In linux (the OS the server uses) hidden files start with a dot (.) for their name. You'll usually only need this if some instruction or tutorial tells you to edit some file like ".htaccess" In which case you won't be able to see the file (to delete it) unless show hidden files is on.

Well, I think that should cover it for now.

[fesworks]

Grammar Nazi Moment: "Invisible" :-)

indeed, but by the time I realized it, it was WAY too late to change it... I use that sucker EVERYWHERE!

Especially when < p> and other things such as tables and < hr> screw things up. Instead of < p> < p> < p> to extend things farther down, as I want then separated, I just use the image and make it tall... Also, for when I want things spaced out Horizontally in some situation, the image works wonders as well... but yes, this may not work for everyone, especially those that know how to code well Think of this as "duct tape"

Folders: Keeping things organized is good... too many people just pile everything in "public_html" and it becomes a downright mess after a while. Personally I hate all CAPS names though, since they're a pain to type. But each to his own on that. Bottom line is just organize stuff in a way that works for you.

I do the CAPS because it's easy to identify when looking for a specific link... also, they are folders that people should not be normally looking in anyway.

like I said, I'm no authority on this

[Xepher]

<p style="line-height=5em"> </p> for the vertical case and <span style="word-spacing=5em"> </span> for the horizontal. Could also use letter-spacing property. Using the "em" or "ex" units will assure the space scales along with the font size. In fact, if you want to mix your idea with this... use CSS to define the image size in those units, that might make it scale. <img src="invisible.gif" style="width:30ex; height:20ex"> though everything inside me screams out at how WRONG that is. :-P

[fesworks]

*hacks Xepher.net and sticks invisible squares everywhere*

[fesworks]

What about Mac users?

[Xepher]

OSX has an SCP client built in, so people comfortable with a command line can use that. I think we had this discussion in another thread somewhere, and at least a few of the mac users here decided Fugu was the good choice for a GUI SCP client for the mac, with Cyberduck being the only other decent/free option.

[Jinxville]

Yeah, I'm on a Mac, and Fugu works great for me. And it's totally free, which makes it all the sweeter.