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Subject:Re: Skills Needed For Web Design From:"Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 27 Aug 1997 13:09:23 -0600
>Here's one important thing you'll need to take care of right away: get
>access to a server. Many web hosting services won't give you access to
>change the WWW service settings necessary to enable your scripts. They may
>even charge you for testing and installing them! The ideal situation is to
>have a server in the room with you. If your machine at home is capable of
>running NT 4.0, then install that along with the Microsoft Peer Web
>Services that comes with it. Then you'll have ultimate control over the WWW
>service settings, which you'll need if you want to code and test CGI or
>other scripts.
>
>If you're reluctant to install Win NT 4.0, there is a Personal Web Server
>available for Win95, but I don't know if it supports CGI. You may be able
>to find that out at Microsoft's web site.
Additionally, check out OmniHTTPD if you're on Windows 95.
It's at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~glau/httpd/, and there's
a freeware version. This, unlike most servers for Windows 95
supports CGI, Perl, redirection, server-side includes, and all kinds
of standard (real world) server features. Highly recommended!
Running a server of any sort will help tremendously with the
Web design and development aspects. Actual HTML code
is quite simple, and even many of the effects aren't
terribly complex. The missing link for many people is understanding
how the basic code, server, browser, scripts, etc all interact--
thus Kris' suggestion of running your own server (and by
extension, your own mini TCP/IP network (even if it's only
got one computer on it)) is a very good one.
Eric
**************************************************
Eric J. Ray ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
TECHWR-L Listowner http://www.raycomm.com/
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