WPI students, faculty, and staff have the ability to create a website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, hosted on the WPI server. This website space is called your "Userspace." Personal website can be viewed by navigating to https://users.wpi.edu/~username
where username is your WPI username.
Content placed within a user's public_html directory can be served out by the WPI web server. Follow instructions below for accessing your userspace, adding content, and modifying the permissions to your site.
Requirements
- The file name of your website homepage must be named
index.html
index.html
must be located in yourpublic_html
folder- All websites must follow WPI's Acceptable Use Policy
Default Permissions
Folders
Folders added or modified to your userspace public_html folder are set to 0701:
- User: Read & Write & Execute
- World: Execute
Files
Files added or modified to your userspace public_html folder are set to 0744:
- User: Read & Write & Execute
- World: Execute
Updating Your Userspace
There are currently two general ways to manage the files in your userspace:
- Edit files on your local machine from the mapped drive
- Edit files in Terminal while sshed to the Linux Cluster
Follow additional guidance below on mapping your drive, editing files, or accessing your public_html folder from the Linux Terminal Cluster.
-
Map Your User Drive
To get started, create your files and directories in your public_html folder by mapping:
- Windows:
\\users.wpi.edu\personalweb\public_html
- Mac OSX / Linux:
smb://users.wpi.edu/personalweb/public_html
Windows Drive Mapping
- Open File Explorer
- Right-Click over Network and select Map network drive...
If you have a preferred letter to map the drive to, select the Drive from the dropdown.
Input the following in Folder:
\\users.wpi.edu\personalweb\public_html
Working on a Group Page?If on a personal device, make sure you are connecting to the ADMIN domain with your WPI Username and Password:
MacOS Drive Mapping
Linux Users- From the Finder Application, go to Go > Connect to Server (or use Command + k)
- Input the following server:
smb://users.wpi.edu/personalweb/public_html
Press Connect on the pop-up
Input the credentials for the user space you wish to access.
- Windows:
-
Add Files with Drag/Drop on Mapped Drives
Your mapped public_html folder is where you will keep all content you wish to display on your website. The content of your website's homepage must be in an HTML file called:
index.html
Use a text editor (Notepad, TextEdit, etc.), or source code editor (VS Code, Atom, etc.), to create HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files to save within your public_html directory.
You can add to your public_html folder and/or edit your personal web space by:
- Drag and drop files from the local hard drive into the public_html folder
- Using WPI's Gitlab server for source control
- See Related Article: Use Gitlab To Update Personal Userspace Website
Drag and Drop
Files stored locally, on a different share, or on an external hard drive (flash drive) can be dragged from their original storage location into the mapped network drive through File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (MacOS).
Windows
Replace or Skip Files Pop-UpMacOS
-
Editing Files from the Mapped Drive
In order to edit existing files in the mapped public_html folder, users must launch the application from the mounted drive. The best way to do that is to:
- Right-Click on the file
- Select Open With
- Choose the application
Recommended Applications for Specific File Types
Your public_html folder may contain different types of files. The following is a general guide to follow
File Type Application Suggestion .txt Text Editor or Source Code Editor .html Source Code Editor A few free / open-source editors include:
- Atom: Free, open-source Source Code Editor
- CodeRunner: Free programming editor (compose and test code)
- VS Code: Free Code Editor (debugging, task running, and version control)
Using Source Code Editors
Editing with Text Editors
While this section of the content demos with TextEdit, the content applies to all general Text Editor applications.
Again, in order to edit files in any application, but in this case, TextEdit on MacOS, users must launch the file from the mounted network drive.
Users cannot access the files from the locations within the Open Document screen in TextEdit. The following error displays:
Open .txt Files in TextEdit
Use TextEdit for .txt Files OnlyTo access your files and make edits in TextEdit:
- Open your mapped network drive
- Right-click on the file you wish to edit
- Select Open With and choose TextEdit
Saving Your Work in TextEdit
Overwrite on Save
When saving your work, you will be prompted with the following window:
Are you sure you want to modify the document in place? Modifying the document in place may cause you to lose some of the original formatting. Would you like to duplicate the document first?
Choose the option to OVERWRITE the file.
No Versioning with TextEdit
Please note, the public_html folder on the isilon server does not support versioning. When attempting to save and close files, you will be prompted with the following:
-
Edit Files Through ssh Terminal on Linux Cluster
Users can add, remove, or edit their documents in their public_html folder through an ssh session on the Linux Terminal Cluster (
linux.wpi.edu
).From your terminal application (GitBash on Windows, or you can use PuTTY), ssh to linux.wpi.edu.
List of Commands
gio mount smb://users.wpi.edu/personalweb gio info smb://users.wpi.edu/personalweb cd /run/user/WPI ID NUMBER/gvfs/smb-share:server=users.wpi.edu,share=personalweb
*Where WPI ID NUMBER is your specific WPI ID Number.
Mount the public_html Drive
Run the following commands:
Command 1:
gio mount smb://users.wpi.edu/personalweb
When prompted, input:
User [username]:
Your WPI usernameDomain [SAMBA]:
ADMINPassword:
Your WPI Password
Command 2:
gio info smb://users.wpi.edu/personalweb
Command 3:
You must input your WPI ID Number before pressing Return:
cd /run/user/WPI ID NUMBER/gvfs/smb-share:server=users.wpi.edu,share=personalweb
Follow Along!
-
Migrate Site Contents to External Host
Users that leave WPI will not have their site hosted on the WPI servers after their account is disabled. Users must migrate their site contents to an external host prior to departure.
Drag / Drop to External USB or Personal Machine
Windows
- In one File Explorer window, map your user drive
- Open another File Explorer window
- Create a folder called My Website on your local machine (My Documents folder for example)
- Highlight all contents of your
public_html
folder - Drag the contents to the newly created folder on the local machine
You can move that folder to an external drive, USB, or cloud location.
MacOS
- In one Finder window, map your user drive
- Open another Finder window
- Create a folder called My Website somewhere on your local machine (Documents folder for example)
- Highlight all contents of your
public_html
folder - Drag the contents to the newly created folder on the local machine
You can move that folder to an external drive, USB, or cloud location.