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In order to do the homework, assignments, and exercises for this course, you will need to set up your work environment. This involves:
It's important that you understand these basic terms and concepts before you proceed. Make sure you are familiar with each one so you can accurately trouble-shoot any issues you might have.
login
is your Sheridan login name. Note your email address!
The value "login@shernet.sheridancollege.ca" is NOT an email address - it's a UPN
(User Principle
Name).
When asked to enter or use your Sheridan username or login name, use only
the login
portion of your email or UPN.
In this course, you will need a compression/extraction tool so you can submit assignments and receive files from your professor, an editor that allows you to create and edit source code for web pages, and an FTP client to publish files to a web server.
A compression/extraction tool allows you to compress several files into one file that usually has a .zip extension (usually just called a "zip-file"). You will use this tool to submit your assignments to the SLATE dropbox. You will also sometimes use this tool to unpack a collection of files that your professor wants to give you for an exercise or assignment. For example, s/he might wish to give you a collection of images to use for a web site.
There are several free tools you can use. Note that for this course, we only accept .zip or .rar files, so if you choose a different tool, be sure that it's capable of creating standard .zip and/or .rar files with no password protection.
Here are a few I recommend. All of them are free: you don't need to pay for any of these.
You need to have some kind of editor or IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that allows you to create and edit source code (HTML and CSS) for web pages. There are hundreds of free editors and IDEs, some more complicated than others. For this course, we will focus on VS Code (Visual Studio Code) but feel free to use something else. If you prefer to use a different IDE, it is assumed you are familiar with that tool and know how to solve any problems with it: your professor doesn't have time to help you figure out how to use a different tool.
Download Visual Studio Code for your platform.
Just download the latest version of VS Code and install it. The installation process should be pretty straightforward.
You don't need any extra plugins or extensions, but let me know if you have a favourite that you think we should add to the course.
If you're ever on a different machine, you can always use a Free On-Line HTML Editor temporarily.
An FTP (File Transfer Protocol) Client allows you to upload and download files to/from a server. You will use an FTP client to upload and manage your files in your web space on the Dev.FAST web server. There are several free FTP Clients available, but I find FileZilla to be the easiest to use. If you don't like FileZilla, you can find something similar such as Core FTP or CoffeeCup (the same people who wrote the free HTML editor).
You will need to configure your FTP Client to connect to your web space after you install it. You'll do this after you set up your web space (instructions are farther down).
You will be storing the files that make up your web pages on the laptop you use in class (and/or on your computer at home). If you have not done so already, you should set up a folder/directory on your system for your term 1 or term 2 (whatever is appropriate) courses. Inside that folder/directory, you should add folders/directories for all of your courses (e.g. web, programming, math, etc.) You can use whatever names you like for the directories - you can use the course code, for example. In the screen shot below, I was lazy and just used simple names like "Python" and "WebDev".
Inside the folder/directory you created for this course, add an "assignments" (all lower-case letters) folder/directory. This is where you'll save all of your evaluated projects (graded exercises, assignments, etc.) You can store other stuff in the root web folder (e.g. in the "WebDev" directory) such as handouts, slides, and other files for the course. I also recommend setting up additional sub-directories for each week e.g. /week1, /week2, etc. Find some way to organize all your web projects so that you can easily find them (e.g. in week 8 I might say, "Open the project from week 4 with the navigation example...")
Once you set up your web space, the contents of your "WebDev" directory will be mirrored or cloned on the server: you'll have a directory there with copies of /assignments, /week1, /week2, etc. and all of the contents of those directories. This will make it really easy to publish your work on the server.
All assignments and exercises must be published on the Dev.FAST web server. You will be given space on this web server to publish your work. To obtain access to this space, you must request your space and a password that you will use to access that space (e.g. upload files, change settings). The password will be emailed to you within one business day, so don't leave this task until the last minute!
The dev.fast web server uses a server software called cPanel. CPanel provides a graphical interface that makes it easy to manage directories and files, and also manage security settings, among several other things.
Example:
if Din Djarin's UPN is djarindi@shernet.sheridancollege.ca
,
then Djarin's email is djarindi@sheridancollege.ca
and
Djarin's user name or login name is djarindi
To set up your web space account, simply go go Dev.fast cPanel (https://cpanel.dev.fast.sheridanc.on.ca) and sign in using your Sheridan user name (not the UPN or email address) and password.
If your professor can't solve the issue, log in to Service Sheridan and fill out a "Report Issue". Please include as much detail as possible and any screenshots and/or error messages so they can assist you as quickly as possible.
To manage your web space and the utilities using the web, go to either one of the following URLs:
If you see the "Choose a Starting Point" screen, just click the SKIP button.
The main cPanel page has many categories of tools. Each of these categories is collapsable, so you might want to collapse them all as you search for the tools you want - it makes it easier to search for things!
While using the tools, you can return to the main tools menu at any time by clicking the "Tools" link on the far left side of the page.
If you'd like to change your password to your dev.fast account, scroll down the main cPanel page and look for the "Preferences" heading. Under that you should see the item "Password and Security". Or if you prefer, use the search box on the top-right of the page and search for "password".
Follow the instructions/prompts to create a new password.
There are a few file settings that need to be changed:
Once you have your web space set up, you need to configure your FTP Client to connect to the web server so you can upload and manage your project files. The instructions below use FileZilla, but they should be similar for other FTP clients.
FileZilla is one of several FTP clients you can use to upload (publish) files to your web space on the dev.fast server. You can also upload files using cPanel, but using FileZilla is much faster and easier.
Open up your FTP Client (e.g. FileZilla). You need to create a connection so that FileZilla will remember it and allow you to easily connect whenever you want.
Once you have a connection established, you can check to make sure your connection works. If it's not already running, run your FTP client. Choose your connection to the development server and connect to it. In FileZilla, you do this by selecting it from the Site Manager.
If everything works, it should show you as connected and you can see the remote server directory listing. If you see any error messages, something didn't go right. Read the error message and fix the problems, then try again. Ask your professor if you see an error message that you don't understand.
Now you can mirror or clone your local workspace directory structure to the server in your /public_html directory. Open FileZilla if it's not already open.
public_html
directory by selecting in from inside your home directory: you can click it
or you can click the small + sign beside it to expand the directory.
When selected, the full path should appear above the main remote
directory listing in the "Remote Site:" field.
You can repeat this process for any directory/directories or file(s) that you want to upload from your local machine to the server. For more information on publishing, see How to Publish. You will create other directories throughout the course, so make sure you keep these instructions handy (i.e. bookmark them or summarize them in your notes) so you can refer to them if you need to.
You should now password-protect your assignments directory. The instructions are on a separate page: Protect Using the cPanel Directory Privacy Tool (opens in a new tab/window)
After you have set up your /assignment directory's credentials, come back to this page.
If you are still not sure or the professor has not provided a link to one of those documents in the course materials, email your professor and ask for clarification.
Once you have set up credentials for your /assignments directory, you can test it out:
/assignments
to the end of the URL.
If you have any issues with this process, review the instructions and make sure you followed them exactly as they are written. If you still can't figure out the problem, ask your professor for assistance: be sure to provide thorough details of what is going wrong, and take screen shots of any error messages or strange output you have.