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June 16, 2003  
 
Feature Article
Problems Uploading Your Website?
One of the most frequently asked questions of WebStudio technical support has to do with sorting out the settings to upload a website. 
The process of uploading is relatively simple. First you go to the WebSite menu and choose Save Website To Internet. This builds your website and stores it in a folder on your computer. You next see the Site Info dialog. If you are uploading for the first time, you'll want to click the Choose Hosting button and then click the  Use a different hosting service, and click OK. Next click the Upload button. This will bring up the WebStudio Publisher Wizard.
Creating a New Destination
The first thing to do in the publishing wizard is to create a new Destination. This is done by pressing the New button in the Upload page of the wizard. You'll see some instructions which you should read and then press Next to go to the Name Your Destination page.
Here you'll enter a name for you destination. This can be anything you want. It isn't used to upload, it is used to remind you of what destinations have have created and is displayed on the first page of the wizard. So, enter MySite, for example. Below that is a list of Destinations. If your hosting service is listed there, click on it to select it. Otherwise click Other. Note: If you have Geocities, click on Other. You need to do this because Geocities changed the way their uploading works, using Other makes it work fine with WebStudio. Now click Next to go to the Identification page.
Your hosting company should have given you your User ID and Password. Sometimes the User ID is called the User Name by the hosting company. In any event, enter them here exactly as your hosting company sent them to you. Make sure you use capital or lower case letters as appropriate. Then click the Save Password checkbox so you won't have to enter your password every time you upload. Then click Next to go to the Destination Address page.
Destination Address
This is where one of the problems starts. Your hosting company sent you an FTP Address along with your User ID and Password. Web Studio calls this Destination Address, but it is commonly called FTP Address and sometimes the Host Address (we'll be renaming it in a future version). The Destination Address could be in a number of forms. Here's some examples:
  • ftp.mysite.com
  • ftp.hostingcompanyname.com
  • mysite.com
  • 21.24.56.135

Whatever they gave you, enter it here. However, note that they usually don't have a www at the beginning of them, and they usually don't have @ signs in them, although sometimes they do. You will also not want to enter ftp:// if they had that as part of the address, WebStudio will handle that for you. Once you've entered the Destination Address click Next.
Directory Path
Here's the biggest problem, the Directory Path. It is important to know that some hosting services require one of these, some hosting service don't. Also, your hosting company won't call it a Directory Path. They will most likely call it a Remote Location or Remote Site Folder. This is literally a folder on your host's computer, just like a folder in your MyDocuments folder.
It is important for you to know that many hosting companies fail to tell you that you need one of these. This is the biggest problem we find with uploading sites. So, if you have a problem uploading your site, the first thing to do is to contact your hosting company and ask them if there is a Remote Site Folder you need to use. 
If your hosting service says you don't need one, don't enter anything in the Directory Path page.
If they do, enter whatever they give you. Make sure that you precede it with a slash "/".  Here are some examples of common folder names:
  • /www
  • /web
  • /public
  • /public_html
  • /html

If you have a problem uploading, and your hosting company didn't tell you to use a Directory Path, try entering one of these. This is the most frequent problem we see, and one of these is usually the cure!
Once you've entered, or not entered, the Directory Path, press Next to go to the Home Page page.
Home Page Address
Finally you enter the address of your Home Page. This is the address you would type into your browser to go to your site. Your hosting company will give you this address. 
You'll want to enter the Home Page address with the http:// preceding the actual address. For example, you'd enter
http://www.webstudio.com
not
www.webstudio.com
Enter it exactly as your hosting company says and then press the Finish button to return to the Upload page. 
Uploading Your Website
Finally it is time to upload your website. Click on the name of your new Destination in the Available Destinations list. Then make sure the Upload this site as the root website checkbox is checked, if not click in its checkbox. Finally, click the Upload button. This will start the upload process. In a few minutes you'll know if the upload has succeeded. If it has, it will offer you the opportunity to preview your website, on the web.
What if there is an Error?
If the upload got all the way to the Preview page, you pressed the Preview button, but your website didn't show up, your probably entered your Home Page Address incorrectly. Go back and Edit your Destination to ensure you entered it correctly. If you did, contact your hosting company to ensure they gave you the correct information.
If you got an error message when uploading, it is probably due to a faulty Directory Path. If you entered a Directory Path and you have the backslash in it, remove the backslash and try again. If that doesn't work, try one of the other Directory Path's listed above.  If you didn't enter a Directory Path, try entering the ones listed above until you find one that works, or you run out of paths. Remember to try them both with and without the slash.
This is essentially how our tech support people determine what to do when someone can't upload. There has been one case where WebStudio itself was at fault. Every other case has been faulty or missing information either entered by the customer or sent by the hosting company. With the info above, you should be able to fix this problem yourself if you run across it.

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Did You Know...
… WebStudio has many Keyboard Shortcuts?
Ctrl + Mouse Click on an object creates a duplicate of the object clicked on. The copy lies directly on top of original. You can also Ctrl Click and drag the mouse and the copy will come out from under the original and you can move it wherever you want.
Ctrl + Mouse Click on a selected object's handle resamples the graphic to optimize the memory it uses.
Shift + Mouse Click enables selection of multiple items. Just continue to hold down the Shift key and click on additional objects you want to select.
Alt + Mouse Click: Places a Text Object on the page, drag the mouse to set object’s size.
Ctrl + Space when a range of text is selected changes the selected text's style to Plain.
...Some Commands only Available as Keyboard Shortcuts?
P: Pressing the P key "pushes" all objects who’s tops are below the top of the selected object down the page. This is handy for increasing the vertical spacing between objects on the page.
U: Pressing the U key "pulls up" all objects whose tops are below the top of the selected object up the page. This is handy for decreasing the vertical spacing between objects on the page. 
Ctrl + Space Objects: Holding down the Ctrl key when you choose Spaces Evenly Across or Down spaces the objects such that there is one pixel in between them.
Ctrl + Shift + Space Objects: Holding down the Ctrl and Shift keys when you choose Spaces Evenly Across or Down spaces objects such that they just touch, no space between them.
...You can Hide or Show Galleries, Toolbars, PageList...?
Alt + B: Shows or Hides the Galleries. The reason it is B is because when WebStudio was originally being developed, we called the Galleries the Browsers. 
Alt + P: Shows or Hides the Page List.
Alt + S: Shows or Hides the Status bar.
Alt + T: Shows or Hides the Tool bar.

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President's Corner
This month we've again focused the newsletter on some of the most popular topics we deal with in our technical support department. 
Our feature article discusses the most frequent tech support request, how to enter the information obtained by a hosting company into WebStudio. Note that if you use our iHostStudio hosting, none of this applies to you since these problems can't happen. These are many of the reasons we created iHostStudio! We are also featuring tips on adding keyword meta tags for your site, features you may not know exist that work only with keyboard shortcuts, and fun with the Galleries.
We hope all of this will come in handy!

Steve Cochard
President
Back to the Beach Software, LLC

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Site of the Month Contest Winner
Nanoweb
Congratulations to Nanoweb, our Site of the Month for May!

This is the first contest nanoweb has entered with this website! It is an e-commerce site with a cool Flash intro. Make sure you click on "Ver introduccion" on the opening page to see the animated introduction.
In Gord's own unique way he says this about this month's winner, "Felicitaciones, un Web site que mira profesional hecho muy bien. Usted utiliza 'WebStudio' a él es potencial máximo."
Make sure you check out nanoweb's site and  remember you can ask nanoweb how he did it in the WebStudio Forum!
And for those of you thinking of submitting a site, this is a reminder that we're halfway through June - so click here to submit your site now!

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HTML Corner
Adding Meta Tags that are Unique to Each of Your Pages
We have a lot of calls asking about Meta Tags and how to use them. For those of you who don't know what a Meta Tag is, it is an HTML tag that contains information about your site, page, author, etc., that doesn't actually show up on your page visually.
Certain Meta Tags are used to communicate what your site is all about to search engines. The description and keywords Meta Tags are used to do this. 
WebStudio's Web Site Properties dialog's Site Search Info page enables you to enter information that will be put into those Meta Tags. If you enter information into that page, it will put that information into the appropriate Meta Tags on every page in your site. "Every" is the important point here. You may not want the same keywords on each page. If not, here's how to put different info on any and all of your pages.
Go to the page you want to enter your unique Meta Tags on by clicking on its name in the PageList. The Right Click the mouse on the background of the page. Choose Page Properties from the resulting menu. Then click on the Object HTML tab in the dialog. Make sure the Inside Page Header radio button is selected.
Next, you'll enter the actual content of the Meta Tag. Here is a sample Meta Tag for keywords: 

<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="web studio web page editor">
The first thing you'd do to enter the Keywords Meta Tag is to determine what keywords you want to add. Refer to our Newsletter Archives to read our three part series on Boosting Search Engine Ranking for more information about choosing Keywords.
Once you determine the keywords you want to use, type the following into the Properties dialog:

<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="

Then, on the same line, beside the quote,  type all of your keywords followed by:

">

If your keywords were "news" and "letter" it would look like this:

<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="news letter">

Do this for each page in your site. Make sure you use appropriate keywords for each of those pages. Many of them will be the same, but you'll want keywords that are unique and applicable to each page as well. Remember, the reason you'll want to do this is to have different keywords on each page in your site. Oh, and don't enter anything into the Site Properties Web Search Page if you do this. What you enter there will show up on the pages as well, the search engines may get confused by seeing both sets of keywords.

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What's New in Web Studio 3
Fun with the Galleries
In version 3.0 of WebStudio we enabled MyStuff like behavior in nearly all of the galleries. This means you can rearrange the items in the galleries, delete items, add individual items and add multiple files to galleries.
The galleries that have these capabilities are: Backgrounds, Buttons, Signs, MyStuff, Clipart, Animation, Photos.
Rearrange a Gallery
If you don't like where the content in a gallery is, just click on it and drag it to a new location in the gallery.
Cut, Copy, Paste in a Gallery
Move the mouse onto an item in a gallery and click the Right mouse button. The resulting menu enables you to Cut the item and place it on the clipboard, copy the item and place it on the clipboard, or paste whatever is on the clipboard into the gallery.
Add File from Disk
Move the mouse onto an item in a gallery and click the Right mouse button. Choose Add Files from the resulting menu. In the resulting Open File dialog, choose the files you want to add to the gallery. If you want to add multiple file hold down the Ctrl key while you select files. Press the Open button to add them to the gallery. 
Adding Items from a Page
Pressing and holding the Ctrl key while dragging a graphic into a gallery adds that item to the gallery.
Pressing and holding the Ctrl and Shift key while dragging a selection of multiple objects into a gallery adds the selected objects as one item in the gallery. Dragging the item onto a page results in the individual objects being added to the page.
Pressing and holding the Ctrl and Shift key while dragging a selection of multiple objects into a gallery, and then releasing the Shift key adds the selected objects as one multiple items in the gallery. 
Rollover Button Fun
If you press and hold the R key while you drag one of the Smart Buttons onto your page, it will be added as a Hue Rollover. This is the type of rollover that changes the color of the button when the mouse passes over it or presses on it.
If you press and hold the Ctrl key when you drag one of the Smart Buttons onto your page, the button will be created with the last selected color from the Windows Color dialog.
If you press and hold the R and Ctrl keys, you get a rollover that starts with the last color selected.
Fun with the Links Gallery
If you hold down the Ctrl key and double click on a link in the Link Gallery, your internet browser will be launched and take you to the link you double clicked on..
Finally, Fun with the Backgrounds Gallery  
A previous newsletter described this, but this is so cool we had to mention it again. Dragging a background from the Backgrounds gallery onto a Text Object will fill the black characters of the text with the background. 
Dragging a background from the Backgrounds gallery onto a graphic object will texturize the graphic with the background. This works best with backgrounds that whose brightness is kind of in the middle, like a mid gray.

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