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The full URL (address) for your web site will be http://www.youraccountname, for example if your account name is bloggs.abel.co.uk, your web site would be at http://www.bloggs.abel.co.uk
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The sending of files from your own computer to a server, for example sending the files that make up your web site to our FTP server
Note: Subscription-free account holders need to dial in via one of our 0845 / 0844 numbers to access our FTP server
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An FTP client. There are many freely available programs around. If you are using web authoring software an FTP client may be included; see your documentation for details. Please note that although some web browsers support FTP, this is for downloading only; you will need a separate program to upload
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The user name is your full account name - the same as you use to connect to Abel Internet, or to collect your email. The password is also your normal account password. The hostname or server name is ftp.youraccountname. (for example if your account name is bloggs.abel.co.uk, your FTP hostname would be ftp.bloggs.abel.co.uk).
Make sure that Anonymous Login is NOT enabled.
If you need to specify a Remote Directory, use a "/" or leave the box empty.
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The main file should be called index.html as this will be displayed for http://www.youraccountname/ The server is case sensitive, so we recommend you always use lower-case for file names.
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| Was my web space created automatically when I signed up to Abel Internet? | Back to the Top |
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No, you have to activate your web space before you can use it. This can be done online through our web site (Click here to enable your web space now)
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If you no longer require your free web space, you can disable it. Your web site will be deleted from our server, so please ensure you have a copy of your files. (Click here to disable your web space now)
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If you create a file called 404.html in the root directory of your webspace, this will be used as the error message. Note that by default Internet Explorer ignores such error documents and uses it's own. You can turn this behaviour off by going to Internet Options and picking the Advanced tab. Look under the Browsing category and deselect the "Show friendly HTTP error messages" option.
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The cgi-bin, PHP, and SSI are all features of the WebPlus service. You can find more information on WebPlus here
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| How do I have the information entered into a form emailed to me? | Back to the Top |
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All you need to do is set the ACTION for the form to http://www.accountname/cgi-bin/formmail.pl. If you are writing the HTML for your site yourself, the following sample code will produce a form with spaces for the visitor to enter their name and a message:
<FORM ACTION="http://www.accountname/cgi-bin/formmail.pl" METHOD=POST>
Name: <INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME="name"><BR>
Message: <TEXTAREA NAME="message"></TEXTAREA>
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="recipient" VALUE=webmaster@accountname>
<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT NAME="send" VALUE="Click here">
</FORM>
If you are using a visual page design package you may need to consult the documentation to check how to specify this setting.
The information in the form will then be emailed to webmaster@youraccountname
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You will almost certainly want to use POST because it allows a larger amount of information to be transmitted and it ensures that any potentially sensitive information entered into a form is not stored in the web browser's history on the visitor's computer, where it could be viewed by someone else.
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You can specify additional settings for FormMail such as the email address to send the details to and the page that should be displayed after a form has been completed. This is achieved using hidden fields, which are included within the HTML of the form. Each one of these will have the following format:
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="setting" VALUE="value">
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Description |
| recipient |
Allows you to specify the address to which the information will be emailed. The part after the @ sign must be your own account name, or you will get an error.
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| subject |
The subject field will allow you to specify the subject that you wish to appear in the email that is sent to you after this form has been filled out. If you do not have this option turned on, then the script will default to a message subject: WWW Form Submission
If you wish to choose what the subject is:
<input type=hidden name="subject" value="Your Subject">
To allow the user to choose a subject:
<input type=text name="subject"> |
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| email |
Allows the user to specify their email address. If you provide a field for them to include this information it will be used in the From line of the email you receive, allowing you to press Reply to respond to the message. |
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| realname |
If this field is used the name entered is used in the From line of the email you receive. |
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| redirect |
Allows you to specify a different URL to take the visitor to after they have submitted the form instead of the visitor seeing the standard response. By using a HIDDEN field for this you can send them to your pre-designed web page. |
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| required |
By including this as a HIDDEN field you can list (separated by commas) any fields which you want to ensure the visitor fills in. If any of these are omitted the visitor will be given an error message and asked to correct any omissions. |
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| missing_fields_redirect |
Allows you to specify the full URL to a custom page to be displayed if the user misses out any of the fields listed in required. You will probably want to set this with a HIDDEN field in the same way as for redirect. |
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Upon submission of your PGP key secure FormMail will operate in the same way as the regular version except that the ACTION should be https://secure.serversecurity.co.uk/cgi-bin/formmail.pl, making sure that you specify https:// for secure.
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If you do not have a copy of PGP, the program is available for download from www.pgpi.org
The general procedure is to copy your public key onto the clipboard and then paste it into the form on the Submit Key page within the Services section of the site. Below are some specific instructions for how to do this using the Windows version of PGP:
Open the PGPkeys program
Select your key in the list and choose the Copy command from the Edit menu. For instructions on generating your own key, advice on choosing a passphrase and so on please see the online help within PGP.
Go to the Submit Key page in your web browser
Right-click within the box on the Submit Key page and choose the Paste command.
A plaintext version of your key, which will look similar to the example below, will be inserted into the text box on the form. Press the Submit Key button.
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Although the data submitted to secure FormMail is sent encrypted, the form
itself is not, so the user's web browser will report that the form is
insecure (typcially by showing an unlocked padlock icon). To publish the form
(or any other pages you wish) securely, you can access files in your
webspace through https://secure.serversecurity.co.uk
To use this service, you need to create a directory within your web site
called secure (all lowercase). Any files placed in this directory are then
visible under https://secure.serversecurity.co.uk/users/your account domain
name/
For example, suppose your account is bloggs.abel.co.uk, and you wish to
make a file orderform.html available securely. You upload orderform.html to
the secure directory. It is then available with the URL:
https://secure.serversecurity.co.uk/users/bloggs.abel.co.uk/orderform.html
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| Please note that these services are provided on a DIY basis and as an added value feature to your account. Additional support is available on a consultancy basis. For a quotation please email support@abel.co.uk |
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