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.

Departmental Sites & Faculty Profiles
Contact Marketing & Communications for creation/modifications.

Requirements

  • The file name of your website homepage must be named index.html
  • index.html must be located in your public_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:

  1. Edit files on your local machine from the mapped drive
  2. 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...
    File Explorer window with the pop-up displaying option when right-clicking on "Network". "Map network drive..." is highlighted.

    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 you are working site, you must check Connect using different credentials. Input the account credentials for the group when connecting.
    Map Network Drive window with \\users.edu\personalweb\public_html mapped to the X: drive.

    If on a personal device, make sure you are connecting to the ADMIN domain with your WPI Username and Password:

    Input WPI credentials with admin\wpiusername in username field and your WPI password.

    MacOS Drive Mapping

    Linux Users
    Linux users will have a similar experience using their preferred method for accessing network drives.
    • 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
    Connect to Server window with server information input: smb://users.wpi.edu/personalweb/public_html

    Press Connect on the pop-up

    "You are attempting to connect to the server "users.wpi.edu"" pop-up screen.

    Input the credentials for the user space you wish to access.

    MacOS Credential screen - Enter your WPI username / password as a Registered User to connect to the server.

  • 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

    Drag hdfile.html from local Documents folder to \\users.wpi.edu\personalweb\public_html
    Replace or Skip Files Pop-Up
    Select Replace the file in this destination. We recognize the file may not exist or have existed in the directory - IT is looking for a solution to this pop-up. 

    MacOS

    Drag hdfile2.html from local Desktop folder to \\users.wpi.edu\personalweb\public_html

  • 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:

    1. Right-Click on the file
    2. Select Open With
    3. 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 TypeApplication Suggestion
    .txtText Editor or Source Code Editor
    .htmlSource 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:

    Connection Failed error when attempting to access users.wpi.edu in the Locations section of the TextEdit Open document window.

    Open .txt Files in TextEdit

    Use TextEdit for .txt Files Only
    TextEdit is unable to modify .html files. Use this process for .txt files only.

    To access your files and make edits in TextEdit:

    1. Open your mapped network drive
    2. Right-click on the file you wish to edit
    3. Select Open With and choose TextEdit
    public_html folder with the right-click > Open With and TextEdit highlighted prompt.

    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. 

    Window prompt: 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?

    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:

    Window prompt: The document "index.html" is on a volume that does not support permanent version storage. You will not be able to access older versions of this document once you close it.

  • 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 username
    • Domain [SAMBA]: ADMIN
    • Password: Your WPI Password
    Terminal window with mount command and prompts for user input.

    Command 2:

    gio info smb://users.wpi.edu/personalweb
    Terminal window with info command and results of command input.

    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
    Terminal window with run command and subsequent ls command to display the public_html folder.

    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

    1. In one File Explorer window, map your user drive
    2. Open another File Explorer window
    3. Create a folder called My Website on your local machine (My Documents folder for example)
    4. Highlight all contents of your public_html folder
    5. 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.

    Process for dragging and dropping from public_html folder to the local machine

    MacOS

    1. In one Finder window, map your user drive
    2. Open another Finder window
    3. Create a folder called My Website somewhere on your local machine (Documents folder for example)
    4. Highlight all contents of your public_html folder
    5. 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.