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Account Expiration & Home Page Mobility

How to take your Web Pages with you when you graduate!

(http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/guides/hopamobility.html)


Related Pages:


How often have I heard "Why should I create my own Web page if I lose it in a few months when I take a leave the University or when I graduate?"? The time of agonizing over account expiration should be over.

We have divided the "losing your account problem" into two issues, namely

  1. Losing your URL (which you may have given to your friends, family and, maybe Yahoo). Here is a (the?) solution to keeping your Research Webpages with a constant URL no matter where you go.

    You get a "Persistent URL" (PURL) from OCLC. The PURL is translated by the OCLC server to the real (and current) URL. Go to http://purl.oclc.org/ to register your URL as a PURL.

    The above website allows you to have one constant website address. You can change your Internet Service Provider (ISP) as often as you want. It works just like an e-mail forwarding address.

  2. The second issue is, of course, still more important: For your "Life after the U", or, better, "Life after Dante", you do not just lose your URL, but the entire content of your account. Let's divide this "content issue" into two stages or solutions, namely
    1. Preserving the content: you download (save) your files from Dante to a disk. My suggestion would be that do this both for the text version and for the HTML code version (from Saul directly, or out of "View"), possibly on two different disks. Many owners of websites back-up their files simply for insurance, and you may have done that already. Actually, if you save any page as a HTML file right out of a browser (Netscape or Explorer), you are saving de-facto both the "nice" and the "code" versions.
    2. Making the content again accessible to the world or a smaller part of it. Thus, you have to find a new server, i.e. a new off-campus ISP for your content, where everybody can access your pages. There are many commercial ISPs who will charge you $20 (+/-) per month for this service. A search of the Internet yielded links to these free services. Here is a list of the different sites that give out FREE SERVER SPACE for your webpages. Check them out and sign up with the server you like.

      I will only list some sample servers here, because there are sites out there that keep these links up to date better then I can, so you might want to check them out too. Their address is listed at the end of this list.

      All of these services assume you have a way to get online through your own ISP in order to have access to their server. Eventually, if you sign up with them, you'd want to access your folders on their server.


      FREE WEB SERVER SPACE

      • FortuneCity: 10Mb of web space absolutely free. If you don't know how to create a web site, you will find a special home-builder that will help you; also includes online E-Mail account.
      • CrossWinds: Includes Free Unlimited Web Space and E-Mail. Crosswinds believe that the internet should be free for all and be a place for all to express themselves freely. A great philosophy. Check it out! FTP upload is supported; or Crosswinds' own upload webpage can be used.

    Certainly, there are a lot more of these free services out there, but other services (websites) are monitoring them much better than I possibly can, so here is a list of some of those servers:

    • The FreeSites provide a more complete list of the servers out there on the WWW. Check them out for other free "stuff" to add to your webpages at FreeSites' main page.


    FREE WEB BASE E-MAIL ACCOUNT

    Now that our Homepage and related pages can safely stored on the net, lets find a way to communicate. Here is a small list of Free-E-mail providers on the net... Since they are on the net... you can access them from anywhere!!

    • NetAddress.net: Free online base e-mail with up to 5Mg of space. Provides many utilities in filtering your e-mail. Can also access using POP3 with Netscape or other e-mail software. It also provide e-mail forwarding (forward your Netaddress mail to any other account you want.)
    • HotMail: Another big service giving out free online base e-mail. Great security. Who should sign up??? Well you'd have to check that out yourself! Can access all your other e-mail accounts that support POP3 (e.g.: Netaddress...).
    • My Own E-Mail: E-mail and a lot more...
      FREE Web Based Email
      This service allows you to create a new email account that you can access using virtually any web browser. Perfect for people who share accounts, need a separate account, or are always on the move!
    • Juno: A free dial-in e-mail account. You do not need to have an ISP to check your mail...but only a modem to dial into their server. Great for those who just want e-mail and not pay for an ISP for other services.

      Now here is a cool account to have if you need to be reminded..

    • Remind U-Mail: You can schedule all your appointments and be reminded at a chosen time. This may not work for all of you. If it sounds interesting, go check it out!.
    • NetForwarding: You will get an e-mail account (more: a permanent address) which will forward your mail to your regular e-mail account where the message can be stored. Now you can change your e-mail provider as often as you want without changing your address.

    Again, below is a list of other webpages that contain a more complete list of these free providers.

    • E-Mail Freebies: The most complete list of free web base e-mail providers out there. A one-stop shopping deal...:-)

    Final note:

    Just to let you know, all these free services are paid for by advertisers. So be prepared to see a lot of advertising banners on your screen while accessing/reading your e-mail. You should be thankful that they are there because without them, none of these services would be possible. So use it wisely and productively.

    For seniors, hopefully this list gives you an alternative home for your webpages besides (UW)Dante. Keep developing & updating your pages because your work will not go to waste! For all other students, start early and establish a home elsewhere, it will come in handy when you take a leave, change schools or graduate!

    Last not least: Provide your Web page instructor(s) in the Geography Department with your new URL and Email address, so that you can be reconnected to the class-list, former class-list or simply to the list of great undergraduate Web sites. Your professor or the Department may also want to stay in contact with you. Good Luck for your life after Geography at the UW!

    This page has been created with the assistance of Duc M. Vo

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