7.7 Sharing Files on your HomePage

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If you plan to share files from your iDisk's Public folder, why not add a web interface to the files within for the people who visit your .Mac HomePage? As mentioned earlier, the latest revision to the .Mac services includes a new option for creating a My Downloads sharing page as well. This section shows you how to create both a File Sharing page and a My Downloads page.

7.7.1 Creating a File Sharing Page

To create this page, just follow these steps:

  1. Go to the .Mac HomePage site (http://www.mac.com/homepage) and log in with your .Mac member name and password.

  2. Scroll down to the Create a Page section and click on the File Sharing tab, and then select either the Graphite or Magenta theme (we'll get to the My Downloads theme shortly). When you select the theme, you will be taken to a page that looks similar to Figure 7-28.

    Figure 7-28. Customizing the File Sharing page.
    figs/idm_0728.gif

    As you can see from Figure 7-28, the name of your File Sharing page shows up in the page navigation at the top, and the page itself looks similar to a folder icon. The tab on the folder has your .Mac member name on it, and next to the heading My iDisk is a space for putting a message for the people who visit this page. These three items (the link at the top of the page, the name on the folder's tab, and the message) can be customized to suit your needs.

  3. Now go through the page and change the name of the link at the top of the page, the text in the tab of the folder, and the message next to My iDisk, as shown in Figure 7-29. Use the Tab key to move from one text field to another.

    Figure 7-29. Editing the text fields of the File Sharing page.
    figs/idm_0729.gif

  4. After you have edited the text fields, click on the Preview button in the toolbar to see the changes you've made to the File Sharing page, as shown in Figure 7-30.

    Figure 7-30. My File Sharing page.
    figs/idm_0730.gif

  5. If you are satisfied with the changes you've made, click on the Publish icon in the toolbar; if not, click on the Edit icon and re-edit the text fields. After clicking on the Publish icon, you will be taken to a page similar to the one shown in Figure 7-31. This page gives you the URL to your HomePage's File Sharing page, as well as options to announce your File Sharing page or to return to your HomePage.

Figure 7-31. Out in the Public, my iDisk's Public folder as seen through the File Sharing page.
figs/idm_0731.gif

The actual web page that gets created for your File Sharing page is stored in the Sites folder of your iDisk. As Figure 7-31 shows, the file is named FireSharing # .html , where the # is an actual number that's assigned, based on which number the page is for your .Mac HomePage. (In the case of the example shown in Figure 7-31, the File Sharing page created for my site is FileSharing9.html , so it's the ninth page I've added to my .Mac HomePage.)

Your iDisk's Public folder now has a web frontend to it, as shown in Figure 7-32.

Figure 7-32. My HomePage's File Sharing page.
figs/idm_0732.gif

The files and folders stored in your iDisk's Public folder are displayed in the file listing. This area displays the filename and its size , and includes two links: Preview and Download. If you click on the Preview link for an image file, a smaller version of the image will be displayed to the right, as shown in Figure 7-33. If you click on the Download icon, the file will download to your Mac.

Figure 7-33. See pictures before you download them from someone's Public folder.
figs/idm_0733.gif

If you have added any folders to your iDisk's Public folder, they too will be displayed in the file listing, as shown in Figure 7-33. If you click on a folder, the actual folder won't download to your computer; instead, you will be taken to another page, showing you the contents of that folder. Also, the folder within your iDisk's Public folder appears in the pop-up menu above the file listing, as shown in Figure 7-34.

Figure 7-34. Switch between folders in your iDisk's Public folder from the pop-up menu.
figs/idm_0734.gif

As mentioned earlier, if you have opted to password-protect your iDisk's Public folder, that won't apply to people who come to your File Sharing page through your .Mac HomePage. (However, it does stay in effect for people who opt to connect to your Public folder through the Finder or by using the iDisk Utility.)

Unfortunately, you cannot password-protect a single page for your .Mac HomePage. Instead, if you opt to password-protect your HomePage, the password applies across the board to any page of your site that people try to enter (but once in, they're free to roam about and view and download whatever they'd like).

7.7.2 Creating a My Downloads Page

There are times when all you want to do is point someone to your .Mac HomePage for a file they can download. While this is possible by just dropping a file in the Sites folder on your iDisk and sending them a link in an email (such as http://homepage.mac.com/chuckdude/randomfile.zip), wouldn't it be nice if you could add a graphical interface for the download? Well now you can with the new My Downloads theme. When you select this theme from the File Sharing tab, you'll be taken to the Edit page for setting up your My Downloads page. To customize the My Downloads page, follow these steps:

  1. Change the default text in the text fields to something that fits the item being downloaded, as shown in Figure 7-35. Don't forget to change the text in the field at the top of the page, since this will be the name of the link that appears in your .Mac HomePage's navigation area.

    Figure 7-35. Customize the My Downloads page with your own text.
    figs/idm_0735.gif

  2. Click on the "Choose file" button to select the file on your iDisk that you want people to be able to download. After clicking on the "Choose file" button, you'll be taken to the page shown in Figure 7-36. Select a file from one of the available iDisk folders, and then click on the "Choose" button.

    Figure 7-36. Select the file you want people to download.
    figs/idm_0736.gif

  3. After you've selected the file, you will be returned to the Edit page shown in Figure 7-35. If you want to attach an icon (or image) for the file you've chosen , click on the Choose button beneath the box that says "Place image here". You can choose from one of the images in the Pictures folder on your iDisk, or you can go to the Image Library folder to select one of the image icons Apple has provided. Also, Apple has added a folder named Application Icons to the Image Library so you can choose an image of a Word or Excel icon, if that's what your document is.

If you're okay with the changes you've made, you can click on the button with the plus sign (+) in it to add another item to the My Downloads page, or click on the Preview button at the top of the page to view your My Downloads page. Click on the Publish button to publish the My Downloads page to your .Mac HomePage. After publishing the My Downloads page, you will be greeted with the message shown in Figure 7-37, which gives you a link to the page.

Figure 7-37. Here's the link for your My Downloads page.
figs/idm_0737.gif

To copy this link so you can paste it in an email, Control-click on the link and select Copy Link to Clipboard from the menu that appears. To paste the link into an email message, use the standard keyboard shortcut, figs/command.gif -V.


When all is said and done, your My Downloads page should look similar to the one shown in Figure 7-38. When someone goes to your My Downloads page, all they need to do is click on the icon for the file.

Figure 7-38. The My Downloads page, as published on your .Mac HomePage.
figs/idm_0738.gif

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Inside .Mac
Inside .Mac
ISBN: 0596005016
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 132
Authors: Chuck Toporek

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