Cox Personal Web Space (or AOL space)

1. Cox Personal Web Space(or AOL space) Free Storage for Image Galleries

2. When you create a Web Gallery it produces a self contained folder that can be uploaded to your free webspace at Cox or AOL.Uploading a folder requires FTPwhich I’ll talk about later.

3. You can also upload a PDF slideshow whichis a single file and doesn’t require FTP.

4. Once either one has been uploaded to your webspaceYou can then send your friends/family the addressto your show and it will open for them to enjoy!How?

5. The first step to storing your Web Galleries and/or Slideshowsis to activate your free space. Cox and AOL both give you some.I’ll only be showing how to use Cox today.

6. HOW MANY GALLERIES CAN YOU HAVE?Cox gives 10MB per email address and they allow 7 addresses.That’s plenty of space for multiple photo galleries.All you need to do is create your other 6 addresses andthen activate the personal webspace of each address.

7. Access your free webspace at cox.net (or .com)

8. SIGN IN WITH COX USER ID

9. Click on: Personal Webspace

10. If not already done, click on “Activate Personal Webspace”If already activated, click on: “Manage”

11. Click on “File Manager”

12. WebSpace is like a filing Cabinet with files and folders

13. To help you understand webpages, I’m going to use aVERY simple analogy. Hopefully I won’t confuse you 

14. What makes up a webpage?A webpage is made up of files and folders just like a filing cabinet.

15. To get you thinking of webspace as being similar to folders and files, look at this address:C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Plug-insIf you’ve been a computer user for any period of time,you might know what this address means.>The C drive is the file cabinet>Program Files is a Drawer>Adobe is a folder>The rest are sub folders of the Adobe folderEvery time you see a SLASH, it means you’re going into another folder.Computer addresses have backward facing slashes (\).Web addresses have forward facing slashes (/).

16. Your Cox webspace is the Filing Cabinet.In the case of free space like with Cox, they let you use one of the drawers of their filing cabinet to hold your content. That drawer is identified byyour username.

17. To get to your drawer at Cox, you must firsttype in the name of their main filing cabinet which is:http://members.cox.netTo get to your personal drawer in their filing cabinet, all you add is: /usernameFor instance, the address of my free space at Cox is:http://members.cox.net/ezpixels

18. When someone types in your cox personal space web address,a browser looks for the most important file there….the “index” file.This file will open content on your page.

19. When you first activate your Cox webspace,it comes with a default index page.It might say something like “under construction”.You can edit this index page to say anything you want.I won’t be talking about editing today. It’s just important that you know that browsers look for “index” pages.

20. You can have as many index files on Cox as you like.Each index file directs people to different content.To Avoid Confusion, each index file must to be contained in its own folder.

21. That’s where Web Galleries or PDF slides shows come in.

22. When you create a Web Gallery, it produces a self contained folder complete with its own “index” file.

23. Two examples of galleries and their index file

24. If you upload this folder to your personal webspace and then type the address into a browser, the browser will look for the “index” file which will open your web gallery.

25. For instance, I created a web gallery in Lightroom called “test” and I uploaded it to my Cox Space.

26. In the case of my “test” gallery, the address is:http://members.cox.net/ezpixels/testThe first part (members.cox.net) is the filing cabinetThe next part after the /(username) is your drawer The last part is a folder in that drawer (gallery).(In the old days, you used to type in “index.html” but that’s not necessary anymore. Just type the folder name).

27. With PDF slideshows, you just upload a single file.Since it’s a single file, you’ll need to add an extension of “.pdf”.http://members.cox.net/ezpixels/pdf-test.pdfThe same applies if you upload a document.The address would need to have “.doc” at the end

28. You can have as many web gallery folders as you have space for.Just remember that each folder must have an “index” file.You can also have multiple PDF slideshows.Just remember that each must have the extension “.pdf”.

29. ADDING FOLDERS TO YOUR COX SPACEThe amount of folders you can upload depends on the size of your images.Cox allows 10 MB per address and you’re allowed 7 addresses.That’s more than enough space for most needs.

30. SENDING YOUR GALLERIES TO COXUploading a gallery folder requires FTP software.You can use Internet Explorer if you don’t have software.Instructions here: http://ezpixels.com/FTP_using_Internet_Explorer.pdfExamples FTP programs available.http://www.ipswitchft.com/products/ws_ftp_home/http://www.smartftp.com/http://www.cuteftp.com/products/ftp_clients.aspxOR check Cox for suggestons: http://support.cox.com/sdcxuser/asp/cox_main.asp

31. If you use Lightroom, you can upload your webspace directly. You first need to tell Lightroom where your space is, etc.(For added security, I recommend NOT storing your password)

32. You only need to set these preferences once.From that point forward, all you do is click “Upload”.

33. OK…now that you have galleries or slideshows uploaded, what’s the best way to lead people to them?You could simply email your web addresses to all your friendsORYou could put a link to the address of a gallery on a Blog.

34. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of starting a Blog or a Webpage,consider using your free Cox webspace just to share web galleries.Just upload one and then send the address to your friends!

35. TIP: Give your galleries or slideshows a single word name.This keeps your web address shorter.