A Web site whose URL begins with http://web.mit.edu/ is a collection of files stored on Athena, and delivered to browsers by the main MIT Web server (web.mit.edu). The diagram below illustrates how the contents of a typical course Web site get from the author to the audience. When someone enters the URL for your course pages in a Web browser, the browser connects to web.mit.edu, which then retrieves the Web pages (HTML files) from your course locker on Athena. These files can be created either directly on Athena or on your own computer and then transferred to Athena.
Note: Athena User Accounts provides course lockers for individual MIT courses. Web Communications Services (WCS, formerly known as CWIS) provides "org" lockers for Web publishing by MIT organizations (administrative offices, academic departments, programs, and laboratory or research groups).
The basic steps to Web publishing on web.mit.edu are:
If the results are satisfactory, you can repeat this process to create additional files. If you are unhappy with the result, you can make changes and then transfer the new file to replace the original. The Building section of this guide details how to create web pages; the Publishing section of this guide elaborates on the process of putting the pages onto your site. The diagram below provides a very basic picture of Web publishing in the MIT environment.