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| WEB HELP DESK |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Note: The MedIT Web Help Desk only provides help with issues relating to School of Medicine Web pages, sites and applications. If you need help with anything else, please use HelpSU
General Questions | HTML and Design Questions | Access Questions
General Questions
- Can MedIT build a site for my School of Medicine department, division,
center or group?
Please see our New Site Page
- I already have a site developed. Can MedIT host it for me?
Please see our page on hosting existing sites.
- How do I take over maintenance of existing web pages on the www.med.stanford.edu
server?
Please see our New Maintainer Page
- How do I take over maintenance of an existing site on the
www.stanford.edu server?
Please read our page for School of Medicine sites on the Leland server
- Can MedIT redesign our existing School of Medicine site?
Please see our Redesign Page
- I'd like to have MedIT develop an online tool or database application,
or have MedIT host an existing tool, application, database, CGI, PERL
or other utility.
Please see our Web Application Page
- How do I use multimedia (video/audio) on my site?
Please see our Multimedia Pages
- How do I set up a site that isn't related to official School
of Medicine Activities?
Please see our page about personal sites.
- How can I update my browser?
There are various free download sites including Netscape and Microsoft. We recommend searching for whatever you like at www.browsers.com
- I'm working out of the Hospital and I can't upgrade my browser,
why?
Call Stanford Health Services Information Management & Technology (IMT) and ask them for help. They are the group that deals with such issues in the Hospital.
- How can I get my site listed in Stanford's and major search
engines?
Please check out our guide to Getting Listed in Search Engines and MedIT's Guide to Promoting Sites.
- I'm interested in learning more about some of these Internet topics,
where should I go?
Commercial search engines are a great place to start looking for more information. Yahoo! has a fairly organized set of links for almost any topic. Also, most bookstores in this area now have a fairly well-stocked section on the Internet.
- Where can I learn more about how to maintain a School of Medicine
site?
MedIT hosts a beginners' Dreamweaver & Web Maintenance class every month or so. You can find out more about this on our Training Page. There is also an online version of the beginners' class.
- How can I stay up-to-date on MedIT information and news?
Aside from checking our Web site, we recommend that all developers sign-up for our Web Announce e-mail list.
- Does MedIT support the use of Netscape Composer for maintaining
sites?
MedIT has phased out the use of Composer. Dreamweaver is the tool we recommend and support. You may be able to use Composer, or any other development tool on your site, but you must use standard FTP for moving files. The HTTP-put process used by some with Composer will no longer be permitted.
- How can I stop getting all that @*#(!!# junk (spam) e-mail?!
While there's no ideal way to stop it completely, we have compiled an extensive reference for dealing with and protecting yourself from spam.
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HTML and Design Tips
- How can I make my Web pages accessible to users using various browsers
and platforms?
Please read our Web Accessibility Issues page to learn how to be aware of the subtle issues of accessible Web design.
- What should I think about if I want to create a useable and visually
appealing web site?
MedIT SiteBuilder
We make it easy to create an attractive site (just like the one you're looking at now). SiteBuilder shows you how, and we urge to take a look.
MedIT Content Guide
Our Content Guide offers tips on how to categorize your site content for your various audiences and how to make the browsing experience more accessible and friendly.
- Where should I go if I have a question about what a specific HTML
tag does and its proper use?
- For starters, check out 'The bare bones guide To HTML'
- Or WebMonkey.com
- Or any number of sites available through a Google search
- How do I create web graphics?
Graphics for the web can be created by many popular programs such as Adobe Photoshop. Regardless of what program you use to create these graphics, they must end up as gifs or jpegs for use on the web. The web developers at MedIT may be of some help in this area. MedIT also provides online tutorials for Photoshop.
- Where can I find stock photos for my site?
Stock photos and graphics are a great way to easily spruce up the look of your site. We have a page of resources to access stock images.
- How can I make my own snazzy buttons for my site navigation?
Please check out the buttons page to learn about using ButtonMaster.
- What if I need to scan a picture?
Talk to Visual Arts Services (650.723.6813) and they can help you in this area. Most copy shops also now offer scanner time or services. Meyer Library also offers scanners and other multimedia devices for use to anyone with a valid SUNet ID.
- What formats should I use to upload my files?
Using Fetch or WS_FTP, all HTML files should be uploaded as text files. All graphics files should be uploaded as raw data.
- How can I password-protect my directories so I can decide
who can see certain pages?
It's a fairly simple process. Look at our page about using secure directories.
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Access Questions
- Can I get another account for another person to work on my site?
Probably not. The policy is to have just one account per department or site. If more than one person wishes to work on the site, a good idea is to have him or her work locally (i.e. on his or her own computer) and occasionally upload the newly changed files to the server through you.
- Can I let another person use my password/username to work on my
account?
Absolutely not! For security reasons, do not ever give away your password/username.
- What should I do if I receive a 'permission denied' error message
when trying to make changes to files?
Each site's directory is set with permissions to create, edit and delete files. This ensures that only the valid owners of the site can make changes. Only the account holder has permission to make any changes to their account. If you are a current or new maintainer of a site and have permissions problems, please contact sysadmin@med.stanford.edu, include your name, department or group, phone number and the URL of the site.
- What should my password be?
Your password should be at least 6 characters long and contain at least one non-alphanumeric symbol such as # or $ or ! or ^. Do not use any words that can be found in a dictionary or anything that can be easily guessed by someone who knows you. You also should not use your SUNet login combo here. However, it should also be memorable to you so you won't forget it!
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