RO Website Management

Introduction
Login to NetFiles & access the RO directory
Create a “short name” for your RO website
Assign others to manage your website
Upload and edit files easily
Use Dreamweaver for your RO website
Other Useful Links

Introduction

The Office of Registered Organizations has worked collaboratively with the Office of Web Services and CITES to provide continuous support for Registered Organizations. Paramount to this partnership is the implementation of a timely and relevant infrastructure for WWW-based developed by the Registered Organizations.

All Registered Organization’s UIUC websites designed through the www.uiuc.edu/ro domain are managed through CITES NetFiles. NetFiles will provide users with enhanced resources for web management and development, allowing for greater flexibility and ease of managing these webpages.

All Registered Organizations are established with the President’s NetID. At that time, CITES creates a NetFiles account and allocates web space for an organization’s website – whether the organization needs to build a new website or edit an existing one. Each NetFiles account has a default quota of 500 MB.

The President is assigned initial permission to access the RO website. The President has the capacity to assign other individuals who are granted access to the website for design/edit/update purposes.

To begin using NetFiles for web-based management, please visit the Guide to CITES NetFiles website.

Login to NetFiles & access the RO directory

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Log into NetFiles using your NetID and Active Directory (AD) password: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/xythoswfs/webui
In the "Bookmarks" section of the left-hand menu bar, select the “Manage Bookmarks” icon
Select the "Add Bookmark" option from the header;
Create a Bookmark Name for your RO NetFiles directory;
In the "Directory" field, enter: /ro/www/MyRSONameWithoutSpaces

The "Directory" includes /ro/www and is followed by the organization's full/formal name, exactly as registered with the Office of Registered Organizations (with correct capitalization). To confirm the full/formal name of the RO, please visit the alpha listing available online: www.union.uiuc.edu/involvement/a-z_list.html. By adding a bookmark, the directory for the RO website will be automatically added to your menu bar. Next time you login, you only have to select that bookmark and never type the directory path again!

Create a “short name” for your RO website

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Each RSO may use a "shortname" for their website. The shortname function provides a more recognizable web address for your RSO using a shorter web address than the assigned NetFiles URL. Often shortnames utilize the abbreviation/acronym/nickname for the RSO in the web address as opposed to the full/formal name of the RSO.

The shortname URL is an automatic redirect that forwards users to the RSO website.

For example: www.uiuc.edu/ro/MyRSO would redirect any user to the NetFiles website: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ro/www/MyRSO.

To establish a shortname and/or check if your RSO already has a shortname, login as president to: https://www.union.uiuc.edu/iurso/sign-in.aspx

Please note that shortnames are case sensitive. As such, www.uiuc.edu/ro/MyRSO would not yield the same website as www.uiuc.edu/ro/myrso.

Assign others to manage your website

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Once you have logged in to the RSO NetFiles account, you can assign permission for other users to access the account as webmaster. These individuals would have permission to read/write/delete/administer the account.

Assign permission for other users to manage the NetFiles directory Once you have logged in and accessed the RO NetFiles directory account:

In the "Directory" line, select the "share" icon (it looks like the palm of a hand holding the globe);
Select "Add User/Group" from the top menu bar;
Change "Where" to "ID";
Enter the NetID of the person to manage the files in the "Begins with" field;
Grant them the appropriate permissions: read/write/delete/administer.

Upload and edit files easily

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File uploads are accomplished easily by dragging a file or files from your computer into the Windows Web Folders window. You can view a file by double-clicking the filename in Web Folders, but you will need to drag the file from Windows Web Folders to your Desktop in order to edit it. To do this once you are in the RO website directory:

Click the “Web Folder” icon at the top of the main browser frame.
Drag files in and out of the new window.

Use Dreamweaver for your RO website

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Many RO’s prefer to use Dreamweaver to edit their RO websites. Unfortunately, there is no ideal way to use Dreamweaver with NetFiles. Dreamweaver does not support secure WebDAV connections, and CITES NetFiles requires that all WebDAV connections be secure. However, there is a workaround that will allow you to use Dreamweaver for site management. CITES recommends doing the following:

In Dreamweaver, define your site as you normally would. If you wish, you can leave “Access” set to “None” under the “Remote Info” menu, since you won't be able to connect anyway. Dreamweaver will create a local copy of your site with all of your files.
Edit and save your HTML files in Dreamweaver.
Using the WebDAV client of your choice, copy your HTML files to your CITES NetFiles directory. Note that you will edit your files in Dreamweaver, but upload the files using a separate WebDAV client.
To update your local files, use your WebDAV client to copy your files from NetFiles to your locally defined site; then use Dreamweaver to edit your local files.