How to Make NTU Homepage: Connection to Web Folder

Some of my friends in NTU asked me how to make homepage in NTU website.

Well, actually CITS has made very very clear general guide to publish website. So everyone can read there. But I think there are some things below needs to be more highlighted.

Connection to Web Folder: The computer should be connected to NTU network.

If you’re outside NTU, perhaps you should know the IP address or so to access the NTU network. [errr so dunno how to connect... hehehe]

If you’re in NTU, there are 3 ways to access the NTU network.

1. Using a computer in any NTU library.
   If you use this way, you should [use Internet Explorer if you want the following link works well] manually connect to the home drive.
   You cannot make any desktop shortcut on libraries’ computers desktops because you cannot right-click on them.
   You cannot use “Run…” (shortcut: windows + R) command in the libraries’ computers either.
2. Using a computer connected to LAN in a hall of residence room.
   By using this way, I think all the methods to connect to the web folder work well.
   However, I prefer connecting to NTU network via desktop shortcut because later on I don’t need to retype the address. Note that once you use Internet connection outside NTU, then the shortcut will not work.
3. Using a computer connected to NTU Wireless LAN.
   See #2.

If you want to add some styles into your NTU homepage, you can find HTML and CSS tutorials via Google search.

Makasi Mbah uda ngasi tau shortcut buat “Run…”!

Building Website Using Client-Side Scripts: 5 Common Problems for Visitors

I’m not telling you not to use any client-side scripts like ActionScript, Javascript, VBScript, and such in your website. In fact, I really support you to use them properly so that your website looks attractive and creative.

What I’m not suggesting you to do is

to build the whole website using the scripts.

Why? Because you’re making problems for the users!

Here are the top 5 issues that may be encountered.

My Journey from Yahoo! Mail to Gmail

I lived in Indonesia. I knew e-mail service and created a free Yahoo! Mail account for the first time when I was 13. I chose Yahoo! as it was the only one that I knew. Signing up and checking for new e-mails in Yahoo! Mail were fairly easy and quick.

As soon as I had one e-mail, I created an account for chatting when I was 14. I chatted until the invoice for the Internet use blew up. In that chatting place, I found one guy created me a Hotmail account. I used that account for chatting with other strangers I met at that chatting place. I was happy that I had that account, as I could not find how to make one.

Somehow he asked me to make one Hotmail account for him. I didn’t decline his request. However, the Internet connection so sucked that I couldn’t submit the form for signing up. Uh oh… it’s troublesome… I didn’t like it.

There are some other reasons why I didn’t like Hotmail. The account expired too fast. If didn’t sign in for 1 month, all my mails would have erased. In addition, the page loading was very slow, perhaps because of the cool interface and broken codes.

So, until that time, I still used Yahoo! Mail as my favourite e-mail address.

2 years passed. I was a second year high school student. My friend from another highschool told me that she used Gmail. Wow, I’d never heard about Gmail. And… wow, that was also the first time I knew that Google provided e-mail service. OK. I tried to sign up.

The sign up process progressed without problems. However, checking e-mail for Gmail tended to be much slower than Yahoo! Mail. [Well, that time I didn't know why.]

Still, I liked Yahoo! Mail the best.

---

Now, I stay in a neighbouring country which has very very powerful Internet connection. This is the only time I can observe available services on the Internet. [That means I can make comparisons between the e-mail services more fairly!]

Since I entered a university in the neighbouring country, I have another e-mail account [{at} ntu.edu.sg]. Wowww it has cool suffix! XD

Anyway, as I browse the Internet, I find that actually the coolest e-mail service is Gmail! One reason is that it is one of the Google Products, which are very well integrated and work out of the box in most web browsers.

[Perhaps it's slow in my home country because of the Internet Service Provider (ISP), or the modem used was too old. Moreover, Gmail seems to have many scripts behind the simple interface.]

Other e-mail services may not be as good as Gmail. Yahoo! Mail is not as integrated as Gmail. Hotmail has very cool interface, but it works flawlessly on Internet Explorer only. My university e-mail is somewhat similar to Hotmail as it uses Microsoft Exchange Server [e.g. the interface is somewhat broken when using non-Internet Explorer browsers].

Now, do I leave them entirely for Gmail? Of course not. I prefer full functionality to communicate with most of my friends who use Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail. [Btw my university e-mail cannot be left because of the cool suffix though hehehe...]

Therefore, I still use Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail.

But my favourite one is Gmail!