How to publish PostScript files in the Web.

• What is PostScript?

  Postscript is a programming language that describes the appearance of a printed page. It was developed by Adobe in 1985 and has become an industry standard for printing and imaging. All major printer manufacturers make printers that contain or can be loaded with Postscript software, which also runs on all major operating system platforms. A Postscript file can be identified by its .ps suffix.





• Steps to create a web page with hyperlinks to PostScripts files using Netscape.

  If you don't know HTML, the best thing you can do is to use an HTML editor. You'll find some help on how to use it by choosing  Help | Help Contents.

1. Select the word or picture where you want to put a link and click on the link icon.

2. Write the location of your postscript file.

3. Save your page. The extension of your file must be htm or html.

4. From the browser, test if you can see your page and if the link works properly.




• If you are working with a Mac.

  If you are using a Macintosh, you may receive an error message saying that you don't have the software required to see this kind of files. If so, you'll need to install it. It's called Aladdin Ghostscript and you can download it from HERE.

After you have it in our machine, you'll have to tell your browser that you want to use it.

The following steps show how to configure the Netscape browser. If you are using a different browser, the configuration will be quite similar:

1. Choose Options | General Preferences | Helpers, check to see if there is a Mime type application/postscript. If there isn't, then click New... and create one: In the dialog that appears, set the type to application, and the subtype to postscript, then click OK.

2. Select the application/postscript Mime type by clicking on it.

3. Set the extensions by typing ai,eps,ps into the Extensions field.

4. Set the application by clicking the Browse... button. In the dialog that appears, choose the Mac GS Viewer application and click OK. Then choose the File type TEXT from the pop-up menu.

5. Set the action to Launch Application.

6. Click OK in the Preferences window to save the changes.

Some browsers, though not Netscape, may need to be restarted before the change will take effect.

IMPORTANT: Postscript includes operators for manipluating files. A buggy or malicious postscript file could damage the files on your harddisk. To minimize this risk, you should start Mac GS Viewer and set the command line in the
Preferences to:

-dSAFER

This disable a number of file operations in Ghostscript. Note that there are two problems with this: (a) This option does not claim to be fool proof - Postscript is very powerful and this option can't guard against all possible problems. (b) You will be unable to render to any of the file devices when this is set. However, you still be able to save what you render to the screen as PICT files.

To turn off this feature, you need to remove -dSAFER from the command line in the Preferences dialog, then quit and restart Mac GS Viewer.

What is?

HTML Editor
A software program that makes creating a web page nearly as easy as typing a memo using a word processor.
Instead of learning HTML commands, users can format web pages using a menu.  Many HTML editor packages display the page being edited exactly the same way it will be displayed on the web - a feature called WYSIWIG, or What You See Is What You Get.
Ex: Netscape Composer
 

1. Open a Netscape Browser.  2. Choose File | New | Blank Page.  3. Start writing your own page.

 

HYPERLINK
A connection that is found in web pages and other electronic documents that, when clicked with a mouse, automatically opens a file or web page in your web browser. A hyperlink may be a word, icon, or graphic. When a hyperlink is text, it typically displays in a different color and may also be underlined. A text hyperlink that has already been visited is usually displayed in a third color.

SERVER
Computer hardware and software that is attached to a network and which automatically stores, processes, and
transmits data or information that is generally accessed by many people using client programs. A standard
language is used to define this client-server interaction.

WEB BROWSER
A software application used to make navigating the Internet easy for the user by providing a graphical user
interface (or GUI) so the user can click menus, icons, or buttons rather than learning difficult computer
commands. Also called a web client because the browser application resides on the client, or the computer of the individual using it, rather than residing on a web server.

WEB PAGE
    A single document on the World Wide Web that is specified by a unique address or URL and that contains text, hyperlinks, and graphics.

WEB SERVER
    Computer hardware where web pages are stored and accessed by others using web client software, or the computer software that allows the user to access the web pages. See also server.

WEB SITE
    A group of similar web pages linked by hyperlinks and managed by a single company, organization, or individual. A web site may include text, graphics, audio and video files, and hyperlinks to other web pages.

WORLD WIDE WEB
Also know as the web. A portion of the Internet that has a graphical user interface composed of web servers that provide access to web sites and web documents. The "www" in the URL is often pronounced "dub-dub-dub" or "3-dub."