How to Set Up a Home Page in SAS

  • Faculty & Staff

Faculty and staff members in the School of Arts & Sciences are able to create home pages or complete web sites for their professional use, either for themselves as individuals or for an SAS research laboratory or program or conference.

We currently offer two approaches: a CampusPress site on web.sas or a flat HTML site on web.facstaff.sas.

  1. CampusPress provides a WordPress site that is easy to update using a standard web browser anywhere on the Internet. You can use over 250 themes (layouts) and you have access to a rich text editor through your web browser.
  2. If you prefer to build your site from scratch using only HTML and CSS, you can request a site on web-facstaff.sas. You'll need to edit the HTML and CSS code directly, or else use specialized software (like Adobe Dreamweaver or Contribute) to create and update the files. (Some departments have their own servers with similar procedures.)

1. CampusPress (WordPress) on web.sas.upenn.edu

Many SAS faculty and staff members will prefer to put their professional web site in our WordPress platform, because it is easier to create and maintain a WordPress site than it is to construct a site from scratch using HTML. CampusPress is a content management system. To use it, you don't need any specialized skills in web development, and sites can be created quickly. You can update them by using a standard web browser anywhere on the Internet. Our instance of WordPress is called CampusPress. It is located on our web.sas.upenn.edu server.

By default, the web address (URL) of your professional CampusPress site will be:

http://web.sas.upenn.edu/username

We can also create CampusPress sites for official SAS research labs, programs, and conferences. For more information about CampusPress or to request a CampusPress site, please visit our CampusPress information page.

2. HTML site on web-facstaff.sas.upenn.edu

It is possible to create a web site using traditional HTML and CSS. This approach assumes that you're comfortable using HTML and CSS or that you have access to specialized software (such as Adobe Dreamweaver or Contribute) that lets you edit HTML in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get environment.

If you would prefer to construct your professional site using HTML and CSS on an SAS server (for example, web-facstaff.sas.upenn.edu), it is first necessary to have a shell account on web-facstaff (or other server). If you do not already have a web-facstaff account, visit the page, "Shell Access to Web-Facstaff" for instructions. (If your department uses another web server, consult with your Local Support Provider.) The rest of this page deals with this approach.

The web address (URL) of your personal site will be:

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~username

where "username" is your web-facstaff username. The character before your username is the tilde character, typically located in the upper left of your computer keyboard.

After you have your shell account, you can use a Secure FTP (SFTP) client, such as Fetch (for Mac) or WS_FTP (for Windows). Both of these clients are available for free to Penn faculty and staff. You can also use the Secure FTP upload feature in web editing software such as Dreamweaver, Contribute or iWeb. Use these settings:

  • Host (or hostname or server): web‑facstaff.sas.upenn.edu
  • Port: 22
  • Connect using (or protocol or servertype): SFTP (or SFTP using SSH2)

Log in with your web-facstaff username and password.

In your account area, you'll find a folder named "html". In order to be seen on the Web, all of your web materials need to be in this folder. The default file should be named index.htm or index.html or index.shtml.

For Assistance

If you need assistance or wish to consult, please contact your Local Support Provider (LSP).