Using Notepad Server

Sample NoteServ index.html Page

Sample NoteServ Search Result

Introduction:

NoteServ is simple: Any note you write and file in a specially selected folder will be made available on the WWW when nHTTPd is active. These Notes can be

  • regular old plaintext notes
  • checklists,
  • or outllines.

and NoteServ will dish them up just the same, turning them from Notes to Web pages behind the scenes. You don't have to do a thing!

You're not limited to boring old notes, either. You can also serve up fancy hybrid HTML/text notes, straight HTML notes, or run CGI scripts from within your Notes. Information on how to do that is in the "Advanced" Chapter

However, let me STRESS once again that you don't need to mess with the advanced stuff at all to make NoteServ and NPDS work for YOU. It's designed to be simple for the casual user but powerful for the super-user.

We've established that making Notes available to WWW visitors is as simple as writing down some text in a Note and filing that Note in the folder you have selected to be your WWW directory. There's no length limit on these notes other than the length imposed by the Newton Operating System.

Let's discuss some special features of NoteServ you can use to GREATLY enhance the content of your served Notes that don't require any work on your part.

LiveLinks:

Within note, any properly formatted URL will automatically be turned into a clickable link. For example, if you write http://www.apple.com/ in a Note, it will be displayed on the client's web browser as http://www.apple.com/ The same is true for gopher, ftp, mailto:, and even hotline addresses. This is great for making lists of hyperlinks, etc for later viewing or sharing.

Appearance Options:

You can apply preferences to the way NPDS formats your Notes. In the Appearance Panel of NPDS Setup program, (covered in-depth here) you'll find several variables that you can set. You can specify

In addition, to facilitate display of non-American ASCII characters you may wish to specify a MIME character set.

Variables:

Quickly, NoteServ supports a range of special variables called Server Side Includes. Information on how to use them is in this chapter. Basically, they're stand-ins for common things like your Name, City, etc as well as for specialized functions like a Search Form for your Notepad that are replaced an instant before a page containing them is sent to a WWW Client.