Apache server on Mac

I think I am posting in the right section..
Hello I am trying to host a apache server directory on my mac with my ip address. I do not know how to make my directory come up. I don't know where to put files and folders to even make a directory. Please help me. I want to share files with people going to my ip address and going into catorgories. Thank you.

My aim is PointBlank7500

If you put web sharing on via the system prefs you can put the files in ~/Sites.

I have turned on that feature I will put a file in "Sites". If you dont mind Im going to contact you on aim. Thanks.

Turn on Personal Web Sharing from the Sharing Preferences Pane in System Preferences then start Safari and go to:

http://localhost/~username

where username is the your short name i.e. mine is Mark. Next, replace the files already in ~/Sites with your own pages, images etc. You can find a quick intro to Web Sharing here.

Thats the basic idea anyway, but if you want to enable PHP and or CGI you'll need to do a little more work .

Mark.

will you give me a screen shot just so I can make sure I'm doing it right please?

I just got my router back online lol, I played with the dmz settings.

Thanks.

ok I did it and still its not showing up. may I have some tips please

Guess we never checked this but what version of Mac OS are you running? Also, so you have a firewalls etc? I'll take those screenshots for you, I just have to get some little paint program so I can cut the size down .

Mark.

thanks. I am running on the newest system. Yes I have a firewall but I can get around it. I just need port numbers please. I am on dmz but I guess thats not helping since I can't play War Craft III :-D

my reply was a little late before because Im not getting emails that a reply has been posted. but I'll ask that question later

The port number will be 80, but your browser should find it automatically since web pages are usually served up on that port . In the simplest case just key in http://localhost and you should get a big “hello!!!” from the Apache people.

If you follow the instructions and your browser still can't locate or is getting some error message then you might want to check the apache logs. Post what your browsers showing you anyway .

You might also want to repair the disk permissions using the Disk Util’s app since they can get in the way from time to time.

Nighty night,

Mark.

thanks. My brother said something like I need to buy apache. Is this true?

LOL no, Apache isn't even for sale . Everything you need is included with Mac OS X so it shouldn't be hard to get things up and running.

haha. So whats next

ok so I figured out you have to save documents and stuff as html. in Microsfot word I went to save then I picked web and it said save whole file to html I did and it still doesn't come up. Am I doing the saving right?

Well, possibly not a good idea to use word for creating web pages; possibly not a good idea to use word at all . Just fire up a text editor like TextEdit and switch it to Plain Text... then enter some HTML .