WebSTAR is an HTTP server that lets you publish hypertext and multimedia documents to millions of World Wide Web (WWW) users around the world, right from your Macintosh computer. You can use WebSTAR to put any Macintosh file on the Web, including GIF and JPG images and even QuickTime' movies.
WebSTAR is completely compatible with all WWW clients, on any platform, including Mosaic', which started the Web revolution, and Netscape Navigator', the most popular Web client available today. WebSTAR is also fully compatible with any HTML (HyperText Markup Language) files you may have already developed. Just copy them onto your WebSTAR server Macintosh and you're set.
Through the power of AppleScript' and Apple events, WebSTAR can communicate with other applications on your Macintosh to publish any information contained in those programs. For example, if your company information is in a FileMaker" Pro database, Web client users can query it via HTML forms to get the data using the FileMaker CGI (Common Gateway Interface) for WebSTAR. It's powerful and easy to use.
StarNine also offers several add-on products for WebSTAR, including the Security Toolkit and the Commerce Toolkit. The Security Toolkit provides authentication and encryption capabilities for the WebSTAR server using the Secure Sockets Layer protocol to ensure that connections between Web clients and WebSTAR are completely private. The Commerce Toolkit adds support for commercial transactions via the First Virtual Internet Payment System'. Internet customers simply connect to the server and fill in an online order form. First Virtual automatically verifies the buyer and then notifies WebSTAR to complete the transaction. It's completely secure and reliable, and requires no additional hardware or software. Other Internet payment schemes, including credit card transaction processing, will be supported in future releases.
WebSTAR comes with everything you need to create a killer Web site on any Macintosh. The WebSTAR CD-ROM Pack includes FTP and Gopher servers for sharing files across the Internet as well as a free evaluation copy of StarNine's ListSTAR, a companion product to WebSTAR that lets you create automated mailing lists (Listservers) and Email-On-Demand systems on the Internet. Sample AppleScripts and CGIs to connect WebSTAR with external applications are also included, and we've provided an online copy of WebMaster Macintosh, by Bob Levitus and Jeff Evans, the definitive reference for Macintosh Web site developers.
Some History
WebSTAR started out as MacHTTP, which has been widely used on the Web for several years. WebSTAR includes these long-standing features, which will be familiar to users of MacHTTP:
Allows you to serve information to all WWW clients that support the HTTP/1.0 standard.
Handles URL requests for text and binary documents, for example, for HTML (HyperText Markup Language) documents as well as GIF, JPEG, and other binary format files.
Can execute AppleScripts and CGI applications, and can link to other external applications (such as FileMaker Pro, AppleSearch, or HyperCard") and return results to clients.
Allows you to control access to the server by clients' domain name or IP address.
Supports complete user name/password security for all files it serves.
PowerPC native server.
Additional Information Resources
To access the WebSTAR Home Page
- The WebSTAR Home Page provides information about tools that work with WebSTAR, additional examples, product update information, and the latest versions of WebSTAR. To access the WebSTAR Home Page, use a WWW client to connect to the following URL:
http://www.starnine.com/webstar.html
For MacTCP configuration
- If you need to configure MacTCP, see the MacTCP Administrator's Guide. This document is included on the WebSTAR CD-ROM. Or, to access it on the World Wide Web, see the WebSTAR Home Page.
For a complete reference on creating your Web site
- See WebMaster Macintosh, by Bob Levitus and Jeff Evans, for a detailed information about creating your Web site. This document is included on the WebSTAR CD-ROM. Or, to access it on the World Wide Web, see the WebSTAR Home Page.
For information about URL
- See the URL Primer, available from at this Web site:
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demoweb/url-primer.html
For information about writing HTML documents
- See the HTML Primer, available at this site:
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/demoweb/html-primer.html
For details about the Common Gateway Interface Standard
- See the CGI overview, available at this site:
http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/overview.html
For AppleScript tutorials
- For information about writing AppleScripts and CGI applications for WebSTAR, see the Tutorials folder. This folder is included on the WebSTAR CD-ROM. Or, to access it on the World Wide Web, see the WebSTAR Home Page.
For an ongoing discussion of WebSTAR issues
- See the WebSTAR Home Page for details about how to subscribe to the following very active mailing list, which is dedicated to WebSTAR: machttp
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