
			WN -- a server for the HTTP
			Version 0.9 (beta) now available

	An HTTP server should do more than just serve files.
	It should play an active role in both navigation and
	presentation issues.  It is my hope that this server
	provides better tools for the creative webmaster.

WN is a server for the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).  It runs
on a wide variety of UNIX platforms and is available at no cost for
any use under the terms of the GNU public license.

The design of WN is based on the use of a small flat database in each
directory with information about the files in that directory.
Fields associated with a file include its title, and may include
keywords, expiration date and any user defined fields like author or
document id.

See the User's Guide at
	http://hopf.math.nwu.edu/docs/manual.html
or just an overview at
	http://hopf.math.nwu.edu/docs/overview.html

Features:
	o A variety of built-in searches including title searches,
	  keyword searches, or fielded searches for user defined fields.
	  These can be done across the entire server or any subhierarchy.

	o Builtin full text searching of text documents in a single 
	  directory.  This is intended to provide a mechanism for users
	  to search a single logical HTML document which may consist of
	  many files on the server.

	o Secure server side includes and wrappers for documents.

	o Security based on per directory databases.  Only files with entries
	  in databases may be served.

	o An arbitrary filter may be assigned to any document to process
	  that document on the fly when serving it.

	o CGI 1.1 support for forms, clicable images etc.  CGI scripts
	  can be in any directory.  There execution can be restricted
	  by requiring a specific user or group id for the database 
	  referring to them.

	o Ranges. Support for URLs which return only a specified byte
	  or line range of a document.  This is useful for structured
	  files.

	o Over 100K of documentation.

WN's functionality was planned with a focus on serving HTML documents.
This means such things as enabling full text searching of a single
logical HTML document which may consist of many files on the server,
or allowing users users to search all titles on the server and obtain
a menu of matching items, or allowing users to download a total
logical document for printing even though the document consists of
many linked files on the server.  All of these are done in a way which
is transparent to the user (and largely transparent to the maintainer!)
The User's Guide at <http://hopf.math.nwu.edu/doc/manual.html">
provides a good example of both of these. But these are only examples of 
many new tools WN makes available to webmasters.

Available at:
	ftp://ftp.acns.nwu.edu/pub/wn/wn-0.9.tar.gz

