diff --git a/conf/www_default.html b/conf/www_default.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4c8fa477
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/www_default.html
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+<html>
+	<head>
+		<title>this is a mailinabox</title>
+	</head>
+	<body>
+		<h1>this is a mailinabox</h1>
+		<p><a href="https://github.com/tauberer/mailinabox">https://github.com/tauberer/mailinabox</a></p>
+	</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/scripts/web.sh b/scripts/web.sh
index 2f23e7be..149bf027 100755
--- a/scripts/web.sh
+++ b/scripts/web.sh
@@ -9,12 +9,17 @@ rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
 STORAGE_ROOT_ESC=$(echo $STORAGE_ROOT|sed 's/[\\\/&]/\\&/g')
 PUBLIC_HOSTNAME_ESC=$(echo $PUBLIC_HOSTNAME|sed 's/[\\\/&]/\\&/g')
 
+# copy in the nginx configuration file and substitute some
+# variables
 cat conf/nginx.conf \
 	| sed "s/\$STORAGE_ROOT/$STORAGE_ROOT_ESC/g" \
 	| sed "s/\$PUBLIC_HOSTNAME/$PUBLIC_HOSTNAME_ESC/g" \
 	> /etc/nginx/conf.d/local.conf
 
+# make a default homepage
 mkdir -p $STORAGE_ROOT/www/static
+cp conf/www_default.html $STORAGE_ROOT/www/static/index.html
+chown -R $STORAGE_USER $STORAGE_ROOT/www/static/index.html
 
 service nginx restart
 
