Transcript Website building tips PPT

Website Building Tips
By Jennifer L. Bowie
Starting Out
• Create a file folder in your web space
(your public_html file on your H
drive/elocker is one place) for the site
– Since you will be creating 3 websites for this
class you might want to go ahead and create 3
(say mini, port, & final)
Helpful hint: for any file to be visible online it
has to be in your public_html folder. Anything
in this folder can be read by anyone with the
desire and web access (so be careful)
Naming your files
• Do:
– Use all lowercase
– Use only letters &
numbers or the ~_-or.
– Make sure the web
pages end in .htm or
.html (Dreamweaver
uses .htm)
– Make file names short &
easy to remember (and
type)
• Do not:
– Use a space in your file
names or else the
pages will not load
Dreamweaver hints
• Always set up the manage sites when
working on a site
– On your personal computer you will only need
to do this once per site
– On the school computers you will need to do
this each time you log into the computer
(apparently these settings are not saved in
your account)
• Always use the publish function on
Dreamweaver to publish your
Dreamweaver files, not doing so will break
links and cause all sorts of mayhem in
your site
Management hints
• Save all your files for the same project in the same folder—
this will save much heartache!
• DO NOT change the names of your files or folders, unless
you are using the Dreamweaver manage sites function (and
even then, not a good idea)
– Changing file & folder names will mean that you have to
change any link to that file or anything in that folder. Not fun!
• DO NOT move files once you have used them in your
website, unless you are using the Dreamweaver manage
sites function (and even then, not a good idea)
– This is like renaming things—doing so will mean that you have
to change any link to that file or anything in that folder, plus
any link to this file. Also not fun.
• Always check your website on someone else’s computer
(and not logged in via your account on the school
computers) to make sure it is not linking to something on
your hard drive or h drive
Names & Titles
• Each page should have a file name & a
title, and these are not (and should not
be) the same thing
– File name: what you save it as
– Title: this is the name of the page (like the
title of a paper, not what the file name is of the
paper when you save it). This will:
• appear in title bar of web browser
• be what people see when they bookmark your page
• be used to “judge” your page by search engines
So, your title should be descriptive, concise (no
more ~60 characters), & relevant
Have Fun & Good Luck!
• Don’t forget the Dreamweaver Tutorial—it’s a
great resource on how to publish your site!
http://www.student.gsu.edu/%7Eahatter1/DreamweaverTutorial/i
ndex.htm
• Also, make sure you fully read and understand
Williams & Tollet Chapter 3-4. This will greatly
help and save much heartache.