You first want to get the folder/directory structure right.

View SHOW ME!: Creating Site Folders First

One reason is just to make it more convenient for you to find files. But the most important reason is that since HTML pages are collections of different files brought together via Mark-Up Language (the ML in HTML), you must keep track of these files--you must keep them together in a set of folders which makes sense to you.

Realize that when you publish HTML pages, you do NOT automatically publish the graphics that appear "on" the page. You publish their paths--information on where they are found. Their paths are defined by the directories they are in.

So you must keep all images together in the same folder/directory (often a subdirectory) you keep your HTML files in.

Folders in our computers become directories when online. And the names of the directories become a part of the URL.

Best Practice Tip #1: Keep all folder and file names in lower case.

Best Practice Tip #2: NEVER use spaces (or special characters such as "&" or "/" or "#" or "$" etc.) in a file name or a folder name.

 

1. Go to My Documents (or wherever you want to keep your files on your computer), click on (toolbar) File --> New --> Folder.

2. Name the folder (for the purposes of this class) using the first initial of your first name and your full last name. Example: Steve Kerby's folder would be skerby.

3. Open the folder and create a subfolder called images.

So... all we've done thus far is create two folders that will eventually function as our site directory and images subdirectory.