Florida webmasters - Proper file names to use at your site and more
Florida Webmasters: File Names to Use on our server
Where
do my web files go:
Your web
sites pages, images, photos, videos, etc will go into the public_html
folder in your FTP space for your account. The Path to this is:
/home/accountname/public_html (this is a unix type path and NOT the
url). IF you are using FTP to manage your site, OR are using CPANELS
built in file manager you can access this folder easily and manage your
sites files and content using whatever type of web editor you wish.
NOW
KNOW that IF you are using a Content Mangement system (such as our
preferred CMS system we like to setup for a business client), you
really do NOT need to FTP to your site, nor do you need to use CPANEL
to mess around with your site files (which can kill your site if you do
not know what you are doing).. The CMS system itself has most all the
tools you will ever need to manage your sites content and such.
Proper
Naming Conventions for files
When
you NAME a file you wish to use at your web site whether it is an
Image, Photo, Video, or another web page, name your files in the manner
below and you will live long and prosper.
Do
NOT use any charactors in your file name except upper and or lower
case letters, numericals (from 0-9), you CAN use the hyphen (-) and you
CAN use the Dash (_) if you wish. do NOT use the amperstand (&),
do NOT use the at sign (@), do NOT use commas, or parenthesis, or any
other charactors except letters, numbers, a _ or a - in ANY FILE NAME
OR FOLDER you create at your site! This includes images/photos/videos/music/etc.......
Do
NOT have any spaces in a file name, or folder name at your site... The
name: my space.html is NOT acceptable as it
contains a space. The name my_space.html is fine as
well as mySpace.html for example is also fine.
We
say this to you in order to save YOU TIME and agony because although a
file name which does NOT adhere to the above will likely work just
fine, there are certain specific options which will NOT WORK or be
available to you to use IF you name your files improperly as outlined
above.. IF you get into the habit early on using properly named
files for use on the Internet and at your site, it WILL save you time
AND $$$$ as well!
Filenames ARE CASE SENSITIVE! Trying to link up to such as: Myspace.html is NOT the same as myspace.html - Best advice here is to name files YOU create lowercase which will make your life easier.
What
about Images/Videos for my site:
If
you are using the CMS system adding photos, videos, and even FLASH is
pretty easy and straight forward.
The
important
thing about images/videos/flash to remember here is that you do NOT
want to use images and such which are WAY TOO BIG so that they kill the
look and feel of your site (make the user scroll left and right to view
the image).. You also do not want the images to be so large in file
size that it takes your viewers MINUTES before the image finally loads
for viewing. There really is no reason to display an image/video which
is larger than 640 pixels in width and it is BEST NOT to display any
images/video which is larger than 525 pixels in width...
Here are some rules of thumb to help
you decide on such sizes and things.
Todays Internet
surfers are commonly viewing sites using a monitor setting of 1024x768
OR HIGHER for the most part. sites we design are typically optimized to
display at around 1000 pixels in width (which gives the viewer an extra
24 more pixels left to right before the page will scroll left to
right). IF your site has a single navigation column alond the left or
right side of the page, such a column will typically be around the 200
pixels in width range.
That leaves you with some 800
pixels in width for the MIDDLE column (where your content is).. It
therefore makes little sense for you to try to make the viewer display
an image at your site which may be 1024 pixels in width (as it WILL
make the page scroll left to right and viewers HATE IT when they have
to scroll left to right)..
In such a situation,
simply edit that image on down to some 640 or even to 320 pixels in
width and it will make your page look very nice while still getting
your point across nicely :)
You may also simply wish
to create a Thumbnail of the image and link it up to the full sized
photo (common practice to use) and it will also do what you need it to
do nicely. The CMS system (if you are using it) features two different
Photo Galleries which will create the thumbnail FOR YOU and link it up
to the full sized image automatically. For NON CMS site owners, there
are tools in your CPANEL for creating thumbnails and such and a Video
Tutorial on how to do so within the CPANEL system.
IF
your site is using a three column type page layout remember that each
column will be around 200 pixels in width, many viewers are looking at
your site using a 1024 pixels in width screen size so you really only
have around some 600 pixels in width in the middle (content area of
your page) in which to display your Text, Images, etc.. Resize your
images accordingly and your viewers will LOVE YOU FOR IT :)
Sooo
What is this CPANEL thing and Will I get it as a hosted client?
Cpanel
is a Web Domain administration system which ALL hosted clients on our
servers automatically get by default when we setup your account on our
server. It gives you the ability to setup Email accounts,
Manage email accounts including Anti Spam mechanisms, Check your sites
Log Files (for traffic stats to your site), Password protect Folders is
you wish, Setup Sub Domains if you wish, Create and manage SQL
databases, Setup CRON tasks, it features an Image Manager system, File
Management system (which has a wysiwyg page editor), and MORE!
The
cpanel also features Web Mail to allow you to check your email anywhere
(when you are away from your normal computer for instance)..
There
are Video Tutorials throughout the CPANEL system once your are logged
into it which will help you with most everything within the system.
To
login to YOUR cpanel you simply would go to:
http://yourdomain.com/cpanel and use your username/password
(same thing as your FTP information) to login to your Cpanel.. When you
login to cpanel you will be taken to a SECURE login just follow through
and login as normal despite what your browser may tell you as the site
IS SECURE regardless.
What type of computer/monitor/mouse/graphics program should I have?
Windows
XP runs fine with 1 gig of system RAM memory while windows Vista really
seems to like 2 gigs of system ram memory. BOTH are good systems to use
and are for the most part pretty stable and up to date as of May, 20,
2009. Personally I like Vista as it has many new options of value..
A Duo Core processor (newest type processor they are
pushing) is actually pretty good. Aim at a 1.86 gigahertz Duo core
processor or higher for a Lap Top machine, and a 2.5 gigahertz or
higher duo core processor for a Desktop unit and you can't go wrong.
The older stype Pentium 4 processor is also a good choice at 2.8
gigaherz or above and a lot cheaper than the duo core and allows you to
still get some very FAST machines using this older type processor (I
have an older pentium 4 2.8 processor and my machine runs very quickly).
It
really all depends on your budget and of course WHAT it is you wish to
be able to do on your computer... Playing high end GAMES will require a
high end computer! Creating or editing high end Videos will require a
substantial machine with lots of Ram, fast video card, and a large
monitor.
Hard
Drives are cheap today. Get the largest fastest one you can afford as
the Hard Drive on any computer is most often the primary BOTTLENECK in
how fast a computer actually is. A 7200 rpm hard drive can access
information from the disk FASTER than a 5400 rpm drive for example. The
older style hard drives are called IDE type drives while the newer
style drives are called the Seriel ATA or SATA type drives.
The newer
type Seriel ATA come with most all new computers. They are FASTER, and
are better for setting up a RAID type drive setup on a computer.
There
are also the SCSI type hard drives but these are much more expensive.
These types as far as I KNOW are the only type which can break the
typical 7200 rpm barrier both the other types seem to be restricted
upon. Over the counter speed ranges for a SCSI type drives can approach
the 10,000 to 15,000 rpm range which is VERY FAST (and expensive).
Backup
Drives are important today. Those neat little USB type portable drives
are very good and you can hook one up yourself very quickly and easily.
Get one today and put ALL YOUR mission critical files on it for peace
of mind in the event your computer CRASHES BIG TIME. Since 1993 we have
been in business! I have seen MANY business owners who relied upon
their computer for their business have their systems totally CRASH who
did NOT have a backup policy in place (and some $50,000 or more later)
ONLY THEN decided to invest in a $200 backup drive :(
The thing is: Hard Drives are Mechanical Storage Devices.
They vary in size, speed, makers, and more but ALL have a commonality -
THEY ALL ARE PRETTY MUCH GUARANTEED TO FAIL in time. You may well
get many years of service from your hard drive, BUT; in time it WILL
FAIL.. Doing regular Disk Defragmentations of your drives WILL Help it
last much longer by a factor of 10 or more from those who do NOT do
this simple task..
Also running a regular Chkdsk from time to
time will help you see the current status of your hard drive and
possibly HEAD OFF Disasters before they happen! For Windows users to
Run chkdsk you would go to your Start button then the Run option now type in cmd. Then type in: chkdsk /R
and review the screen prompts as they display! If everything comes back
good (no disk errors or lost fragments) you are good to go.
A
Video card which has some 256 megs of video ram will serve you well,
but 128 megs of video ram is fine for most anyone except the die hard
Gammers, Video producers, or 3-d type graphics designers. My main
machine I do most my work on has TWO 512 meg video cards (Nvidia) and
this machine has 8 gigs of system ram and 4 sata hard drives for 2
terrabytes of space. I can rendor PERFECT Videos with any sort of
special effects you can imagine on this machine :)
Monitors
today have evolved a great deal. The Flat Panel type LCD screens are
great for most needs, cost less to operate than the older style CRT
monitors, and are easier on your eyes for every day use. I suggest a 19
inch monitor or larger. Larger monitors than 19 inch in size MAY NEED a
larger sized Video card in order to fully take advantage of the
increase screen size such as maybe a 256 meg video card (see the above).
MOST
LCD type monitors have a DIGITAL CONNECTION leading to your video card,
SOME have both the older Analog, and Digital connections. You will need
to check your Video Card to see what type of connections it has in the
back of the card BEFORE you buy a new monitor or you may wind up
replacing BOTH. The Digital connection from the monitor (remember your
Video card must also offer a digital connection) WILL offer you the
best Screen Colors, Display speeds, and overall Features your new
monitor can provide.
Mice as far as they go are of all sorts,
style, and feature laden. The newer Wireless Mice are actually very
good and the battery in them typically last many months before you need
to put a new battery in them (which is simple to replace). Basically
look at the ones you like the best as far as fitting your hand, and
Features you feel you need.
Graphics and Photo programs are all
over the board in features and pricing. I have tried them ALL.
Personally since I do website designs and such, I like Uleads Photo
Impact. It is not expensive and is designed to allow the designer to do
many things for web sites and pages the others DO NOT.
Spell
Checking is something you should do with pages you are editing and
managing. The CMS system we typically setup for a customer itself DOES offer a built in Spell Checker,
but it is weak and does NOT save your business related specific
words (in other words it does NOT allow you to add words to your
dictionary).. IEspell is a free tool which DOES allow you to check your
spelling (using Microsoft Internet Explorer) AND gives you your own
custom Dictionary in which you CAN ADD words to your dictionary.
What
IE Spell does is installs itself as a Plugin in MIE so that ANYTIME you
are at a website which has a fill out form of some sort, you can type
in what you have to say and bring up the IE Spell checker to CHECK what
you have typed in for spelling errors and correct them BEFORE you send
off the form...
Just go to:http://iespell.com/ download and istall it and you can check your spelling in virtually ANY online form before sending it off.
If
you
have questions about any of the above feel free to contact us
Florida webmasters - Proper file names to use at your site and more
