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Building a Site on Your Hard Drive

Basic Organization
When creating a Web site on your hard drive (before uploading to a server), you should follow a few important rules, such as storing the site in its own exclusive folder. If you edit your site frequently, it might be convenient to keep the folder on your desktop. Otherwise, you can use a subfolder of "My Documents" or another data folder. Don't keep site files in the same directory as other files (word processing documents, spreadsheets, etc.).

Likewise, do not store other folders or files in your site directory. While these may merely seem to be good rules of organization, you can encounter page errors if you get creative. For instance, if you locate files (graphics, HTML, etc.) outside your site folder, your browser may display these properly while the site is on your disk, but these external files will become broken when you upload the site. Program-specific problems can also occur. Dreamweaver, for instance, only tolerates one "Library" folder per site. If you store the WSU templates in your site folder, you will flood the folder with "Library" sub-folders. Dreamweaver will guess which is the valid "Library" folder, and it is unlikely to guess correctly.

One last "Don't": don't put your site folder in the same directory as your application (Dreamweaver, FrontPage, etc.). If you ever need to reinstall your application, you could lose the files. Having your site folder with your other data files (in the My Documents folder, for instance) makes back-ups much easier, also.

Sub-Folders
If your site is likely to remain small forever, you will only need one folder for your HTML files. But if you expect to add files weekly, or even monthly, you might think about adding subfolders for specific site areas. If your site is about recipes, you might want to create sub-folders for main dishes, side dishes, appetizers, soups, and desserts. Or you might organize your recipe site by the cuisine: French, Japanese, Mexican, Hungarian. Use whatever organizational scheme seems to make sense. And don't forget to follow the rules on naming files and folders.

One type of file deserves its own folder: The Graphics File. If it's a GIF or a JPEG, it should be in a folder named graphics or images. Things get confusing in a hurry if your graphics are mixed in with your HTML files. Of course, if you will be posting a good amount of PDFs, MPEGs, or some other file format, you might consider a separate directory for these, also.

Properly organizing your site with the above tips will make it much easier when it comes time to upload the site to your server. Good luck!