To create a web site a designer must be aware of the elements that make up a web page, the locations of these elements, and the relationships of these elements to each other.

Thus a designer must become familiar with the essentials of file management as it pertains to the storage of documents and images on a computer.

As you are probably already aware, your computer contains a hard drive (usually designated as the C drive) on which is stored all of the software programs available for your use.

Your computer also contains a CD-ROM or DVD drive and it probably also contains a drive for a portable 3 1/2" disk. Your computer might also contain a zip drive for a large-capacity zip disk and/or a drive for recording a CD-ROM.

Think of your computer as a gigantic filing cabinet.

Think of each of these drives as a drawer in that filing cabinet. Inside each drawer are many folders, and each folder contains individual files.

A file can be a document such as a letter or an essay. A file can be a spreadsheet or a PowerPoint presentation. A file can be a database. A file can be an image or a piece of music or video.

You may be in the habit of saving all of your files to the My Documents folder on your hard (or C) drive. Or you may be in the habit of storing your files on diskettes.

When you start a new long-term project, such as a web site, you should create a new folder to contain all of the work you do on that project.

You might want to create this folder inside the My Documents folder on your hard drive.

Or you might want to create this folder on a portable disk.

To create a new folder in the My Documents folder on your hard drive:

• From your computer desktop, double click on My Computer
• Access your C drive by double clicking on it.
• Open the My Documents folder by double clicking on it.
• Once you have opened the My Documents folder, right click on a blank space in the folder window.
• When the pop-up menu appears, choose New Folder
• Type a name for the new folder.

To create a new folder on a portable disk:

• From your computer desktop, double click on My Computer
• Access your portable disk by double clicking on the drive name (for example, my 3 1/2" disk belongs in the A drive
• Once you have opened your portable disk, right click on a blank space in the window.
• When the pop-up menu appears, choose New Folder
• Type a name for the new folder.