Create a Web Site Structure
by Agatha Taormina

 

Before you begin to work on a web site, you should set up a folder on a local drive (that is, a drive on your own computer or computer network) where you will hold the pages of your site.
You should keep all of the files associated with that web site in one folder.  For the purposes of this example we will call this folder website.

As you develop the individual pages (i.e. files) of your site, save all of them to this website folder.

Within the website folder will be any other folders associated with the web site under construction. At the least, you should create a folder called images within the website folder.  You will place all your graphics files (jpg and/or gif) within the images folder within the website folder.
If you are planning a large web site you might want to organize the sections of the web site into their own folders. But all of these folders will be contained within the original website folder.

For example, a student named Wendy has been assigned to create a web site with the following files:

  • a home page

  • a personal area containing a biography and a resume

  • a class area containing a site plan, a site outline, a site storyboard, a style manual, and a credits page

  • a section on her family, including pages on each family member (parents, husband, children) and their hobbies

  • a section on dogs, including pages on how to choose a dog, what to feed a dog, how to train a dog, and how to exercise a dog

Wendy decides to organize each section of her site into a folder of its own.

Here is her website folder:

large folder  website

Here are the folders she has created inside her website folder:
small folder
images
small folder
personal
small folder
class
small folder
family
small folder
dogs

The images folder will hold all the graphics that will appear on the site.

Each of the other folders will hold the web pages that belong to that particular section of Wendy's site.

Wendy has decided to keep all of the graphics files for her entire site in her images folder. However, she could have decided to create a separate images folder inside each section folder to hold just the images that appear on the pages of that particular section.
As Wendy creates the individual pages of her web site, she uses relative hyperlinks to connect one page within her web site to another, even those in different folders.
When Wendy is ready to post her site on the web, she opens her website folder and moves all of the files and folders inside the website folder into her folder on the web server.

Because Wendy has used relative hyperlinks throughout her site, she can, if she wishes, easily move her entire site (i.e., the contents of her original web site folder, subfolders and all) to the web folder she has access to through her internet provider.

More Information:

 

Web Design Center Readings
Last Revised: June 24, 2002
©  Agatha Taormina