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Upload Organization
Organizing the files that you are uploading to the web

Successfully uploading your website to the internet

Successful file transfers and uploading of your website to the Internet requires good organization of the data. A haphazard approach to FTP (file transfer protocol) when putting your work online will most often spell trouble. As time goes by there will be changes to be made and new methods to try out on your website. If the data is well organized and easy to locate upload problems will be minimized.

Creating directories to organize the different components of your website

When you are ready to put your site online, be sure and use directories to organize the different components of your website. If you are going to design/create more than one website, have a separate directory folder for each site. Keeping separate directories makes locating files much easier.

Within each site directory folder, create a directory for each section of your website and within those folders, separate directories for graphics, photos and/or other subsections such as message boards. By subdividing information and website files you give yourself an advantage when changes need to be made.

Example of a good website directory structure


website directory tree structure

Example website directory

Organize your files and do yourself a favor

As you can see this method of data organization is easy to keep track of and simple to manipulate. Most Web publishing software (i.e. GoLive, FrontPage, Dreamweaver, etc.) will make this job simple through built-in controls. If you are not using a web publishing program you can accomplish the same thing by manually manipulating your files.

The most important point to understand here is this, that organizing your website files is one of the biggest favors that you can do for yourself. There is nothing more frustrating than to get a great idea and then not be able to easily locate the section, sub-section or file were it applies.

Organize your website for success

The ease with which you can edit and manipulate your website determines how easy it will be to keep your content up to date. Fresh ideas need to be incorporated into your website quickly and with a minimum of effort. Good organization enables you to experiment with your site content, layout and design on a timely basis.

Time spent on organizing your website will be time well spent and will pay dividends in speeding up your design ideas. Spur of the moment changes can be accomplished with rapid dispatch and delivered to the web quickly. Also, the amount of work you will be required to spend on routine site maintenance will be minimized.



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