How to Organize Files for a New Website
As most experienced website developers will agree, file management is extremely important. During the development and design of a typical website, it is not unusual to build a collection of dozens of images, text documents, Flash animation and various other files. However, lack of organization can lead to confusion and lost time during the design process. This article will discuss basic file management to help you plan a well organized website.
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Instructions
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Identify the types of files that will be used. Look through the files that you will be using and make note if they are images, documents, text files, .html, .pdf or some other type of file.
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Assign a folder to the various files. Although there can be dozens of file types, start with a basic filing system. With these basic folders in place, you can organize each files in the most appropriate folder: html, text_docs, images, animation, audio, css, other_files. Except for the index.html file, which should be in the root folder, you should place any .html, .xml or .htm files into the folder labeled 'html'. Any plain text files, Word, .pdf or other documents should be placed into the 'text_docs' folder. If you want to further organize the site, create a sub-folder for each type within the folder.
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Place all images into the folder labeled 'images'. This folder can be divided into sub-folders for photo gallery images or images created by ImageReady. You can also subdivide images based on theme, date or subject. The 'animation' folder should contain any Flash, .gif or other animation files. You can also put the source files in a sub-folder for others to access in the future.
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Any .mp3, .wav, .ra or other sound files should be placed into the 'audio' folder. This folder is a great place to organize website sound effects, music files or other recordings for your website.
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If you are using Cascading Style Sheets to control your website, a 'css' folder is a must for file organization. Place any .css files into this folder and note the file path for use on your .html pages.
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Files that don't fit into any of the previous folders should be placed into the 'other_files' folder. This folder should be subdivided to organize the different file types.
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Following these simple steps will help you set up basic file management for your website and make updates easier for anyone working on the site.
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Tips & Warnings
Organize your file folders to match the needs of your site.
Sub-folders can help further organize your files.
Be sure to back up your site when you have the organization set up.
Don't move the index.html file from the root directory. This can cause issues with site location.
To avoid confusing paths, don't go more than a few levels deep with a sub-folder.
