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Subject:Re: web file naming conventions From:John Gilger <jgilger_it -at- NV -dot- DOE -dot- GOV> Date:Thu, 7 Jan 1999 08:31:45 -0800
The answer is: It depends on how your web server is set up. Generally,
on a Unix/Linux machine running Apache server (the predominant set up
for web servers) your first page has to be index.html, index.htm, or
default.htm. Otherwise, when a potential visitor enters
www.yoursite.com <http://www.yoursite.com> they will not connect. The
server software looks for the index or default file as the place to
start displaying your site. Index is the preferred name. Whether *.htm
or *.html is required, depends on how the server is set up. Your host
decides this and normally tells you (or your site
administrator/webmaster) how to do it.
-----Original Message-----
From: John Cornellier [SMTP:cornelli -at- CLAMART -dot- SRPC -dot- SLB -dot- COM]
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 1999 9:11 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: web file naming conventions
(cross-posted to webmonster)
Is there any advantage to naming web files index.html, aside
from the fact that you shorten URLs slightly? I suppose if
people edit the URL in the Address box on the browser, e.g. to
go back, then it's handy if each dir contains a viewable file,
rather than displaying a 404 or dir listing.
Is there any technical advantage to using .html or .htm, other
than that .html is more cool?
Are there other filenames that a browser will open if you
point it to a dir? I just tested it and index.html, index.htm,
and home.html can all be default files, with precedence in the
order I gave, where they are all in the same dir.
Any general comments on naming conventions for sites?
