It's important to create a logical data structure for your site that groups documents and objects in their own categories. A well organized directory structure will make the chore of maintaining a site much easier.

Tips for structuring your website

1. Use an index.html file for your home page and the home page of each sub-directory.
2. Put all the files that are shared throughout the site (images, style sheets, scripts, etc.) in an upper-level directory.
3. Create separate directories for each major section of the site.
4. Group related files together.
5. If necessary, each subdirectory can have its own image, style sheet, or other folders to further organize these files into logical structures.

Naming your files

Different servers have their own file naming rules and syntax, and using the wrong ones can often break your site. Windows and Macintosh systems allow spaces in file names, but it's a bad idea to set up your file names with spaces. The most common way to separate words in a file name is to use the underscore character ( _ ). Also, avoid using special characters in your file names as many symbols tell the computer to perform certain tasks, and it can be difficult for endusers to type symbols into url addresses in the browser. Stick to traditional alphanumeric characters, keeping in mind that your file names should begin with a letter, since many systems don't support file names that begin with a number.

Whenever possible, name your home page and the home pages for each directory in your site according to the default document on their server; typically index.html, or index.htm. (Most Web servers use index.html as the default page for each directory.) As a result, your home page address will look like this: www.uccs.edu/ instead of something like www.uccs.edu/uccs.html. The same principle applies to your sub-directories. There's no need for unnecessary repetition in the file structure. In other words, the following address: http://www.uccs.edu/it/techdoc/techdoc.html can simply be http://www.uccs.edu/techdoc/.