FILE & FOLDER NAMING

The naming of your Web files and folder(s) makes your site easier for you to maintain and easier for your users to navigate, but also necessary for the contextual navigation and bread crumbs features to work. In order to maintain organization and functionality, it is important to follow these guidelines when naming folders and files.

Organize files into subdirectories
A subdirectory is the same thing as a folder. Create subdirectories to organize your HTML files by topic. For example, you might have several subdirectories, including one each of the following: forms, graphics, images, etc... . Use index as the name for your primary page in each folder/subdirectory. Having an index file in each subdirectory is particularly import and when using breadcrumbs.

Keep file and folder names short and descriptive, and always use lower case.Give your files and subdirectories short but descriptive names and always use lower case only. Remember, these names appear in your URL. And, URLs are case sensitive. Also, keeping your names short and in lower case simplifies your URL.The following list contains elements which are not permissible when naming files.

DON'T
Use spaces in file names
Use special characters such as: ? / > < , " ' ; : [ ] { } | \ ) ( * & ^ % $ # @ ! ~ ` + =

Many of these special characters are used in programming languages (such as "&" in XML), and often confuse or cause crashes in some web browser software when used in file names. Spaces are a common mis-practice and may result in browser errors as well.

DO
You may use the following special characters: - (hyphen) _ (underscore) . (period). Numbers may also be used if necessary. You may wish to use a standard for folders, such as faculty_bios and smith-bio-math for files. You may use whatever works best for you but be sure to pay attention to the Do's and Don't above.