1. Naming conventions 2. Color and Graphics 3. Relative Links 4. Finding a Web Host 5. Keep it Simple

1. Use Consistent Naming Conventions

Have you ever tried to look through someone else's filing cabinet for information? Maybe a teacher asked you to find the handouts for a lesson on the Chinese History and you find them under "A" for "Asia".

The way some people save their files on their computer can be even more confusing. Think what problems might arise if everyone started dumping their files in the same folder without agreeing on a naming convention. Files could be lost, or even worse, copied over.

Your project team should agree early on how it will name its files, and where they will be located.

The following includes a checklist for using consistent naming conventions:

• Adopt a convention which makes related files easier to find in a crowded Web folder. Assign names to files that can be easily found in a crowded Web folder. You may wish to use a shorthand code that identifies all related pages. For instance, pages dealing with your geography project could all start with "geo" , such as geohome.htm, geologo1.gif, and so on.
   
• When naming your files, keep in mind the file-name requirements of your target server.  Unix, Macintosh and Windows 95 file name conventions allow large file names to assist in this. Windows 3.n requires you to use the infamous 8.3 filename conventions.
   
• Don't use spaces in the file name such as "my logo.gif". It may cause problems later when you upload your files. Instead, use an underscore character: "my_logo.gif"
   
• Keep your file names the same case (i.e., all upper or all lower case letters.) Some Web servers (such as UNIX) are case sensitive and if you are inconsistent in your use of case you may have trouble linking your pages together. For example, if you create a file and name it MaTh.HtM (not a good idea), all links to this page must read <a href="MaTh.HtM">name of link</a> or the page will not load.
   

Page 1: Naming conventions
Page 2: Color and Graphics
Page 3: Relative Links
Page 4: Finding a Web Host
Page 5: Keep it Simple